Lotus Elise
The Lotus Elise is a sports car conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars. A two-seater roadster with a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, the Elise has a fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chassis that provides a rigid platform for the suspension, while keeping weight and production costs to a minimum. The Elise was named after Elisa Artioli, the granddaughter of Romano Artioli who was chairman of Lotus and Bugatti at the time of the car's launch.
Production of the Elise, Exige and Evora ended in 2021. It was replaced by the Lotus Emira.
Series 1
The 1996 Lotus Elise weighed. Because of this low weight, it was able to accelerate in 5.8 seconds despite its relatively low power output of. Braking and fuel consumption are also improved by the car's reduced weight. Cornering is helped by a low centre of gravity height of.Series 1 was designed by Julian Thomson, then head of design at Lotus, and Richard Rackham, Lotus's chief engineer.
Besides the standard higher-performance variants listed below, Lotus also released some limited edition models such as Sport 135 with approximately, Sport 160 with, and Sport 190. These were more competent on track with sports suspension, wheels and tyres, seats according to model. There were other special editions such as the 50th Anniversary Edition celebrating 50 years of Lotus cars, the Type 49, and Type 79 which refers to its successful Grand Prix car type numbers.
The Series 1 Lotus Elise was assembled from kits on a dedicated assembly line at Proton's Shah Alam factory between 1997 and 2003. The drivetrain was imported complete and initially the bodywork was painted in the UK at Hethel prior to export. The Malaysian-assembled Elise sold for double the price of its British-built counterpart due to local vehicle taxes. The Malaysian-assembled Elise was also exported to regional markets, including Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. The Malaysian spec Elises came with a factory hard top, carpets and air con as standard though the air con was unreliable and ineffective. All cars had MMC brakes as that was what was current when the kits were imported in the late 1990s. The Proton-assembled Elises were assigned the code 'B' in the eleventh VIN position, while the original Hethel-built units were stamped with the code 'H'.
111S
A faster edition called the 111S, named after the Lotus type-number of the Elise, was introduced in early 1999 and had the 1.8 Rover K-series engine also used in the Rover MGF. It featured a VVC system providing continuously variable lift and duration on the intake valves only. This technology produced a flatter torque curve from lower down the rev range and a declared, a small but useful improvement over the standard 16 valve Rover 1.8 L K-series inline-four unit. Fitted with a closer ratio manual gearbox and lower ratio final drive, the acceleration was improved. Minor changes include more padding in the seats, headlamp covers, rear spoiler, cross drilled brake discs, alloy window winders and six-spoke wheels. The rear wheels being slightly wider than before necessitated the fitting of "spats" on the back of the rear wheel arches to comply with EU regulations. The 111S was also fitted with a "chipcutter" front grille.340R
In 2000, the 340R limited edition model, based on a Series 1 Elise was introduced. This roofless car was a special edition, limited to only 340 cars being built. The name 340 originally referred to the 340 bhp/tonne power-to-weight ratio of the original prototype which had while weighing just. However, in production models the 340 refers to the number of cars built. The final production versions weighed and had a power-to-weight ratio of /tonne. A "Track Pack" was created that upped power to and weighed only, thus fulfilling its original power-to-weight ratio promise.Exige
In 2000, Lotus introduced the Exige — a hardtop version of the Elise with the engine from the 340R; as well as different front and rear body "clamshells", larger wheels, and a rear wing. Many models received an upgrade to with better driveability due to changes to ECU and cam timing.Series 2
The Series 1 could not be produced beyond the 2000 model production year due to new European crash regulations, so Lotus needed a development partner to meet the investment requirement for a Series 2 car. General Motors offered to fund the project, in return for a badged and GM-engined version of the car for their European brands, Opel and Vauxhall.The Series 2 Elise, project code name "Monza", announced on 9 October 2000, was a redesigned Series 1 using a slightly modified version of the Series 1 chassis to meet the new regulations, and the same K-series engine with a brand new Lotus-developed ECU. The design of the body paid homage to the earlier M250 concept, and was the first Lotus to be designed on a computer.
Both the Series 2 Elise and the Opel Speedster/Vauxhall VX220 were built on the same production line in a new facility at Hethel. Both cars shared many parts, although they had different drive-trains and power-plants. Contrary to popular belief, the VX220 chassis, later used for the Europa S, is not exactly the same as the Elise S2 chassis, the VX220 having a 30mm longer wheelbase and lower door sills. The VX220 also carried the Lotus internal model identification Lotus 116, with the code name Skipton for the launch 2.2N/A version and Tornado for the 2004 introduced 2.0 L Turbo. Fitted with 17 inch over the Elise's 16 inch front wheels, the Vauxhall/Opel version ceased production in late 2005 and was replaced by the Opel GT for February 2007, with no RHD version for the United Kingdom.
Basic S2 models had a naturally aspirated Rover K-series engine without VVC rated at at 5600 rpm and at 3500 rpm of torque.
111S
The Series 2 was also available as a 111S model, with the VVC engine Rover technology producing. The 111S Type 25 was built to commemorate the revolutionary race car driven by Jim Clark in F1, painted in Lotus Racing Green with twin metallic yellow stripes running front to back. Unique black Lotus styled six-spoke wheels. The interior includes perforated Ruby red leather seats, door panels and steering wheel centre, and red laurels embroidered onto the headrest of each seat. A Heritage Type 25 ID plate confirms its limited edition status as only 50 of these cars were produced. The UK market was to get 45 and Australia 5. During boat loading one of the 5 was damaged and only 4 sent to Australia. It's presumed the damaged car was later sold in the UK. The car is also supplied with hard top maintaining the twin stripes. The 111S models were discontinued in 2005 in favour of the Toyota powerplant.In 2003 the Type 23 or Heritage Type 23 was built to commemorate the Colin Chapman designed race car which ran from 1962 to 1963. Like the Type 25 the car was based on the 111S and powered by the Rover K Series engine. It was limited to a production run of 50 cars, all of which were fitted with the heritage type 23 ID plate indicating the build number. Externally the car was painted in heritage white with twin parallel Lotus racing Green stripes. Heritage laurels and Union jacks were fitted to each wing, all of which set the car apart. Internally the car was fitted with perforated green leather seats, door panels and steering wheel centre, and green laurels are embroidered onto the headrest of each seat. The car was supplied with a green soft top and hard top maintaining the green stripes.
It is believed that the switch to a Toyota engine was due to federalising issues with the Rover powerplant in the US, however this has been largely unproven with little information released from Lotus as to the exact reasons. As of the time of the switch the Rover engine would still have met the standards required of it for use in America.
Two more track-focused models, the 135R and Sport 190, were available with respectively. These also came with associated handling upgrades such as Lotus Sport Suspension and wider wheels with Yokohama Advan A048 tyres. In certain markets, the 135R was replaced by the "Sport 111", which was similar, apart from sporting the VVC engine in place of the tuned K-series.
111R / Federal Elise
This Series 2 Elise model comes in a European 111R version or a version sold in North America, referred to as the Federal Elise. It is powered by the all-aluminium alloy DOHC Toyota 2ZZ-GE with a Yamaha designed twin-cam head offering variable valve timing on both intake and exhaust valvetrain and a Toyota C64 6-speed manual transmission. Although the engine was borrowed from Toyota, its tune for the Elise was done in-house by Lotus. Many tests show performance of in approximately 4.9 seconds, or 4.7 seconds with the Sport Package.The 2005 Lotus Elise was the first to be sold commercially in the United States, in the summer of 2004. Approval for the Elise, however, required intervention by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which provided a three-year exemption for the car, as it had failed to meet US bumper and headlight regulations. The first-year model suffered from a few flaws, most notably a design flaw in the headlamps that magnified the sun's light, allowing the inside of the lamp housings to be melted by the sun.
This model was followed up by the 2006 Model Year Elise 111R and Sports Racer models. Lotus made a limited production called the Lotus Sport Elise. 2006 models differ from the 2005 models in a few aspects. ProBax seats.
For the 2007 model year Lotus several minor changes were made. The LOTUS decals on the rear of the vehicle, previously flat stickers, were replaced by raised lettering. The headlamp units were sealed. Also, in order to comply with US Federally mandated bumper restrictions, the frontal crash structure was slightly changed and rear bumperettes were added next to the licence plate mount. Approximately 100 2007 model year "launch" cars were shipped to the US without these bumper changes. Also in 2007, the Elise S was released and the 111R renamed Elise R. All Lotus Elise cars manufactured after 1 January 2007 include the new headlights and bumpers, although they are hidden in the front.
The Elise S is the new base model with a Toyota sourced engine replacing the previous models K series Rover engine. The 2ZZ-GE engine produces at 6,200 rpm. The inclusion of airbags, ABS brakes, electric windows, and carpet in addition to the new heavier engine has increased the base weight to .