The Mighty Lotus Elise is now 20 years old
Lotus is not the same company as it was 20 years ago. For starters, it was Malaysian owned, and had just been acquired by Romano Artioli from General Motors. If you haven’t heard about Artioli, he is the same man responsible for the makeover of the Bugatti EB110. With regards to the old Lotus, the company had seized production of the Excel, Elan and Lotus Carlton and was left with the Esprit, which had already celebrated its 20th birthday at the time. Everything changed with the arrival of the Elise in 1995, which was unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show. To celebrate the Elise’s 20th anniversary, Lotus is introducing a special edition model dubbed the “Elise 20th Anniversary Edition”.
In terms of the old Elise, it was set on a lightweight aluminum chassis and was extremely lightweight thanks to its composite body panels. With regards to the name, it was derived from Artioli’s granddaughter, but remained the same for a while even after selling the company. Now 20 years after its inception, Lotus is introducing a special edition that will replace the Elise S Club Racer, and is 22 pounds lighter in its curb weight. Furthermore, it is fitted with a matte black trim complete with forged wheels and complimented with special badging and of course a revamped interior.
With the Elise now twenty years old they are turning out to be surprisingly cheap to run with good fuel economy due to the lightweight chassis and classic car insurance policies can be had at a reasonable price.
According to CEO of Lotus Group Jean-Marc Gales, the fact that the Elise has been around for two decades is hard to believe. He further states that the vehicle was ground-breaking when it was first introduced, and even today continues to set the benchmark with regards to performance and handling in its class. Of course the vehicle has been tweaked over the years to improve its performance, but its driving experience still remains the same as when the car hit showrooms in 1995.
Powered by a 1.8 liter supercharged engine, the 20th Anniversary Lotus is able to literally sprint from 0-62 mph in an astounding 4.6 seconds, which translates to a top speed of 145 mph. One of the noteworthy features of the aero optimized body of the Lotus 20th Anniversary Edition is that it emits just 173 grams of CO2 per kilometer and consumes just 5.9 liters of petrol per 100 kilometers. Speaking of its weight, the 20th Anniversary Lotus weighs 914 kg, which is 10 kilograms trimmer than the Elise S.
The special edition Lotus is designed for both novice and seasoned car enthusiasts, and apart from the original equipment of the Elise S also comes with body color lightweight center console, sports mode, lightweight sports seats, Alcantara leather color coded stitching and enhanced driver control. The car can be ordered in four classic Elise colors namely green, blue, silver and yellow. Adding to this, the wing mirrors, rear diffuser, rear transom, roll hoop cover are all available in matte black. This 20th century Anniversary Edition is distinct from its predecessors with its decals on the seats and dashboard and above the side indicators. The Lotus 20th Anniversary Edition will be available for £39,900 and is a great future driving investment.