Lotus Cars Limited is a British automotive company headquartered in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, England which manufactures

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

s and

racing cars Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

noted for their light weight and fine handling characteristics. Lotus was previously involved in

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

racing, via

Team Lotus Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar, and sports car racing. More ...

, winning the Formula One World Championship seven times. Lotus Cars was founded and owned for many years by

Colin Chapman Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars. In 1952 he founded the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman ...

. After his death and a period of financial instability, it was bought by

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

, then

Romano Artioli Romano Artioli (born 5 December 1932, in Moglia) is an Italian entrepreneur and one-time owner of Bugatti and Lotus automobile brands. Artioli was born in Moglia in the Province of Mantua, and raised in Bolzano where in the 1980s he ran one of ...

and

DRB-HICOM DRB-HICOM Berhad () is one of Malaysia's leading corporations, involved in the automotive manufacturing, assembly and distribution industry through its involvement in the passenger car and four wheel drive vehicle market segment, the national t ...

through its subsidiary

Proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...

. It is currently majority owned by Chinese multinational

Geely Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd (ZGH), commonly known as Geely (吉利 "auspicious"), is a Chinese multinational automotive company headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The company is privately held by Chinese billionaire entrepreneu ...

, with Etika Automotive as a minority shareholder. The engineering consultancy firm Lotus Engineering, an offshoot of Lotus Cars, has facilities in the United Kingdom, United States, China, and Malaysia. Notable Lotus cars include the

Lotus Seven The Lotus Seven is a small, simple, lightweight, two-seater, open-top, open-wheel, sports car produced by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars (initially called Lotus Engineering) between 1957 and 1972. It was designed by Lotus founder Colin Cha ...

, the

Lotus Esprit The Lotus Esprit is a British sports car that was built by Lotus Cars at their Hethel factory in England between 1976 and 2004. It was among the first of designer Giorgetto Giugiaro's polygonal "folded paper" designs. Background In 1970 Tony ...

and the

Lotus Elan Lotus Elan is the name of two separate ranges of automobiles produced by Lotus Cars. The first series of cars was produced between 1962 and 1975 as a rear-wheel drive vehicle. The second series was produced between 1989 and 1995 as a front-wheel ...

History

Early years

The company was formed in 1952 as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by engineers

and Colin Dare, both graduates of

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

, but had earlier origins in 1948 when Chapman built his first racing car in a garage. The four letters in the middle of the logo stand for the initials of company founder, Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman. When the logo was created, Colin Chapman's original partners Michael and Nigel Allen were led to believe that the letters stood for Colin Chapman and the Allen Brothers. The first factory was situated in old stables behind the Railway Hotel in

Hornsey Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner Lo ...

, North London.

, which was split off from Lotus Engineering in 1954, was active and competitive in

racing from 1958 to 1994. The Lotus Group of Companies was formed in 1959. This was made up of Lotus Cars Limited and Lotus Components Limited, which focused on road cars and customer competition car production, respectively. Lotus Components Limited became Lotus Racing Limited in 1971 but the newly renamed entity ceased operation in the same year.Golden Gate Lotus Club
Retrieved 1 May 2008 The company moved to a purpose built factory at

Cheshunt Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, Hertfor ...

in 1959 and since 1966 the company has occupied a modern factory and road test facility at

Hethel Hethel is a small village in Norfolk, England, approximately southeast of the market town of Wymondham, and approximately south of the city of Norwich. According to the 2001 census, the Bracon Ash and Hethel parish covered an area of and had ...

, near

Wymondham Wymondham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England, south-west of Norwich, England, Norwich off the A11 road (England), A11 road to London. The River Tiffey runs through ...

. The site is a former

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

airfield,

RAF Hethel Royal Air Force Hethel or more simply RAF Hethel is a former Royal Air Force station which was used by both the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. The airfield is located south we ...

, and the test track uses sections of the old runway. In its early days, Lotus sold cars aimed at privateer racers and trialists. Its early road cars could be bought as kits, in order to save on purchase tax. The kit car era ended in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the

Plus Two being the first Lotus road car not to be offered in kit form, and the

Lotus Eclat Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

and

Lotus Elite The Lotus Elite name has been used for two production vehicles and one concept vehicle developed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The first generation Elite Type 14 was produced from 1957 until 1963 and the second ...

of the mid-1970s being offered only in factory built versions. After the elegant but delicate

of the 1950s, which featured a complete fibreglass monocoque fitted with built-in steel pickup points for mounting major components, Lotus found critical and sales success in the 1960s with the

two seater later developed to two plus two form. Lotus was notable for its use of fibreglass bodies, backbone chassis, and overhead camshaft engines, initially supplied by

Coventry Climax Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, racing, and other specialty engine manufacturer. History Pre WW1 The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, but two years later, following the departure of Stroyer, it was relocat ...

but later replaced by Lotus-Ford units (

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

block, Lotus head and twin cam valve gear). Lotus worked with Ford on the

Lotus Cortina Lotus Cortina is the commonly used term for the Ford Cortina Lotus, a high-performance sports saloon, which was produced in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1970 by Ford in collaboration with Lotus Cars. The original version, which was based on t ...

, a successful sports saloon. Another Lotus of the late 1960s and early 1970s was the two seater

Lotus Europa The Lotus Europa name is used on two distinct mid-engine GT cars built by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The original Europa and its variants comprise the Lotus Types 46, 47, 54, 65 and 74, and were produced between 1966 and 1975. ...

, initially intended only for the European market, which paired a backbone chassis and lightweight body with a mid mounted Renault engine, later upgraded to the Lotus-Ford twin cam unit as used in the Elan. The

, originating in the 1950s as a simple, lightweight open two seater continued in production into the early 70s. Lotus then sold the rights to produce the Seven to

Caterham Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...

, which has continued to produce the car since then. By the mid-1970s, Lotus sought to move upmarket with the launch of the Elite and Eclat models, four seaters aimed at prosperous buyers, with features such as optional air conditioning and optional automatic transmissions. The mid engined line continued with the

, which was to prove one of the company's longest lived and most iconic models. Lotus developed its own series of four cylinder

DOHC An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion c ...

engines, the

Lotus 900 series The Lotus 900 series is a family of internal combustion engines designed and built by Lotus Cars of United Kingdom. Successor to the Lotus-Ford Twin Cam, the 900 was the first complete engine developed by Lotus. The engine was built from 1972 t ...

, and later a V8, and

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

versions of the engines appeared in the Esprit. Variants of the 900 series engine were supplied for the

Jensen Healey The Jensen-Healey is a British two-seater convertible sports car, produced by Jensen Motors Ltd. in West Bromwich, England from 1972 until 1976. Launched in 1972 as a luxurious and convertible sports car, it was positioned in the market betwe ...

and the Sunbeam Lotus "hot hatchback". In the 1980s, Lotus collaborated with

Vauxhall Motors Vauxhall Motors LimitedCompany No. 00135767. Incorporated 12 May 1914, name changed from Vauxhall Motors Limited to General Motors UK Limited on 16 April 2008, reverted to Vauxhall Motors Limited on 18 September 2017. () is a British car compa ...

to produce the

Lotus Carlton The Lotus Carlton (also called Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Lotus Omega and Opel Lotus Omega) is a Opel Omega#Omega A (1986–1994), Vauxhall Carlton/Opel Omega A saloon upgraded by Lotus Cars, Lotus in order to be able to reach speeds up to 285&nbs ...

, the fastest roadgoing Vauxhall car.

Financial troubles, death of Chapman

By 1980, Group Lotus was in serious financial trouble. Production had dropped from 1,200 units per year to a mere 383. The combined reasons were that the world was in the middle of an economic

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

and sales in the key United States market had virtually collapsed, along with limited development of the then model range. In early 1982, Chapman came to an agreement with

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

to exchange intellectual property and applied expertise. This initially resulted in Lotus Engineering helping to develop the Mk2

Toyota Supra is a sports car and grand tourer manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation beginning in 1978. The name "supra" is derived from the Latin prefix, meaning "above", "to surpass" or "go beyond". The initial four generations of the Supra were pr ...

, also known as the

Toyota Celica XX is a sports car and grand tourer manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation beginning in 1978. The name " supra" is derived from the Latin prefix, meaning "above", "to surpass" or "go beyond". The initial four generations of the Supra were p ...

. Secondly, it allowed Lotus to launch the new

Lotus Excel The Lotus Excel (Type 89) is a sports car designed and built by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars from 1982 to 1992. It is based on the design of the earlier Lotus Eclat, which itself was based on the earlier Lotus Type 75 Elite. ...

to replace the ageing

. Using drivetrain and other components from Toyota enabled Lotus to sell the Excel for £1,109 less than the outgoing Eclat. Looking to re-enter the North American market, Chapman was approached by young law professor and investment banking consultant, Joe Bianco, who proposed a new and separate United States sales company for Lotus. By creating an unprecedented tax-incentived mechanism wherein each investor received a specially personalised Lotus Turbo Esprit, the new American company, Lotus Performance Cars Inc. (LPCI), was able to provide fresh capital to the Group Lotus in the United Kingdom. Former

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

North America general manager John Spiech was brought in to run LPCI, which imported the remarkable

Giugiaro Giorgetto Giugiaro (; born 7 August 1938) is an Italian automotive designer. He has worked on supercars and popular everyday vehicles. He was born in Garessio, Cuneo, Piedmont. Giugiaro was named Car Designer of the Century in 1999 and inducted ...

-designed Turbo Esprit for the first time. US sales began to quickly jump into triple digits annually. Chapman died of a heart attack on 16 December 1982 at the age of 54, having begun life as an innkeeper's son and ended a multi-millionaire industrialist in post-war Britain. At the time of his death, the car maker had built thousands of successful racing and road cars and won the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

seven times. At the time of his death, both Chapman and Lotus were linked with the

DeLorean Motor Company The DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) was an American automobile manufacturer formed by automobile industry executive John DeLorean in 1975. It is remembered for the one model it produced—the stainless steel DeLorean sports car featuring gull-win ...

scandal over the use of

UK Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

subsidies for the production of the

DMC DeLorean The DMC DeLorean is a rear-engine two-passenger sports car manufactured and marketed by John DeLorean's DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) for the American market from 1981 until 1983—ultimately the only car brought to market by the fledgling comp ...

, for which Lotus had designed the chassis. Chasing large sums of money which had disappeared from the DeLorean company, Lotus was besieged by

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

inspectors, who imposed an £84 million legal "protective assessment" on the company. Chapman died before the full deceit unravelled but, at the subsequent trial of Fred Bushell, the Lotus accountant, the judge insisted that had Chapman himself been in the dock, he would have received a sentence "of at least 10 years". With Group Lotus near bankruptcy in 1983,

David Wickins David Allen Wickins (15 February 1920 – 28 January 2007) was an English accountant-turned-entrepreneur, best known for founding the vehicle remarketing business British Car Auctions, and saving Lotus Cars. Early life David Allen Wickins wa ...

, the founder of

British Car Auctions BCA Marketplace, formerly British Car Auctions, is a used vehicle marketplace. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by TDR Capital in November 2019. History In 1946 Royal Navy officer David Wickins decided to sell h ...

, agreed to become the new company chairman, through an introduction from his friend

Mark Thatcher Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet (born 15 August 1953) is an English businessman. He is the son of Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, and Sir Denis Thatcher; his sister is Carol Thatcher. His early career ...

. Taking a combined 29% BCA/personal stake in Group Lotus, Wickins negotiated with the Inland Revenue, and then brought in new investors:

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commodi ...

Schroeder-Wagg (14%);

Michael Ashcroft Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, (born 4 March 1946) is a British-Belizean businessman, pollster and politician. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Ashcroft founded Michael A. Ashcroft Associates in 1972 and is ...

's Bermudian operating company Benor (14%); Sir Anthony Bamford of JCB (12%). Wickins oversaw a complete turnaround in the company's fortunes, which resulted in him being called "The saviour of Lotus".

International ownership

Despite having employed designer Peter Stevens to revamp the range and design two new concept cars, by 1985 the British investors recognised that they lacked the required capital to invest in the required new model development to production, and sought to find a major motor manufacturing buyer. In January 1986, Wickins oversaw the majority sale of the Group Lotus companies and 100% of North American–based LPCI to

, with engineer Bob Eaton a big Lotus car fan. After four months' control of Group Lotus by the co-owners GM and Toyota, the latter sold GM its stake. By October 1986, GM had acquired a 91% stake in Group Lotus for £22.7 million, which allowed GM to legally force the company buyout. On 27 August 1993, GM sold the company, for £30 million, to A.C.B.N. Holdings S.A. of

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, a company controlled by Italian businessman

, who also owned Bugatti Automobili SpA. In 1996, a majority share in Lotus was sold to

, a Malaysian car company listed on the

Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE; ms, Bursa Saham Kuala Lumpur) dates back to 1930 when the Singapore Stockbrokers' Association was set up as a formal organisation dealing in securities in Malaya. In 1937, it was re-registered as the Malayan ...

. Lotus Cars were awarded the

Queen's Award for Enterprise The Queen's Awards for Enterprise is an awards programme for British businesses and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation, sustainable development or promoting opportunity (through social mobility). They are the highest ...

for contribution to International Trade, one of 85 companies receiving the recognition in that category in 2002. Lotus cars wore the badge of the award for a number of years. On 24 May 2017, Chinese multinational

announced that was taking a 51% controlling stake in Lotus. The remaining 49% were acquired by Etika Automotive, a holding company of Proton's major shareholder Syed Mokhtar Albukhary. In January 2021 Lotus' parent company Geely announced a joint venture with

Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance The Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, originally known as the Renault–Nissan Alliance, is a French-Japanese strategic alliance between the automobile manufacturers Renault (based in Boulogne-Billancourt, France), Nissan (based in Yokoham ...

and their

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

division to develop a range of electric performance cars sharing some of their future platforms. In April 2021 Lotus announced plans to produce only electric cars by 2028 and increase production numbers from around 1,500 per annum to tens of thousands. Geely and Etika Automotive provided two billion pounds (US$2.8 billion) to fund the changes.

Operations

Currently organised as Group Lotus plc, the business is divided into Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering. As well as sports car manufacture, the company also acts as an engineering consultancy, providing engineering development—particularly of

suspensions In chemistry, a suspension is a heterogeneous mixture of a fluid that contains solid particles sufficiently large for sedimentation. The particles may be visible to the naked eye, usually must be larger than one micrometer, and will eventually ...

- for other car manufacturers. Lotus's powertrain department is responsible for the design and development of the 4-cylinder

Ecotec Ecotec (capitalized ECOTEC, from 'Emissions Control Optimization TEChnology') is a General Motors (GM) and Opel Automobile GmbH (Opel) trademark that refers to a series of emissions technologies that were implemented throughout a range of GM engines ...

engine found in many of GM's

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

and

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

cars. The US

Lotus Elise The Lotus Elise is a two-seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars. The Elise has a fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chassi ...

and

Exige The Lotus Exige is a British two-door, two-seat sports car made by Lotus Cars since 2000. Originally a more-hardcore coupé version of the Lotus Elise roadster, since the Series 3 the Exige has been the larger-engined model of the family - u ...

models used the 1.8L VVTL-i I4 from Toyota's late Celica GT-S and the Matrix XRS both of which are no longer available new. The new Exige has the same V6 engine as its bigger counterpart the Evora and is not available in the US as a road-legal vehicle. Michael Kimberley, who had been a guiding figure at Lotus in the 1970s, returned and took over as the Acting chief executive officer of the Company and its Group from May 2006. He chaired the executive committee of Lotus Group International Limited ("LGIL") established in February 2006, with Syed Zainal Abidin (managing director of Proton Holdings Berhad) and Badrul Feisal (non-executive director of Proton Holdings Berhad). LGIL is the holding company of Lotus Group Plc. Kimberley retired as CEO on 17 July 2009, replaced on 1 October 2009 by the former Senior Vice-president for Commercial & Brand at

Dany Bahar Dany Bahar is a Turkish-born Swiss business executive and the founder of luxury automotive retailer ARES. His involvement in the automotive and motorsports industries began at Red Bull, where between 2003 and 2007 he led the launch of the Formul ...

. Bahar intended to drive the brand up-market into the expanding global luxury goods sector, effectively away from the company's traditional light weight simplicity and pure driving experience focus. Bahar was suspended as CEO on 25 May 2012 on a temporary basis, while an investigation into his conduct was undertaken. Lotus announced on 7 June 2012 the termination of Bahar's employment and the appointment of Aslam Farikullah as the new chief operating officer. The ambitious plans for several new models were subsequently cancelled following Bahar's departure. Jean Marc Gales replaced Bahar as the CEO of the company in 2014 and enabled the company to make a profit after decades in 2017, due to his effective market plans and strategies before he left the company in June 2018 due to personal reasons, and was replaced by Feng Qingfeng from Lotus Group's parent company,

. October 2018 saw further senior personnel changes as Phil Popham was named CEO of Lotus Cars, with Feng Qingfeng remaining in charge of Group Lotus. In January 2021 Matt Windle was appointed managing director of Lotus Cars after Phil Popham stepped down.

Formula One and motorsport

In its early days, the company encouraged its customers to race its cars, and it first entered

through its sister company

in 1958. A Lotus Formula One car driven by

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...

won the marque's first Grand Prix in 1960 at

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. Moss drove a

Lotus 18 The Lotus 18 was a race car designed by Colin Chapman for use by Lotus in Formula Junior, Formula Two, and Formula One. Overview Lotus 18 was the first mid-engined car built by Lotus and was a marked improvement over Chapman's early and only ...

entered by privateer Rob Walker. Major success came in 1963 with the

Lotus 25 The Lotus 25 was a racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1962 Formula One season. It was a revolutionary design, the first fully stressed monocoque chassis to appear in Formula One. In the hands of Jim Clark it took 14 World Championship G ...

, which – with

Jim Clark James Clark Jr. OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars and in the Indianapol ...

driving – won Team Lotus its first F1 World Constructors' Championship. Clark's untimely death – he crashed a

Formula Two Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name retur ...

Lotus 48 The Lotus 48 was a Formula 2 racing car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Phillippe and powered by a Cosworth FVA engine. It won three races in the hands of Jim Clark but was generally uncompetitive against rival machinery. Ultimately ...

in April 1968 after his rear tyre failed in a turn in Hockenheim – was a severe blow to the team and to Formula One. He was the dominant driver in the dominant car and remains an inseparable part of Lotus's early years. That year's championship was won by Clark's teammate,

Graham Hill Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite ...

. Team Lotus is credited with making the mid-engined layout popular for

IndyCar INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...

s, developing the first

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

Formula One chassis, and the integration of the engine and transaxle as chassis components. Team Lotus was also among the pioneers in Formula One in adding wings and shaping the undersurface of the car to create

downforce Downforce is a downwards lift force created by the aerodynamic features of a vehicle. If the vehicle is a car, the purpose of downforce is to allow the car to travel faster by increasing the vertical force on the tires, thus creating more grip. ...

, as well as the first to move radiators to the sides of the car to aid in aerodynamic performance and inventing active suspension. Even after Chapman's death, until the late 1980s, Team Lotus continued to be a major player in Formula One.

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One List of Formula One World Drivers' Champions, World Drivers' Championship in , , and . Senna is one of three Formula One drivers fro ...

drove for the team from 1985 to 1987, winning twice in each year and achieving 17 pole positions. By the company's last Formula One race in 1994, the cars were no longer competitive. Team Lotus constructed cars won a total of 79 Grand Prix races. During his lifetime Chapman saw Lotus beat Ferrari as the first Marque to achieve 50 Grand Prix victories, despite Ferrari having won their first nine years sooner. Formula One Drivers' Championship winner for Lotus were

in 1963 and 1965,

in 1968,

Jochen Rindt Jochen is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Jochen Asche, East German luger, competed during the 1960s *Jochen Böhler (born 1969), German historian, specializing in the history of World War II *Jochen Babock (born 1953), East G ...

in 1970,

Emerson Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi (; born 12 December 1946) is a Brazilian former automobile racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the Indianapolis 500 twice each and the CART championship once. Moving up from Formula Two, Fittip ...

in 1972 and

Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver. One of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports, Andretti is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, t ...

in 1978. In 1973 Lotus won the constructors' championship only; the drivers' title went to

Jackie Stewart Sir John Young Stewart (born 11 June 1939), known as Jackie Stewart, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the "Flying Scot", he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Cha ...

of Tyrrell. Team Lotus established Classic Team Lotus in 1992, as the Works historic motorsport activity. Classic Team Lotus continues to maintain Lotus F1 cars and run them in the FIA

Historic Formula One Championship The Historic Formula One Championship, previously known as the Thoroughbred Grand Prix Championship, was a championship for Formula One cars from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s which is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile ...

and it preserves the Team Lotus archive and Works Collection of cars, under the management of

's son, Clive. Team Lotus's participation in Formula One ended at the end of the 1994 season. Former racing driver David Hunt (brother of F1 world champion

James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) ''Autocourse Grand Prix Archive'', 14 October 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007. was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in . After retiring from racing in ...

) purchased the name 'Team Lotus' and licensed it to the Formula One team

Pacific Racing Pacific Racing (later known as Pacific Grand Prix, and finally as Pacific Team Lotus) was a motor racing team from the United Kingdom. Following success in lower formulae, the team took part in two full seasons of Formula One, in and , enterin ...

, which was rebranded Pacific Team Lotus. The Pacific Team folded at the end of the 1995 season. The Lotus name returned to Formula One for the 2010 season, when a new Malaysian team called Lotus Racing was awarded an entry. The new team used the Lotus name under licence from Group Lotus and was unrelated to the original Team Lotus. In September 2010 Group Lotus, with agreement from its parent company Proton, terminated the licence for future seasons as a result of what it called "flagrant and persistent breaches of the licence by the team". Lotus Racing then announced that it had acquired Team Lotus Ventures Ltd, the company led by David Hunt, and with it full ownership of the rights to the "Team Lotus" brand and heritage. The team confirmed that it would be known as Team Lotus from 2011 onwards. In December 2010 Group Lotus announced the creation of Lotus Renault GP, the successor to the

Renault F1 The French automotive manufacturer Renault has been associated with Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine ...

team. This team contested the 2011 season having purchased a title sponsorship deal with the team, with the option to buy shares in the future. The team's car for that season, the R31, was badged as a Renault, while Team Lotus's car, the T128, was badged as a Lotus. In May 2011, the British

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...

ruled that Team Lotus could continue to use the "Team Lotus" name, but Group Lotus had sole right to use the "Lotus" name on its own. As a consequence, for Lotus Renault GP was rebranded as

Lotus F1 Team Lotus F1 Team was a British Formula One racing team. The team competed under the Lotus name from until , following the renaming of the former Renault team based at Enstone in Oxfordshire. The Lotus F1 Team was majority owned by Genii Capital. ...

and its cars were badged as Lotuses, while Team Lotus was renamed

Caterham F1 Team The Caterham F1 Team was a Malaysian, later British owned Formula One team based in the United Kingdom which raced under a Malaysian licence. The Caterham brand competed in the Formula One World Championship from to , following the acquisitio ...

(after the sports car manufacturer owned by team principal

Tony Fernandes Anthony Francis Fernandes (born 30 April 1964) is a Malaysian entrepreneur. He is the founder of Tune Air Sdn. Bhd., which took over the first Malaysian budget airline, AirAsia. Fernandes turned AirAsia, a failing government-linked commerci ...

) and its cars were badged as Caterhams. Group Lotus was also involved in several other categories of motorsport. It sponsored the KV team in the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

and used to sponsor the

ART Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

team in the GP2 and

GP3 Series The GP3 Series, or GP3 for short, was a single-seater motor racing series launched in 2010 as a feeder series for the GP2 Series, introduced by GP2 organiser Bruno Michel. GP3 followed the entire European leg of the Formula One series and the ...

in 2011 and 2012. In

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, Lotus also returned to the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

with a semi-works effort run by

Jetalliance Racing Jetalliance Racing is an Austrian racing team which currently competes in the FIA GT Championship. Founded by Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer, former CEO of Jetalliance airlines, in 2006 under the name Race Alliance Motorsport, the team has run two private ...

, which fielded two

Lotus Evora The Lotus Evora is a sports car produced by British car manufacturer Lotus. The car, which was developed under the project name ''Project Eagle'', was launched on 22 July 2008 at the British International Motor Show. The Evora S was launched in ...

s. After fielding underpowered and uncompetitive engines in the 2012

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

, in which drivers

Jean Alesi Jean Alesi (born Giovanni Alesi, 11 June 1964) is a French professional racing driver of Italian origin. After successes in minor categories, notably winning the 1989 Formula 3000 Championship, his Formula One career included spells at Tyrrell, ...

and

Simona de Silvestro Simona de Silvestro (born 1 September 1988) is a Swiss-Italian racing driver, who is currently employed by Porsche as a factory driver. She has previously driven for Amlin Andretti in the 2015/16 season of the FIA Formula E Championship as well ...

were black-flagged after ten laps for failing to maintain a competitive pace, Lotus was released from its contract and did not participate in future seasons.

Lotus car models

Current

Current Lotus models include: *

Lotus Evija The Lotus Evija is a limited production electric sports car to be manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. Unveiled in July 2019, it is the first electric vehicle to be introduced and manufactured by the company. Codenamed "Typ ...

: The Lotus Evija is a limited production electric sports car, it is the first electric vehicle to be introduced and manufactured by the company. Codenamed "Type 130", production of the Evija will be limited to 130 units. Production is set to begin early-mid 2021. The Evija is powered by a 70 kWh battery pack developed in conjunction with Williams Advanced Engineering, with electric motors supplied by Integral Powertrain. The four individual motors are placed at the wheels and each is rated at , for a combined total output of and of torque. Lotus claims that the Evija will be able to accelerate from 0 to in under 3 seconds, from 0 to in under 9 seconds, and achieve a top speed of over . *

Lotus Emira The Lotus Emira is a sports car manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. It is intended to be the firm's final vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine. History The Emira was launched at Hethel, England o6th July 20 ...

: Unveiled July 2021, production began March 2022 - this will be the firm's final vehicle powered by an

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...

. *

Lotus Eletre The Lotus Eletre is an upcoming high-performance battery electric mid-size luxury crossover SUV to be produced by British sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. It was revealed on 29 March 2022 as the company's first production SUV and its firs ...

: The first high-performance electric Hyper-SUV from Lotus.

Lotus Eleven S1 and Lotus Elite - Flickr - exfordy (cropped)

1973 Lotus Elan +2S 130-5 front Hatfield Broak Oak Essex England

Lotus Mark I The Lotus Mark I was the first car designed and built by Colin Chapman in 1948, while Chapman was still a student at the University of London. The car was designed to compete as a trials car, and was constructed on an Austin 7 The Austin ...

(1948): Austin 7–based sports car *

Lotus Mark II The car that came to be known as the Lotus Mark II was created in 1949, while Colin Chapman was serving with the RAF. For his second car Chapman built on the knowledge gained from building and competing in the Lotus Mark I, so he again used the ...

(1949–1950): Ford-powered trials car *

Lotus Mark III Lotus Mark III was a single-seater sports car built by Colin Chapman as a 750 Racer. It was the first car to ever be called a "Lotus". In 1951, Chapman began to focus on a car for road racing, rather than trials, to compete in the 750 Motor Clu ...

(1951): 750 cc formula car *

Lotus Mark IV Lotus Mark IV was a trials car by Colin Chapman built on an Austin 7 chassis. Chapman's success at building trials cars brought another previous customer, Mike Lawson, to order a second trials car in 1952 to replace his Lotus Mark II, in which ...

(1952): Trials car *

Lotus Mark V Lotus Mark V was a prototype single seater sports car by Colin Chapman that was never built. Chapman said that he believed a 100-mph road sports car could be developed using an un-supercharged Austin 7 engine. The Lotus Mark V was designed fo ...

(1952): 750 cc formula car, never built *

Lotus Mark VI The Lotus Mark VI is the first production car by Lotus Cars. It was introduced by Colin Chapman in 1952 after previously building multiple trials and road racing cars. The heart of the Mark VI is a space frame chassis. Rather than a complete ...

(1953–1955): The first "production" racer, about 100 built *

(1957–1972): A minimalist open sports car designed to manoeuvre a racing circuit. *

Lotus Mark VIII The Lotus Mark VIII car was Colin Chapman’s first fully enclosed aerodynamic design. Chapman's basic requirements for the design were for a car of 1100 lbs powered by an 85 bhp engine and a maximum speed of 125 mph. Work began o ...

(1954): sports racer, MG 1.5 L *

Lotus Mark IX The Lotus Mark IX (1955) was an aluminium-bodied sports racing car manufactured by Lotus Engineering Ltd. About thirty of the Mark IX sports racing cars were made. It was closely related to the Lotus model Mark VIII (1954), of which only abo ...

(1955): sports racer, shorter and improved Eight *

Lotus Mark X The Lotus Mark VIII car was Colin Chapman’s first fully enclosed aerodynamic design. Chapman's basic requirements for the design were for a car of 1100 lbs powered by an 85 bhp engine and a maximum speed of 125 mph. Work began o ...

(1955): sports racer for larger displacement,

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

/ BMW 2 L *

Lotus Eleven The Lotus Eleven is a sports racing car built in various versions by Lotus from 1956 until 1958. The later versions built in 1958 are sometimes referred to as Lotus 13, although this was not an official designation. In total, about 270 Elevens ...

(1956–1957): small displacement sports racer (750 – 1500 cc) *

Lotus 12 The Lotus 12 was a Formula Two and Formula One racing car. Design Colin Chapman's first foray into single-seater racing, the 12 appeared in 1957. It featured a number of important innovations Chapman would use on later models. To better use the ...

(1956–1957):

and

racecar * Lotus 13: Designation not used * Lotus 14 (1957–1963): Lotus Elite, the first production street car *

Lotus 15 The Lotus 15 is a front-engine sports racing car designed by Colin Chapman of Lotus, built from 1958 until 1960. Series 1 The 15 is a two-seater, front-engine, rear wheel drive sports racer with an aluminium body over a space frame configuratio ...

(1958–1960): Sports racer, update of the Mk.X,

Climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

1.5 – 2.5 L *

Lotus 16 The Lotus 16 was the second single-seat racing car designed by Colin Chapman, and was built by his Lotus Cars manufacturing company for the Team Lotus racing squad. The Lotus 16 was constructed to compete in both the Formula One and Formula Tw ...

(1958–1959): F1/F2 car, "Miniature Vanwall" *

Lotus 17 The Lotus 17 was a sports car racing model built by Lotus Cars in 1959. Designed by Len Terry,Setright, L.J.K., "Lotus: The Golden Mean", in Northey, Tom, ed. ''World of Automobiles'' (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, p. 1227. it was built in res ...

(1959): Lighter sports racer update of the 11 in response to

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola (fo ...

Mk.I *

(1960–1961): First mid-engined Lotus single seater—Formula Junior/F2/F1 *

Lotus 19 The Lotus 19 or Monte Carlo is a mid-engine sports-racing car designed by Colin Chapman of Lotus and built from 1960 until 1962. Lotus 19 The 19 is a mid-engine, rear wheel drive sports racer with a fiberglass body over a space frame, original ...

(1960–1962): Mid-engined larger displacement sports racer, "Monte Carlo" *

Lotus 20 Lotus 20 was a Formula Junior car built by Lotus for the 1961 season as a successor to the Lotus 18. The chassis was a spaceframe, clothed in fibreglass bodywork. It had front double wishbone suspension, but the rear had a lower wishbone with ...

(1961): Formula Junior *

Lotus 21 The Lotus 21 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman. It was a mid-engined design using a tubular spaceframe structure skinned with fibreglass panels, of a more advanced build than seen in the Lotus 18. Powered by the 1.5-litre ...

(1961): Formula One *

Lotus 22 The Lotus 22 was a racing car built by Lotus cars in 1962, and a total of 77 cars were built. It was developed from the 1962 Lotus 20, with the major differences that it had disc brakes all round, a top link and the 'rubber donut' to the rear su ...

(1962–1965): Formula Junior/F3 *

Lotus 23 The Lotus 23 was designed by Colin Chapman as a small-displacement sports racing car. Nominally a two-seater, it was purpose-built for FIA Group 4 racing in 1962–1963. Unlike its predecessors Lotus 15 and 17, the engine was mounted amidshi ...

(1962–1966): Small displacement mid-engined sports racer *

Lotus 24 The Lotus 24 was a Formula One racing car''Automobile Year'', No. 10, 1962-1963, Page 198. designed by Team Lotus for the 1962 Formula One season. Despite some early success in non-Championship Grands Prix, it was eclipsed by the technically su ...

(1962): Formula One *

(1962–1964): Formula One World Champion *

Lotus 26 26 may refer to: * 26 (number), the natural number following 25 and preceding 27 * one of the years 26 BC, AD 26, 1926, 2026 Bands and songs * 26 (band), an Australian alternative rock group * "26", a 2014 song by Catfish and the Bottlemen fr ...

(1962–1971): Lotus Elan, production street sports car * Lotus 26R (1962–1966): Racing version of Elan *

Lotus 27 The Lotus 27 was a Formula Junior version of the Lotus 25 Formula One car for the 1963 Formula Junior season. Its body was aluminium monocoque with steel bulkheads. It was originally designed with fibreglass sides which led to flexing problems, ...

(1963): Formula Junior * Lotus 28 (1963–1966): Lotus version of the Ford Cortina street/racer *

Lotus 29 The Lotus 29 was a British racing car built by Team Lotus for the 1963 Indianapolis 500. It was their first attempt at the event and the two cars which were entered finished second and seventh in the hands of Jim Clark and Dan Gurney. Although t ...

(1963): Indy car, Ford all-aluminium OHV small block V8 *

Lotus 30 The Lotus 30 was a Auto racing, racing automobile, Colin Chapman's first attempt at a large displacement sports car racing machine following the success of the more conventional tube frame Lotus 19,19b and Lotus 23., it was designed by Colin Ch ...

(1964): Large displacement sports racer (Ford small block V8) *

Lotus 31 The Lotus 31 was a racing car produced by Lotus for the new 1-litre Formula 3 introduced in 1964, replacing the expensive Formula Junior. The chassis was a multi-tubular spaceframe, of similar design to the 1962 Lotus 22 Formula Junior. A Ford ...

(1964–1966): Formula Three space frame racer *

Lotus 32 The Lotus 32 was a Formula 2 racing car built by Team Lotus in 1964. It was developed from the Lotus 27 Formula Junior model. Twelve cars were produced, four of which were run by Ron Harris Team Lotus, whose drivers included Jim Clark and Mike ...

(1964–1965): Monocoque F2 and Tasman Cup racer *

Lotus 33 The Lotus 33 was a Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman and Len Terry and built by Team Lotus. A development of the successful Lotus 25, in the hands of Jim Clark it won five World Championship Grands Prix in 1965, taking Clark to his sec ...

(1964–1965): Formula One World Champion *

Lotus 34 The Lotus 34 is an open-wheel race car built by Team Lotus for the 1964 Indianapolis 500. Driven by Jim Clark, who qualified on pole, and Dan Gurney, tyre failure led to Clark retiring and Gurney being withdrawn. Development history The Lotus ...

(1964): Indy car, DOHC Ford V8 * Lotus 35 (1965): F2/F3/FB * Lotus 36 (1965–1968): Elan Fixed Head Coupe (Type 26 could be fitted with a removable hard top) *

Lotus 38 The Lotus 38 was the first rear-engined car to win the Indianapolis 500, in 1965, driven by Jim Clark. It was run by Lotus at Indianapolis from 1965 to 1967; a total of 8 were built, most for use by Lotus, but several were sold for use by othe ...

(1965): Indy winning mid-engined car *

Lotus 39 The Lotus 39 was a single-seat racing car produced by Team Lotus. It was originally intended for use in Formula One, to be powered by the Coventry Climax 1.5 litre flat-16 engine. The engine project fell through and the chassis was modified to acc ...

(1965–1966): Tasman Cup formula car * Lotus 40 (1965): Sports racer, a development of the 30 *

Lotus 41 The Lotus 41 was a Lotus Formula 3 and Formula 2 racing car which ran between 1966 - 1968. John Joyce, Bowin Cars Bowin Cars was an Australia, Australian designer and manufacturer of motor racing cars from 1968 to 1976. The company was foun ...

(1965–1968): Formula Three, Formula Two, Formula B *

Lotus 42 The Lotus 42 is an open-wheel race car chassis, and was Team Lotus' second purpose-built IndyCar entry, designed to win 1967 Indianapolis 500, being driven by Graham Hill. The car was unsuccessful that year, with Hill retiring on lap 23 of the ...

(1967): Indy car, Ford V8 *

Lotus 43 The Lotus 43 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1966 season. Hampered by its heavy and unreliable BRM engine, it won only one race, the 1966 United States Grand Prix. Concept The Lotus 43 was partially based on th ...

(1966): Formula One * Lotus 44 (1967): Formula Two * Lotus 45 (1966–1974): Convertible (Drop Head Coupe) Elan with permanent side window frames. *

Lotus 46 The Lotus Europa name is used on two distinct mid-engine GT cars built by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The original Europa and its variants comprise the Lotus Types 46, 47, 54, 65 and 74, and were produced between 1966 and 1975 ...

(1966–1968): Original Renault-engined

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...

Lotus 47 The Lotus Europa name is used on two distinct mid-engine GT cars built by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The original Europa and its variants comprise the Lotus Types 46, 47, 54, 65 and 74, and were produced between 1966 and 1975. ...

(1966–1970): Racing version of Europa *

(1967): Formula Two *

Lotus 49 The Lotus 49 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe for the 1967 F1 season. It was designed around the Cosworth DFV engine that would power most of the Formula One grid through the 1970s. It was one of the fi ...

(1967–1969): Formula One World Champion * Lotus 50 (1967–1974): Lotus Elan +2, four-seat production car *

Lotus 51 The Lotus 51 was an open-wheel Formula Ford race car built in 1967 by the British motorsport team Lotus. It was powered by a Ford ''Crossflow'' four-cylinder engine (the same type of engine used in the Ford Cortina), developing a respectable , w ...

(1967–1969): Formula Ford *

Lotus 52 52 may refer to: * 52 (number) * one of the years 52 BC, AD 52, 1952, 2052 * 52-hertz whale The 52-hertz whale, colloquially referred to as 52 Blue, is an individual whale of unidentified species that calls at the unusual frequency of 52 ...

(1968): Prototype Europa Twin Cam * Lotus 53 (1968): Small displacement sports racer, never built * Lotus 54 (1968–1970): Series 2 'Europa' production car. * Lotus 55 (1968): F3 *

Lotus 56 The Lotus 56 was a gas turbine-powered four-wheel-driven racing car, designed by Maurice Philippe as Team Lotus's STP-backed entry in the 1968 Indianapolis 500. All three cars entered retired from the race, Joe Leonard's car expiring while lead ...

(1968–1969): Indy turbine wedge * Lotus 56B (1971): F1 turbine wedge * Lotus 57 (1968): F2 design study * Lotus 58 (1968): F1 design study *

Lotus 59 The Lotus 59 is a racing car built by Lotus Components Ltd. for the 1969 and 1970 seasons of Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula Ford and Formula B. Design Following the failure (at least in sales) of the Lotus 41, Lotus 59 was designed from the gr ...

(1969–1970): F2/F3/Formula Ford * Lotus LX (1960): Lotus Elite built to win at Le Mans with a 2.0 L FPF engine. * Lotus 60 (1970–1973): Lotus Seven S4, Greatly modified version of the Seven * Lotus 61 (1969): Formula Ford, "the wedge" *

Lotus 62 The Lotus Type 62 race car was a development of the successful Type 47 and intended to race in the Appendix J Group 6 Prototype Class. The car was designed by Martin Waide at Lotus Components and had a space frame chassis, and featured the new ...

(1969): prototype Europa racer *

Lotus 63 The Lotus 63 was an experimental Formula One car using four-wheel drive, designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe for the 1969 season. Chapman's reasoning behind the car was that the 3 litre engines introduced in 1966 would be better served ...

(1969): 4-wheel drive F1 *

Lotus 64 The Lotus 64 was a four-wheel drive racing car built by Lotus for the 1969 Indianapolis 500. After the Lotus 29, Lotus 34, Lotus 38 and Lotus 56, The 64 was the fifth and final race car Colin Chapman built for USAC category racing. The United ...

(1969): 4-wheel drive Indy car, did not compete *

Lotus 65 The Lotus Europa name is used on two distinct mid-engine GT cars built by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The original Europa and its variants comprise the Lotus Types 46, 47, 54, 65 and 74, and were produced between 1966 and 1975 ...

(1969–1971): Federalized Europa S2 * Lotus 66:

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an Sports Car Club of America, SCCA/Canadian Auto Sport Clubs, CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987. History Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two r ...

design study * Lotus 67 (1970): Proposed Tasman Cup car, never built * Lotus 68 (1969): F5000 prototype *

Lotus 69 The Lotus 69 was an open-wheel formula racing car developed by Lotus in 1969 for use in Formula 2, Formula 3, and Formula Ford. Development Since the Formula 2 regulations for 1970 provided for extensive changes to the vehicles, Dave Baldwin deve ...

(1970): F2/F3/Formula Ford *

Lotus 70 The Lotus 70 was a race car designed by Lotus for the Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was origin ...

(1970): F5000/Formula A * Lotus 71: Undisclosed design study *

Lotus 72 The Lotus 72 is a Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe of Lotus for the 1970 Formula One season. The 72 was a pioneering design featuring inboard brakes, side-mounted radiators in sidepods (as opposed to the nose-mou ...

(1970–1972): Formula One World Champion * Lotus 73 (1972–1973): F3 * Lotus 74 - Texaco Star (1973): F2 * Lotus 74 (1971–1975): Europa Twin Cam production car * Lotus 75 (1974–1982): Elite II, Luxury 4-seat GT *

Lotus 76 The Lotus 76 is a Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman, Tony Rudd and Ralph Bellamy and used by Team Lotus in the 1974 Formula One season. Development The 76 was intended to be a more advanced version of the Lotus 72, powered by the Ford ...

(1974): F1, redundant designation *

(1975–1982): Éclat S1, fastback version of Elite II, redundant designation *

Lotus 77 The Lotus 77 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman, Geoff Aldridge and Martin Ogilvie for the 1976 Formula One season. The car was a stop-gap means to an end for Lotus, who were fighting back after the failure of the Lotus ...

(1976): F1 *

Lotus 78 The Lotus 78 was a Formula One racing car used in the and seasons. It was designed by Peter Wright, Colin Chapman, Martin Ogilvie and Tony Rudd, and was the first ground effect car in Formula One. Concept In early 1976, spurred on by a di ...

(1977–1978): F1 ground effects car *

Lotus 79 The Lotus 79 is a Formula One car designed in late 1977 by Colin Chapman, Geoff Aldridge, Martin Ogilvie, Tony Rudd, Tony Southgate and Peter Wright of Lotus. The Lotus 79 was the first F1 car to take full advantage of ground effects aerod ...

(1975–1980) Lotus Esprit, street GT, redundant designation *

(1978–1979): Formula One World Champion, redundant designation *

Lotus 80 The Lotus 80 was a Formula One car used by Team Lotus in . The car, designed by Colin Chapman, Martin Ogilvie, Peter Wright and Tony Rudd, was an attempt to take ground effect as far as possible. Design Ogilvie and Rudd reasoned that to t ...

(1979): F1 *

Lotus 81 The Lotus 81 was a Formula One racing car built by Colin Chapman's Lotus team for the 1980 Formula One season. Unlike many of forebears the 81 was not a terribly innovative or competitive car, coming as it did at a time when Chapman's inter ...

(1979–1980): Sunbeam Talbot Lotus, redundant designation *

(1980–1981): F1, redundant designation * Lotus 82 (1982–1987): Turbo Esprit, street GT car * Lotus 83 (1980): Elite series 2 * Lotus 84 (1980–1982): Éclat series 2 * Lotus 85 (1980–1987): Esprit series 3 *

Lotus 86 Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

(1980–1983): F1 dual chassis, never raced *

Lotus 87 The Lotus 87 was a Formula One racing car used by Team Lotus in the second part of the 1981 Formula One season and in the first race of the 1982 season. Design and development The car, driven by Italian Elio de Angelis and future world champ ...

(1980–1982): F1 *

Lotus 88 The Lotus 88 is an innovative Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman, Peter Wright, Tony Rudd and Martin Ogilvie of Lotus in an effort to maximise the downforce produced by ground effect. The Lotus 88 made its debut at the first practice ...

(1981): F1 dual chassis car, banned * Lotus 89 (1982–1992):

GT, re-engineered Éclat *

Lotus M90 The Lotus M90 (sometimes referred to as the Lotus X100) is a concept car that was developed by Lotus using many Toyota parts. Rumors were circulated that it was the initial design for the MKI MR2, but, though sharing an engine, it bears very ...

/X100: Toyota-based "new Elan", abandoned in favour of the Elan M100 *

Lotus 91 The Lotus 91 was a car used by the English team Lotus in the 1982 Formula One season, designed by Colin Chapman, Martin Ogilvie and Tony Rudd. Design After several uncompetitive seasons with experimental or uncompetitive cars, Colin Chapm ...

(1982): F1 *

Lotus 92 The Lotus 92 was a Formula One racing car designed by Martin Ogilvie along with Team Lotus founder Colin Chapman before Chapman died in December 1982. The 92 was used by Lotus in the first part of the 1983 Formula One season. The car was driv ...

(1983): F1 *

Lotus 93T The Lotus 93T was a Formula One car with which the Team Lotus participated the first part of the F1 championship in 1983. It was the first Lotus car to use the Renault Gordini EF1 turbo engine and was the last F1 car designed by team founder Col ...

(1983): F1 Turbo *

Lotus 94T The Lotus 94T was a Formula One racing car used by Team Lotus in the second part of the 1983 Formula One season. The car was powered by the Renault Gordini ''EF1'' V6-turbo engine, and ran on Pirelli tyres. The car was designed and built in on ...

(1983): F1 Turbo *

Lotus 95T The Lotus 95T was a Formula One racing car designed by Gérard Ducarouge for use by Team Lotus in the 1984 Formula One World Championship. The car brought Lotus its best results for several seasons, frequently reaching the podium. Design The ...

(1984): F1 Turbo *

Lotus 96T The Lotus type 96T was Team Lotus's last Indycar. The project was the brainchild of former Formula 2 team owner Roy Winkelmann. During the 1960s Winklemann had proved successful running Brabhams and scoring successes with Jochen Rindt. However ...

(1984): Indy car project, abandoned *

Lotus 97T The Lotus 97T was a Formula One racing car designed by Gérard Ducarouge and built by Team Lotus for use in the 1985 Formula One World Championship. A development of the previous year's 95T, the car was powered by the turbocharged 1.5-litre Ren ...

(1985–1986): F1 Turbo *

Lotus 98T The Lotus 98T was a Formula One car designed by Gérard Ducarouge and Martin Ogilvie and built by Team Lotus for use in the 1986 Formula One World Championship. Development of the previous year's 97T, the car was raced by Brazilian Ayrton Senna ...

(1986–1987): F1 Turbo *

Lotus 99T The Lotus 99T is a Formula One car designed by Gérard Ducarouge for use by Lotus in the 1987 Formula One World Championship. Background and design After Renault pulled out of F1 at the end of , Lotus signed a deal with Honda for use of th ...

(1987): F1 Turbo, last Lotus F1 winner *

Lotus 100T The Lotus 100T is a Formula One car designed by Gérard Ducarouge and Martin Ogilvie for Team Lotus, and used during the 1988 Formula One season. The 100T was an update of the previous Lotus 99T model; technically the car was virtually unchange ...

(1988): F1 Turbo * Lotus Elan (Type M100) (1989–1995): Front-drive convertible Elan. *

Lotus 101 The Lotus 101 was the car with which the Lotus team competed in the 1989 Formula One World Championship. It was powered by a Judd V8 engine and driven by triple World Champion Nelson Piquet and Satoru Nakajima, in their second and third season ...

(1989): F1 *

Lotus 102 The Lotus 102 was a Formula One racing car designed by Lotus for use in the 1990 Formula One season and would eventually go on to compete in 37 races spanning three seasons from until . Development Using the 101 as its basis Frank Dernie inco ...

(1990–1991): F1 * Lotus 103 (1990): F1, not produced * Lotus 104 (1990–1992): Lotus Carlton/Omega, tuned version of the Opel/Vauxhall saloon. * Lotus 105 (1990): Racing X180R, IMSA Supercars Drivers Champ (

Doc Bundy Harry "Doc" Bundy (born January 25, 1946) from Scio, Ohio, is an American former race car driver who competed in IMSA (International Motor Sports Association), 24 Hours of Le Mans, NASCAR Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series, American Le Mans Series ...

) * Lotus 106 (1991): X180R, roadgoing homologation special *

Lotus 107 The Lotus 107 was a Formula One car used by Team Lotus. Designed for the 1992 Formula One season, and used throughout most of 1992, 1993 and part of 1994, it brought in a final, short-lived period of competitiveness for the team in Formula One. ...

(1992–1994): F1 *

Lotus 108 The Lotus Type 108 (originally known as LotusSport Pursuit Bicycle) is an Olympic individual pursuit bicycle. Its frame is an advanced aerofoil cross-section using a carbon composite monocoque. Development The use of monocoque frames for bik ...

(1992): a track only bike ridden by

Chris Boardman Christopher Miles Boardman, (born 26 August 1968) is a British former racing cyclist. A time trial and prologue specialist, Boardman won the inaugural men's World time trial championship in 1994, won the individual pursuit gold medal at the 19 ...

to win a gold medal at the

1992 Barcelona Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

, also known as the "LotusSport Pursuit Bicycle". *

Lotus 109 The Lotus 109 was a Formula One car used by Team Lotus in the latter part of the 1994 Formula One season. It was designed by Chris Murphy who based the car on his Lotus 107 model. It was powered by a Mugen-Honda V10. Johnny Herbert was able to ...

(1994): F1, Last Lotus F1 car. *

Lotus 110 The Lotus Type 108 (originally known as LotusSport Pursuit Bicycle) is an Olympic individual pursuit bicycle. Its frame is an advanced aerofoil cross-section using a carbon composite monocoque. Development The use of monocoque frames for bik ...

: Road and TT bike. Often mistaken for the

but completely different bikes. * Lotus 111 (1996–2022): Lotus Elise * Lotus 112: Partial F1 design, reached as far as the monocoque buck * Lotus 113: Number not allocated * Lotus 114 (1996): Lotus Esprit GT1 race car * Lotus 115 (1997–1998): Lotus Elise GT1 * Lotus 116: Opel Speedster/Vauxhall VX220, a collaboration with Opel * Lotus 117: Lotus Elise S2 * Lotus 118: Lotus M250, two-seat mid-range sports car concept unveiled in Autumn of 1999, project cancelled in 2001 * Lotus 119 (2002): Soapbox Derby car made of carbon and aluminium, disc brakes, no engine, for

Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hillclimbing, hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in l ...

* Lotus 120 (1998-2022): Elise V6, code named M120, never produced * Lotus 121 (2000–2022): Lotus Exige * Lotus 121 (2006): Europa S * Lotus 122 (2007–2011): Lotus 2-Eleven, 0-door speedster *

Lotus 123 Lotus 1-2-3 is a discontinued spreadsheet program from Lotus Software (later part of IBM). It was the first killer application of the IBM PC, was hugely popular in the 1980s, and significantly contributed to the success of IBM PC-compatibles i ...

(2010–2022): Lotus Evora * Lotus 124: Lotus Evora, race car * Lotus T125 (2010): Lotus Exos *

Lotus T127 The Lotus T127 is a Formula One motor racing car designed and built by Lotus Racing for the season. It was driven by Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen and was unveiled in London, on 12 February 2010. The car made its track début in the hands ...

(2010):

F1 car, made for 2010 season *

Lotus T128 (Formula One car) The Lotus T128, known prior to its launch by its project number TL11, is a Formula One motor racing car designed by Mike Gascoyne, Lewis Butler and Marianne Hinson for Team Lotus (2010–11), Team Lotus in the 2011 Formula One season. 2011 saw ...

(2011):

F1 car, made for 2011 season *

Lotus T128 (Le Mans Prototype) The Lotus T128 is a Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) sports car built by Advanced Design and Engineering Systems Solutions (ADESS) and Kodewa and designed by former Sauber technical director James Key. It was used by Kodewa which went under the n ...

(2013): race car built for 24 Hours of LeMans * Lotus 129 (2016–2022): Lotus 3-Eleven, 0-door speedster * Lotus 130 (2021–): Lotus Evija, all-electric hypercar * Lotus 131 (2022–): Lotus Emira, revealed 6 July 2021 * Lotus 132 (2023–): Electric Hyper SUV, teased 8 November 2021 by Lotus, debuted 29/03/2022, becoming a new competitor in the rapidly expanding premium electric SUV segment. * Lotus 133 (2024–): Sedan, all-electric four-door super saloon * Lotus 134 (2025–): Mid-size SUV, all-electric * Lotus 135 (2026–): Sports car, all-electric supercar *

: The Elise was launched in 1996 and weighed . The current range of Elises starts at and incorporates some engineering innovations, such as an aluminium extrusion frame and a composite body shell. The Elise has spawned several racing variants, including a limited series called the 340R, which has an open-body design echoing the old Seven. The Elise was introduced into the US, with a

Toyota engine This is a list of Internal combustion engine#Reciprocating engines, piston engines developed, independently or with other car companies, by Toyota Motor Corporation. Engine codes Toyota has produced a wide variety of automobile engines, including ...

, to pass strict US emissions laws. The 1ZZ & 2ZZ Toyota engines used to have a Lotus ECU with their own fuel mapping. The supercharged Lotus Elise S (which replaced the SC model) and limited edition Jim Clark Type 25 Elise editions add a new performance dimension to the Elise range. 0– acceleration is in 4.3 seconds and 0– in 4.6 seconds. The Elise spawned into its third generation in 2012 where it saw more power being added and more newer variants such as the Elise Cup 250 being introduced. *

Lotus Exige The Lotus Exige is a British two-door, two-seat sports car made by Lotus Cars since 2000. Originally a more-hardcore coupé version of the Lotus Elise roadster, since the Series 3 the Exige has been the larger-engined model of the family - usi ...

: The coupé version of the Elise which is in production since 2000. Currently the Exige has a variety of variants ranging from the Sport 350 to the Cup 430. All variants of the Exige feature the

Supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

DOHC V6 from the

. *

: The Lotus Evora was unveiled on 22 July 2008. It was code named Project Eagle during development. The Evora is 2+2 sports car with a mid-mounted, transverse 3.5-litre V6 engine. Lotus unveiled a more powerful variant of the Evora called the Evora S in 2011 which Lotus provided as Rapid Response Vehicles to the Rome and Milan

Carabinieri The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...

to replace the previous

Lamborghini Gallardo The Lamborghini Gallardo (; ) is a sports car built by the Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini from 2003 to 2013. It is Lamborghini's second car released under parent company Audi, and best-selling model with 14,022 built throughout its ...

s. A facelifted and more powerful Evora 400 model was unveiled at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show after Lotus discontinued the standard Evora and the Evora S. The Evora 400 was followed up by the Evora Sport 410 which was unveiled at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. Another powerful variant called the Evora GT430 was unveiled in September 2017.

Announcements of future cars

At the 2010 Paris Motorshow, Lotus announced five new models to be introduced over the next five years: Their intention was to replace the Elise with an entirely different model, as well as to introduce two entirely new sports coupes, which would have been known as the Elite and the Elan, a new sports saloon, the Eterne, to rival the

Aston Martin Rapide The Aston Martin Rapide is a 4-door, 4-seater, high-performance sports saloon, which the British luxury marque Aston Martin introduced in early 2010. It was first presented as a concept car at the North American International Auto Show in 2006 ...

and

Maserati Quattroporte The Maserati Quattroporte () is a four-door full-size luxury sports sedan produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati. The name translated from Italian means "four doors". The car is currently in its sixth generation, with the first ge ...

, and a modern interpretation of the Esprit supercar. It became apparent in July 2012 that the firm's financial difficulties had made this plan impossible to implement, and initially all but the Esprit project were cancelled. Subsequently, the Esprit project was also cancelled. Lotus also showed an unnamed city car concept using its 1.2L range-extender engine. In 2011, Lotus revealed this as the

Lotus Ethos The Lotus Ethos is a fully plug-in hybrid concept car that was unveiled at the 2010 Paris Motor Show as the "Lotus CityCar". The vehicle was developed by Lotus Engineering, a separate division from Lotus Cars. The CityCar has a lithium battery ...

, a plug-in hybrid car based on the EMAS concept from its parent company Proton, and likely to be primarily built by Proton in Malaysia. This car has also been cancelled. Lotus CEO at the time Jean Marc Gales confirmed in 2017 that development of an SUV is currently under way, after the company was acquired by the Chinese automotive manufacturer, Geely. In July 2019 Lotus revealed the Evija, a and electric

supercar A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...

. In January 2021, Lotus teased that the Elise,

, and Evora will be discontinued and be replaced by the Type 131 which had yet to be released at the time of announcement. In July 2021, Lotus revealed that this new model will be called Emira. With a July 6, 2021 debut, the letter "E", in Emira was brought into focus by the British automobile company, as to how all Lotus models names started with "E" after

. Not to confuse with numeral 11, in Mark X1, as Mark 11, subsequent to Mark X; the company's founder

, named the car as

. Since 1956, all Lotus cars names start with letter "E". In November 2021, Lotus teased the future introduction of the future Type 132 SUV.

Lotus engines

Lotus-Ford Twin Cam The Lotus-Ford Twin Cam is an inline-four petrol engine developed by Lotus for the 1962 Lotus Elan. A few early examples displaced 1.5 litres, but the majority were 1.55-litre (1557ml) engines. It used a Ford 116E iron cylinder block and a new ...

Lotus 907 The Lotus 907 is an inline-4 automobile engine designed and manufactured by Lotus Cars. Displacing , it is all-alloy, and features dual overhead camshafts (DOHC) and 16 valves. It developed approximately with dual side-draft Dell'Orto carbu ...

** Lotus 910 ** Lotus 911 ** Lotus 912 ** Lotus 920 ** Lotus 918 * Range Extender Engine. This all-aluminium, monoblock, 1200 cc, three-cylinder, 47 horsepower, four-stroke engine is specifically designed to directly drive an alternator for electricity generation for

series-hybrid Hybrid vehicle drivetrains transmit power to the driving wheels for hybrid vehicles. A hybrid vehicle has multiple forms of motive power. Hybrids come in many configurations. For example, a hybrid may receive its energy by burning gasoline, but s ...

cars. The engine is small and light at , having three cylinders and no detachable cylinder head. The cylinder head and engine block are all one casting to reduce size, weight and production costs. As the engine does not turn belt driven ancillaries such as alternator, power-steering pump or an air conditioning compressor, the block requires no strong points to accommodate such ancillaries, resulting in a simple and light block. The engine has a reduced parts count for lightness and cheaper production. * On 18 August 2011 Lotus developed an all new in-house designed V8 destined for the new era range of cars. At and just long, the unit is dry sump lubricated to save depth and will feature a 180° flat plane crank. The engine is being utilised as a stressed component, a technique pioneered by Colin Chapman in F1, specifically with the 1967 Type 49. It was expected to be used in the Le Mans LMP2 car in 2012. Expected performance is likely to be in excess of and with a 9,200 rpm redline. * Lotus Omnivore, research engine and prototype.

Lotus Engineering

Lotus Engineering Limited is an offshoot of Lotus Cars, which provides engineering consultancy to third-party companies primarily in the automotive industry. As well as

in the United Kingdom Lotus has engineering centres in

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

, USA,

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

, Malaysia and Shanghai, China. In 2000, Lotus Engineering, Inc. was established with an office in

, Michigan.

Engineering demonstrators

*Lotus Eco Elise is an engineering demonstrator of its classic sports car that incorporates

solar panel A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...

s into a roof made from

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...

, while also employing natural materials in the body and interior of the car. *Lotus Exige 265E Bio-fuel *Lotus Exige 270E Tri-fuel *Lotus Evora 414E Hybrid. Shown at the 2010 Geneva Motor show * Lotus Concept City Car. Shown at the 2010 Paris motor show.

APX and VVA

The APX (also known as the "Aluminium Performance Crossover") is an aluminium

concept vehicle A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or m ...

revealed at the 2006

Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show is an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show is hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon is organised by th ...

built on Lotus Engineering's

Versatile Vehicle Architecture Lotus Cars Limited is a British automotive company headquartered in Norfolk, England which manufactures sports cars and racing cars noted for their light weight and fine handling characteristics. Lotus was previously involved in Formula One ...

(VVA). Whereas the VVA technology was to be used in the development of a new mid-engine sportscar for Lotus cars, the APX is, in fact, a high-performance 7-seat MPV with four-wheel drive and a front-mounted V6 engine from Lotus Engineering's Powertrain division. The engine was designed and developed to be available in a 2.2-litre naturally aspirated and 3.0-litre supercharged variations. An electric version was also shown in the 2007 NADA show. Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) is an effort by the Lotus car manufacturing company to reduce the investment needed for producing unique, niche-market cars by sharing a number of common components. Cars produced using VVA: *

Lotus APX The Lotus APX (APX stands for ''Aluminium Performance Crossover'') is a concept car created by the British automobile marque, Lotus Cars, Lotus. It was first introduced at the Geneva Motor Show#2006, 2006 Geneva Motor Show, and was also display ...

Projects undertaken by Lotus Engineering

Examples of work undertaken by Lotus Engineering include: * Lotus

Talbot Sunbeam Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talb ...

—Talbot's

hot hatch A hot hatch (shortened from hot hatchback) is a high-performance hatchback car. The term originated in the mid-1980s; however, factory high-performance versions of hatchbacks have been produced since the 1970s. Front-mounted petrol engines, ...

rally car of the early 1980s *

. Changes to the original concept led to considerable schedule pressures. The car was deemed to require almost complete re-engineering, which was turned over to engineer

, founder of Lotus. Lotus replaced most of the unproven material and manufacturing techniques with those then employed by Lotus in the

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton The Lotus Carlton (also called Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Lotus Omega and Opel Lotus Omega) is a Vauxhall Carlton/Opel Omega A saloon upgraded by Lotus in order to be able to reach speeds up to 285 km/h (177 mph) with acceleration to e ...

(also Opel Lotus Omega, internal name Lotus Type 104) – At the time (early 1990s) this was the fastest saloon car available, with a top speed of over 175 mph (280 km/h) *The 1991 Dodge Spirit R/T with a version of the 2.2 L K-car engine with a 16-valve DOHC head designed by Lotus with over *

Vauxhall VX220 The Opel Speedster is a mid-engined, targa-topped, two-seat sports car sold by German automaker Opel and introduced in July 2000. It was built in both RHD and LHD versions at the Lotus Cars plant in Hethel, Norfolk, England. It was presente ...

(badged Opel Speedster outside of the UK) – Lotus produced and based the car upon the same aluminium chassis design as the

. Production of these models ended in 2005 * Lotus styled and assisted with the engineering of the Tesla Roadster, an electric sports car based on the Elise, as well as licensing some technologies to

Tesla Motors Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles (electric cars and electric truck, trucks), battery energy storage from ...

and constructing the Roadster at their plant in

. * The

Aston Martin DB9 The Aston Martin DB9 is a grand tourer produced by Aston Martin. Available both in coupé and a convertible bodystyles, the latter being known as the Volante, the DB9 was the successor to the DB7. It was first shown at the 2003 Frankfurt Aut ...

's chassis was developed with the help of Lotus Engineering * Lotus was responsible for most of the design, development, and testing, of the LT5 DOHC V8 powerplant for the Chevrolet Corvette C4 ZR-1 * Lotus designed, developed and tested the GM Ecotec engine and its variants * Lotus was responsible for various aspects of the

Sinclair C5 The Sinclair C5 is a small one-person battery electric recumbent tricycle, technically an "electrically assisted pedal cycle". It was the culmination of Sir Clive Sinclair's long-running interest in electric vehicles. Although widely described ...

electric tricycle * Lotus was responsible for the suspension calibration of the

Toyota MR2 The Toyota MR2 is a line of two-seat, MR layout, mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports cars manufactured in Japan and marketed globally by Toyota from 1984 until 2007 over three generations: W10 (1984–1989), W20 (1989–1999) and W30 (2000–20 ...

Mk. I, the

Mk. II and Mk. III, the

Isuzu Piazza The Isuzu Piazza is a small, sporty 3-door liftback coupé which was manufactured by Isuzu from 1981 until 1992 in two generations. The Isuzu Piazza was marketed as the Isuzu Impulse in North America and as the Holden Piazza in Australia. The ...

, the Isuzu Impulse as well as newer Proton models * Lotus did engineering work on the PROTON Satria GTi model * Lotus was responsible for the development of the

Campro engine The Proton CamPro engine is the first flagship automotive engine developed together with Lotus by the Malaysian automobile manufacturer, Proton. The name ''CamPro'' is short for ''Cam Profiling''. This engine powers the Proton Gen-2, Proton Satr ...

together with Proton,About Proton Engineering
– Proton Cars UK as well as its

variable valve timing In internal combustion engines, variable valve timing (VVT) is the process of altering the timing of a valve lift event, and is often used to improve performance, fuel economy or emissions. It is increasingly being used in combination with varia ...

system, the Cam Profile Switching (CPS). Currently available in the 1.6-litre and 1.3-litre variants, the Campro engine now powers most of Proton's newer models * Lotus has worked on the suspension of the

Mahindra Scorpio The Mahindra Scorpio is a mid-size SUV manufactured by the Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra since 2002. It was Mahindra's first model to be built for the global market. The Scorpio was conceptualized and designed by the in-house integrated ...

to make it more stable at high speeds * Lotus produced the revised chassis of the

* Lotus has worked on the suspension and handling of the

Volvo 480 The Volvo 480 is a sporty compact car that was produced in Born, Netherlands, by Volvo from 1986 to 1995. It was the first front-wheel drive car made by Volvo and the only Volvo featuring pop-up headlights. The 480 was available in only one body ...

* The Dodge EV concept electric vehicle from

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

is based on a

Lotus Europa S The Lotus Europa S (Type 121) is a two-seat mid-engine sports car, designed to be a more toned down and comfortable variant of the driver focused Lotus Elise and its derivative, the Exige. The Europa S is a modern version of the Europa line of t ...

* Lotus has worked on the suspension and handling of the

Nissan GT-R The Nissan GT-R (Japanese: 日産・GT-R, ''Nissan GT-R''), is a high-performance sports car and grand tourer produced by Nissan, unveiled in 2007. It is the successor to the Skyline GT-R, a high performance variant of the Nissan Skyline. Alth ...

* Lotus rebuilt, modified, and tuned a

Lada Riva The Lada / VAZ-2105, 2104 and 2107, collectively marketed as Lada Riva for right-hand drive models (in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand), the Lada Nova in Germany, and by multiple other names and markets, are a series of compact se ...

on Top Gear season 1, episode 8. * The 2006 Volkswagen GX3 features a chassis developed by Lotus for VW * The 2009

Kia Soul The Kia Soul is a subcompact crossover SUV manufactured and marketed worldwide by Kia, currently in its third generation. Designed at Kia's design center in California, the Soul debuted at the 2008 Paris Motor Show and is manufactured in South Ko ...

features Lotus tuned suspension (UK only) * 2010: Limo-Green project with

Jaguar Cars Jaguar (, ) is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that was responsible for the production of Jaguar cars ...

. Lotus provided the Range Extender engine for a prototype XJ series-hybrid car. The car returned 58 mpg (imperial) running off the range extender alone * Lotus partnered with Jaguar for developing chassis system and engine management of the Jaguar C-X75. The engine is a supercharged 1.6 turbo petrol engine rated at coupled with a . * Lotus has worked on handling and steering of the 2015 Hyundai Genesis. * The 2015 Spyker B6 Venator is powered by a Lotus-built engine originating from a Toyota-sourced block. * The

Baojun 730 The Baojun 730 () is a seven-seat compact MPV produced by SAIC-GM-Wuling through the Baojun brand. The 730 was launched at the 2014 Auto China and developed at the SAIC-GM-Wuling Chinese joint venture specifically for the Chinese market. Baojun ...

, a Chinese minivan with Lotus-tuned suspension, built by a

subsidiary. * HB.T, a

track bicycle A track bicycle or track bike is a bicycle optimized for racing at a velodrome or outdoor track. Unlike road bicycles, the track bike is a fixed-gear bicycle; thus, it has only a single gear ratio and has neither a freewheel nor brakes. Tires are ...

with a novel aerodynamic design; produced in collaboration with Hope Technology and

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national governing body for cycle sport in Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It represents Bri ...

Lotus based cars

* Detroit Electric SP.01, based on Elise chassis *

Hennessey Venom GT The Hennessey Venom GT is a high performance sports car manufactured by US manufacturer Hennessey Performance Engineering. The Venom GT is based on the Lotus Elise/Exige. Speed records On January 21, 2013, the Venom GT set a Guinness World Reco ...

, based on the Exige/Elise chassis * Infiniti Emerg-e concept car, based on Evora 414E *

Melkus Melkus was a marque of single seat racing cars and sport cars founded by the race driver Heinz Melkus in Dresden in East Germany. The company existed from 1959 to 1986, and then from 2009 to 2012. The cars originally used engines from Wartbur ...

RS2000, based on Elise chassis *

Rinspeed sQuba The sQuba, developed by Swiss company Rinspeed, is the world's first car that can be driven both on land and under water. The original idea by Rinspeed founder and CEO Frank M. Rinderknecht was inspired by the 1977 James Bond film '' The Spy Who ...

concept car, based on Elise chassis * Tesla Roadster, based on Elise chassis *

/Opel Speedster, based on the Elise

Electric vehicles

The Tesla Roadster is based on the Elise chassis. Lotus Engineering has established a group dedicated to hybrid and electric vehicles. Lotus Engineering developed the Evora 414E as their first hybrid concept car. Featuring a total hybrid range of more than 300 miles. Lotus joined

MIRA Ltd HORIBA MIRA Ltd. (formerly the Motor Industry Research Association) is an automotive engineering and development consultancy company headquartered near Nuneaton in Warwickshire, United Kingdom. It provides product engineering, research, testing, ...

and

Caparo Caparo plc is a British company involved mainly in the steel industry, primarily in the design, manufacturing and marketing of steel and niche engineering products. Current affairs Caparo was founded by Lord Swraj Paul, in 1968. Sixteen compa ...

on a luxury hybrid executive sedan project called "Limo-Green"—funded by the UK Government

Technology Strategy Board Innovate UK is the United Kingdom's innovation agency, which provides money and support to organisations to make new products and services. It is a non-departmental public body operating at arm's length from the Government as part of the United ...

. The vehicle will be a series

plug-in hybrid A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a hybrid electric vehicle whose battery pack can be recharged by plugging a charging cable into an external electric power source, in addition to internally by its on-board internal combustion engin ...

Lotus unveiled their first series production electric sports car called the Evija in July 2019. The car is undergoing development under the codename Type 130. Production would be limited to 130 units and is scheduled to begin in Summer 2020. The Evija makes use of a 70 kWh battery pack developed in conjunction with Williams Advanced Engineering. There are 4 electric motors placed on each wheel supported by an Integral powertrain. The powertrain is rated at a total output of and of torque. The Evija has a range of .

References

External links

*
Lotus Official Community Partner Site
{{Authority control 1952 establishments in England British companies established in 1952 Car brands Car manufacturers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Norfolk Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United Kingdom English brands Joint ventures Motor vehicle manufacturers of England South Norfolk Sports car manufacturers Vehicle manufacture in London Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1952 az:Lotus