Au Revoir Lotus Elise, Evora, And Exige

The Exige, Evora, and Elise performance cars have been laid to rest as Lotus has bid farewell for all three models. The last ones of each model that rolled out from Lotus’ Hethel facility will be reserved exclusively for Lotus’ Heritage collection. What makes these models stand out is they cemented the Lotus brand by racking up almost half of its sales in Lotus’ 73 years history.  

Lotus produced a total of 35,124 Elises, 10,497 Exiges, and 6.117 units of the Evoras, taking the grand total to 51,738 cars during their 26-year tenure. The Elise and Exige were based on the Final Editions, and were finished in Yellow and Racing Green respectively, while the Evora is the GT430 Sport in Grey. What made them more special was the way these cars were built, especially the Elise and Exige.

Between 1996 and 2000, the Exige and Elise were hand built in a small assembly hall. Post 2000, Lotus has installed assembly lines for the production of these cars, resulting in faster and better quality production. These assembly lines will now be replaced to pave the way for the Emira sports car, Lotus’ final ICE-powered model. 

Matt Windle, Managing Director, Lotus Cars, said: “First of all, I would like to thank the Lotus team who have worked on the Elise, Exige and Evora over the years. As we say farewell to the last few cars, we look forward to the Emira and Evija in the all-new factories at Hethel and sub-assembly facilities in Norwich, which introduce greater efficiencies and automation, higher quality and flexibility and the hugely exciting next chapter in our Vision80 strategy.”

Coming up next from Lotus is its all-electric performance car, the Evija, claimed to be the most powerful production car in the world. The Type 132, Lotus’ upcoming electric SUV, will be revealed anytime between March and May 2022.