Lotus Elise S1 1998 - World Of Classic Cars -

Lotus Elise S1 1998

The Lotus Elise is a two-seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996. It has a hand-finished fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chassis that provides a rigid platform for the suspension while keeping weight and production costs to a minimum but capable of speeds up to 150mph. The Elise was named after Elisa, the granddaughter of Romano Artioli who was chairman of Lotus and Bugatti at the time of the car's launch. The car represented a return by Lotus to simple and lightweight sports cars after several years producing the increasingly heavy and luxurious Lotus Esprit.