The Lotus Elise Gen 1 was the genesis of where Lotus is today

The Lotus Elise is nowaday renowned as a joy to behold visually and while driving due to the supple chassis and lack of driving aids, an the original from 1996 had the same premise with some slight differences. The Elise, named after Elisa Artioli, a surname you will have heard of if you know the story behind Bugatti or the EB110, was designed by Julian Thomson and weighed just 725 kilograms. This enabled it to use a 118 horsepower engine lifted straight from a Freelander to reach 100kmh in six seconds, but that wasn't why this car was special. No, it was the handling, which was praised highly.

When you look at the Elise, it looks obviously sporty but it doesn't have any big wings or other fancy addends. Instead it is beautifully simple, with a front fascia that could say harks back to the Austin-Healeys of the early sixties. In terms of the convertible's variations, there is the Exige which is a coupe version of the car, which has several more track focused variants, the 111S which is a faster version, and the 340R, a track-designed car based on the Elise but with a completely different body.

The original Elise was forcibly discontinued due to safety rules in 2000, but while the original was missed, subsequent new generations and variations have continued the original's legacy. Today the Elise is still one of, if not the, market leader/s in the track-focused sports car segment.