lotus

Lotus have a storied history of making performance cars, and for participation in motor racing. Founded by Colin Chapman in 1952, with the first factory being in an old stable behind the Railway Hotel in Hornsey, Lotus have been through a number of owners including General Motors and Bugatti, and are presently in the hands of Proton. The late fifties Lotus Seven is considered one of the classic open sports cars tuned for performance and handling, it's design is built to this day still by Caterham who bought the design from Lotus in 1973. Lotus Cars that are currently on the market include the Elise, Exige and recently introduced Europa. The Elise, introduced in 1996 reinvigorated the Lotus make after the Bugatti bankruptcy, and is considered one of the best handling modern sports cars available. The Exige is the highly tuned, track oriented variant of the Elise platform and is street legal, as well as available with a super charger. Lotus released the Evora in 2008, is a larger sport car and is the basis on two further models due to be released in 2011. Lotus won the F1 Constructors title seven times, and it's drivers included Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Richt and Mario Andretti.