Lotus Cars is a renowned British automobile company that has been manufacturing sports vehicles since the 1940s. The auto manufacturing and motorsports industry is cut-throat, and only a few auto manufacturers survive in it for long – Lotus Cars is one of them. The English car manufacturer started small with limited funds and underwent many ups and downs throughout its journey of 67 years.
Let’s delve in deeper with these fascinating facts about Lotus Cars.
Interesting Lotus Car Facts
Lotus Cars has gone through several mergers and changes throughout the years, but come what may, the car company is known to design and build some high-performing sports cars. Following are some interesting facts about Lotus cars.
Lotus is a Sports and Racing Car Brand
Lotus Cars Limited was founded by Colin Chapman in 1948. The auto company is over seventy years old and has been a pioneer in the world of auto racing. Sports enthusiasts are familiar with the Lotus Car brand.
The company is acknowledged for using the latest and most cutting-edge technology to design and construct extremely innovative sports and racing cars. Lotus Car manufactures sports and race cars on and off the track. Another interesting fact about Lotus Cars is that they gained admiration for flawless engineering and performance.
Fast forward seven decades later, the auto manufacturer still produces some of the most expensive and high-performance sports cars.
Lotus Cars Uses Less Parts to Build Cars
The car company always supported and made lighter cars. Case in point: The company believes the lighter the car, the faster it will run. Traditionally, Lotus Cars have used the least number of parts in its automobiles. The parts used to build Lotus Cars are also lightweight. Despite the weight, Lotus Cars are fast on the track and extremely dependable.
Car models, including Evora and Espora, almost look like GT4 sports cars or small go-karts. Developing lightweight vehicles is a major part of the car brand’s philosophy. In fact, the home page for Lotus states they are “recognizable worldwide as the manufacturers of lightweight sports cars.”
Among other intriguing facts about Lotus Cars, the one about the company mastering the technique of lightweight architecture and being the leader of environmentally friendly vehicle technology stands out.
Originally Kit Cars
In the early days, the main aim of Lotus cars was to produce and sell race cars to private racers and trial racers. The cars were almost do-it-yourself kits for immature racers willing to build cars themselves and save money.
Lotus sold cars as kit cars to save consumers on purchase tax. Kit cars remained quite famous till the late 1960s. However, the trend faded out in the early ’70s. This was when Lotus Cars branched out from kit cars, especially with cars like the Lotus Elite, Elan Plus Two and Lotus Eclat – these were among the first road cars that were not sold as kit cars.
Lotus Used to Be an F1 Team
New fans of Formula One Racing might not know that Lotus had an F1 team once. In the 1960s and ’70s, Lotus dominated the track, winning a number of titles with drivers including Jim Clark and Emerson Fittipaldi. Team Lotus won the Formula 1 World Championship a total of seven times. However, due to financial cries and a shortage of wins, in 2015, Lotus sold its team to Renault.
The Best All-Around Sports Car is By Lotus
The Lotus Elise is rated as one of the best all-around sports cars. The car is extremely lightweight, at 1960 lbs. The car is not fit for everyone to drive. The power and design of the car is not exactly the best for road handling. That said, the car is more of a track car. On the track, the car really exhibits high performance, but the car is not fit for on-ground drives.
The Ejiva is Lotus’ New SuperCar
Lotus is releasing an all-new hypercar called The Evija, and it’s all set to compete with automotive giants, including the Porsche 918, McLaren P1 and Ferrari SF90 Stradale. All these vehicles offer hybrid engines, but the Lotus Evija is all-electric.
According to Lotus, this is the most powerful car to enter series production. The Ejiva is a new chapter in Lotus Cars’ history and paves the way for future electric hypercars.
New Owners of Lotus Cars is Geely
As mentioned earlier, Lotus has been bought and sold by several companies. At present, Geely owns Lotus. This is a Chinese carmaker with a massive market share and reaches compared to the standard British Lotus.
With Geely purchasing Lotus Cars, the brand experienced a mix of ups and downs. That said, the all-new hypercar by Lotus will bring the car brand back to relevance.
Lotus Featured in Bond Movies
Lotus is also among popular James Bond Cars. Other movies featuring Lotus car brands include Pretty Women and Avengers, among others.
This brings an end to our compilation of facts about Lotus Cars. All models of the car manufacturer are known for their design, engineering, car structure and road performance. If you wish to buy a Lotus car for yourself, browse through these used Lotus cars for sale in the UAE and have your pick.
Stay tuned to the UAE’s favourite cars blog for more interesting facts of different car makes.
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