Lotus Elise

The Lotus Elise is a two seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the English manufacturer Lotus Cars. The car 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. The roadster is capable of speeds up to 240 km/h (150 mph).[2] The Elise was named after Elisa, the granddaughter of Romano Artioli who was chairman of Lotus at the time of the car's launch.[3]

Lotus makes cars lightweight instead of making powerful engines in order to achieve performance. Lotus Elise weighs only 725 kg (1,600 lb). (In production form in 1996)[4] For comparison, a Porsche Boxster is 74% heavier at 1,250 kg (2,756 lb).

The Series 1 Elise was able to accelerate 0-60 mph in 5.8 seconds despite its relatively low power output of 118 bhp (88 kW; 120 PS)[1]. Braking, cornering, and fuel consumption are also improved by the car's reduced weight.