Lotus bids farewell to Elise, Exige and Evora

British sports car manufacturer Lotus is farewelling its Elise, Exige and Evora as it prepares to ramp up production for its Emira next year.

Its Norfolk plant was the site of the Elise's conception in September 1996 when the first example rolled off the production line, lasting for 25 years as the centrepiece of Lotus's modern era with 35,124 examples built.

Introduced four years after the Elise as a more track-oriented, hardcore version of the two-seater, the Exige bows out after 10,497 units were produced – over 4000 more than the Evora which came later in 2008 with a total of 6117 units.

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Despite the three cars covering just 25 years of Lotus's 73-year long standing as a manufacturer, the 51,738 units sold make up nearly half of the brand's total production volume, and that's without including the Lotus-built Vauxhall VX220, Opel/Daewoo Speedster and Tesla Roadster.

Lotus Managing Director Matt Windle said the final three models would be honoured by joining the manufacturer's heritage fleet as it moves forwards to its next generation of vehicles.

“First of all, I would like to thank the Lotus team which has worked on the Elise, Exige and Evora over the years and is now transferring to Emira and Evija manufacturing," said Windle.

"I would also like to convey enormous gratitude to all the customers of the Elise, Exige and Evora over the last 26 years for their passion, enthusiasm and support. These customers have given our ‘three Es’ true cult status – usually reserved for long-out-of-production classics.

"As we say farewell to the last few cars, we look forward to the Emira and Evija in the all-new factories at Hethel and sub-assembly facilities in Norwich, which introduce greater efficiencies and automation, higher quality and flexibility and the hugely exciting next chapter in our Vision80 strategy.”

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The Emira will act as a replacement to the outgoing Evora, powered by a choice of two engines – a 2.0-litre four-pot and a 3.5-litre V6 – with the first examples expected to land in Australia from July 2022.

On top of the upcoming Evija electric hypercar, Lotus is also looking to expand its brand by going down the SUV path, with at least two high-riding models expected to be a part of its electrification strategy.