Lotus Elise 250 Special Edition
50 cars to mark 50 years at Hethel, plus a sub-900kg kerbweight too
As the name implies, this Elise is based on the 250 Cup that so impressed us earlier this year. However, rather unlike everyone else and certainly in keeping with the Lotus ethos, this Special Edition is lighter than the car on which it's based. Yep, thanks to a raft of standard carbon parts - the front splitter, rear wing, boot and front access panel - this car has an 899kg unladen weight.
Mechanically identical to the 250 Cup, the Special Edition makes 246hp and 184lb ft from a supercharged 1.8-litre engine. With 270hp per tonne, it's capable of 154mph, 4.3 seconds to 62mph and 1min 34secs around the Hethel test track. Which sounds about fast enough.
Naturally though there are some key differences to mark out the Special Edition from the Cup, this car only available in four colours (classic metallic blue seen here, red, yellow and white) as well as leather seats with contrast stitching. The forged wheels are available in silver or black. Or you can send it to Lotus Exclusive, pay more money and get whatever paint you want.
There will be 50 Special Edition Elises made, available now and priced from £47,900. What could be next for Lotus in this anniversary year? An Exige would surely suit the special edition treatment very well...
Thing is though, Hethel are finishing their cars so much better these days, and it's still the driver's car of choice, bar track specials.. For the fan base this could be a great car, end of line keeper before the next gen gets fattened up. For some new drivers they might be pleasantly surprised if they test drove one.
A lot of new cars haven't improved on design though, very little that's new is so inspiring, not until you look at Ferrari or McLaren.
Underneath the shiny things and stupid price tag, lies one of Britain's finest.
It's a Lotus. You can't *see* how the steering feels.
They need something that adds to the idea, and it needs to 'look' new.
Underneath the shiny things and stupid price tag, lies one of Britain's finest.
In that case it's a perfectly judged bauble for a such an 'event'...
Will there be an anniversary addition for when the factory got it's first vending machine?
It's of minimal development costs to Hethel and is a good substitute for a pricey advertising budget. The customer gets a honed version of the car and Hethel's bank account gets a few quid. Win, win unless you're on PH with no intention of ever buying anything but a silver coloured diesel saloon.
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