Lotus Wraps Up Production Of The Elise, Exige and Evora

It’s the end of an era at Lotus as the Elise, Exige, and Evora have all gone out of production.

The models have defined the company for decades as the Elise was originally launched in 1996. It was followed by the Exige four years later, while the Evora is a relative newcomer dating back to 2009.

The 35,124th and final Elise was a yellow Sport 240 Final Edition, while the 10,497th and final Exige was a heritage racing green Cup 430 Final Edition. Likewise, Evora production ended at 6,117 units with the final one being a dark metallic grey GT430 Sport. They’ll remain with the automaker and become part of their growing heritage collection.

Also Read: Lotus Marks The End Of An Era With New Final Editions Of Elise And Exige

Over the past 26 years, the company built a total of 51,738 Elises, Exiges, and Evoras and this means they “represent almost half of the total production of Lotus in its 73 year history.” However, the numbers are even higher as Lotus built an additional 9,715 sports cars for third-party clients such as Tesla and GM. These models include the original Tesla Roadster as well as the Opel / Daewoo Speedster and Vauxhall VX220.

With production now complete, the assembly lines will be dismantled and replaced by “state-of-the-art facilities” to support construction of the Emira. That model is slated to go into production next spring and Lotus noted they’ll be able to build up to 5,000 units annually with a single shift.

In a statement, Lotus Managing Director Matt Windle thanked the company’s employees and customers for their “passion, enthusiasm and support.” He added, “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.”