This year marks the end of an era for Lotus Cars. As the business moves towards a recently announced new range of sports cars known as the Type 131, as well as the much-anticipated Evija all-electric hypercar, time is being called on production of the Elise, Exige and Evora - the only model currently sold in the U.S.  Lotus has announced a range of five new limited-production Final Edition cars which have higher power, greater standard specification and – in true Lotus style – light weight.  The new variants – two Elise and three Exige – are available with unique paint colours, new exterior decals, new wheel finishes, new trim and Final Edition badging.  The improvements continue under the skin, a fact reflected in new names which reveal higher power outputs on three of the five – the Elise Sport 240, Elise Cup 250, Exige Sport 390, Exige Sport 420 and Exige Cup 430.  None of them will be available in the U.S. market.

The Evija, a 2000-horsepower all-electric hypercar expected to cost $2.3 million, is being teased on Lotus' website with a vehicle configurator, and orders are being taken, but it won't be street-legal in the U.S. Prototype production of the Lotus Type 131 is expected to commence this year from a world-class manufacturing facility in Hethel, Norfolk.  The new manufacturing investment is part of Lotus’ Vision80 strategy, which will also see the relocation of two Lotus sub-assembly facilities into one efficient central operation in Norwich city to support higher volumes.