This is the final year of the Elise and Exige, two of the most important and iconic models from Lotus, since their inception. For 25 and 21 years respectively, they’ve made up the backbone of the Norfolk marque’s lineup, with the Evora (also being discontinued) joining later down the line. It’s only right, then, that they’re going out with a bang. Meet the Elise and Exige Final Editions.
Final Edition Lotus Exige will top £100k
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Five variants, two Elises and three Exiges, will be available in limited numbers with a selection of unique defining features and upgrades available on each.
Starting with the Elise, there will be a number of unique colours available on the run-out Sport 240 and Cup 250 models, cherry-picked from significant moments in its 25-year history. You’ll need to be a fairly dedicated Lotus historian to notice, though. Azure Blue, Black and Racing Green come from the first production car of 1996, the Autobobytel Lotus Elise Championship cars and the original 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show reveal car respectively.
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On the Exiges, Metallic White and Metallic Orange make a return, with the white hailing from the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show launch of the V6 Exige and the orange coming from the press fleet S1 Exige from 2000 and the 2007 Exige GT3 concept.
As for performance upgrades, the Elise Sport 240 represents a 23PS bump over the sport 220. This heads a number of small upgrades that aid performance, including lightweight wheels, and a number of optional carbon-fibre upgrades. The Exige comes in three specs: the pop-top Sport 390, hard-top Sport 420 and hardcore Cup 430. The sports get a respective 47PS and 10PS upgrade over their standard Sport 350 and 410 counterparts.
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New on the inside of both the Exige and Elise Final Edition models is a new TFT digital dashboard configurable to either race-style or conventional dials. Joining that is also a new flat-bottomed steering wheel design in leather and Alcantara, in addition to new seat trims, stitch patterns and a Final Edition build plaque.
Are you satisfied with Lotus’ farewell models for the Elise and Exige? Such massive models seem to be bowing out somewhat inauspiciously, though perhaps the simplicity of these run-out models is fitting given that most famous Lotus mantra. As for the Evora? Its own farewell will be announced in due course. Beyond 2021, a new era for Lotus with a new range of cars, the Type 131. We’re excited to see what’s next but sad to see these Lotus stalwarts go.
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