Lotus has a storied history as not just a remarkable automaker, but also an iconic racing team. Founded by Colin Chapman in 1952, Lotus Cars boasts of some of the most brilliant automotive engineers in the world, which is evident in its array of high-performance sports cars. Although Lotus has changed ownership a number of times since the death of Colin in 1982, the British automaker has maintained its performance-focused, lightweight philosophy.
With many automakers pivoting toward electric vehicles, Lotus is not left behind, as you will get to see in the course of the reading. While some cars on this list are a blast from the past, others are barely three years old in the market. So sit back and enjoy our list of the coolest sports cars Lotus ever made.
8 Lotus Elise Cup 220
Lotus unveiled a hardcore version of the standard Elise known as the Elise Cup 220 at the Geneva Motor Show in 2015. The Elise Cup 220 is a road-going version of the S Cup R, which is a track-focused hardtop. Lotus introduced a new, lighter, and wider front clam panel for enhanced cooling and weight reduction.
With the stiffer chassis and advanced aerodynamic kit, the Elise Cup 220 is fast and fun to drive around sharp corners. The Lotus-Toyota supercharged inline-four engine puts out 214 horsepower and the sports car hits 62 mph in 4.6 seconds.
7 2000 Lotus 340R
The Lotus 340R is a limited edition sports car that was introduced as an open-top concept car at the Birmingham Motor Show in 1998 and went into production two years later. The Lotus 340R came with a 1.8-liter Rover K-series four-cylinder engine with a rating of 177 horsepower.
Even by the engine standards of the early 2000s, the 340R output may not sound impressive, but weighing less than 1,550 pounds, thanks to the hoodless, windowless, and aluminum-bonded chassis, the 340R dashes from 0-60mph in just 4.4 seconds, and tops out at 133 mph. You just have to slide in behind the wheel of the 340R to get a sense of what it feels like to escape from the real world as you drive.
6 Lotus Esprit Sport 350
The Sport 350 is one of the fastest and most exclusive Esprit sports cars. Although it came with the same V8 engine as the Esprit Sport V8 GT, improvements on the brake, chassis, and suspension set it apart. Fitting a large carbon-fiber rear wing that's just like the one on the X190R racecar, the Sport 350 does not only look fast but also very fast on its feet, with a 0-60mph time of 4.7 seconds.
Lotus fitted the Esprit Sport 350 with lightweight magnesium wheels and bodyshell, making it 176 pounds lighter than the V8 GT. The 1999 Esprit Sport 350 came with a 3,500cc turbo V8 engine with an output of 344 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. From 1999 to 2001, Lotus made only 42 Esprit Sport 350s.
5 2010 Lotus Exige S Type 72
The Lotus Exige S Type 72 is a limited-edition sports car built to pay tribute to the legendary black and gold Lotus Type 72 race car. Winning 20 different Grand Prix events from 1970 to 1975, the Lotus Type 72 is the most successful Formula One car ever, and it led drivers like Ronnie Peterson, Jochen Rindt, and Emerson Fittipaldi to victory.
Lotus maintains its lightweight philosophy for the special edition sports car, which weighs only 2,061 pounds. With a Toyota 2ZZ-GE supercharged Inline-4 engine, the Exige S Type 72 cranks out 215 horsepower and dashes to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds. Only 20 units of the special edition Exige S Type 72 are available in the UK and another 20 for the rest of Europe.
4 1997 Lotus Elise GT1
As the BPR Global GT Series evolved into the iconic FIA GT Championship, Lotus wanted to compete against big players like the Porsche 911 GT1, Mercedes CLK-GTR, and the McLaren F1 GTR, so the British automaker shelved the already aging Esprit-based race car, and introduced the Elise GT1.
Only one production model of the Elise GT1 was built in a bid to satisfy homologation requirements. The full carbon fiber body of the Elise GT1 and the 3.5-liter twin-turbo V8 were enough to propel the GT race car to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and put out 345 hp.
3 Lotus Exige Sport 350
As Lotus replaced the Exige S with the Exige Sport 350, improvements in the performance, agility, and handling followed. Weighing roughly 2,480 pounds, the Sport 350 is one of the lightest Exige models. With weight reduction as the key focus for Lotus sports cars, the initial plan was to equip the Exige Sport 350 with the Evora’s 400bhp engine, but that meant exceeding the 2,645-pound benchmark.
Instead, Lotus engineers fitted the 3.5-liter V6 engine with an output of 345 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque. The Exige Sport 350 topped out at 170 mph with a 0-60mph time of 3.7 seconds.
2 Lotus 3-Eleven
With the 3-Eleven, Lotus once again proves its unparalleled ability to build sports cars with blistering speed and legendary handling. Available in road and track versions, the 3-Eleven is built with a lightweight carbon composite body to deliver an undiluted driving experience.
With a 0-60mph time of 3.3 seconds and a top speed of 174 mph, the 3-Eleven is one of the fastest road-going cars built by Lotus. The 3.5-liter 24-valve V6 engine pumps out 410 hp for the road version and up to 460 hp for the race version.
1 2021 Lotus Evija
With many automakers gradually moving towards all-electric vehicles, Lotus' entry into the EV market is not all that surprising. But what many didn't see coming was the hypercar that would instantly take on the bigwigs in the electrical high-performance category.
The Lotus Evija is the first-ever all-electric British hypercar and won the International Design Awards (IDAs) "Product Design of the Year" prize for being one of the most powerful series-production EVs. Lotus stretched the boundaries of automotive design with the development of the Evija, which boasts an output of 2,000 horsepower.