MartinW
09-09-2006, 05:25 PM
Full article here (http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/coupes/0609_2006_lotus_sport_elise_exige_cup/)
BRASELTON, GEORGIA Six people. That's how many employees Lotus Cars USA had on its payroll in 2003. Six. Lotus sold seventy-five cars in America that year, and all of them were Esprits.
Things have changed a little since then. The 1970s-born Esprit was finally given the ax in 2004, when the long-awaited Elise arrived on our shores. And what an arrival it was. The 1975-pound Elise was a revelation: It could lap a racetrack faster than some supercars, it was light enough to see through, and it cost only $41,000. Strapping on an Elise was like giving your right foot a direct line to God--and then finding out that the Man Himself had flameproof coveralls and a full-face helmet stuck in the corner closet.
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/coupes/0609_z+2007_lotus_sport_elise_exige_cup+front.jpg (javascript:Zoom('http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/coupes/0609_z+2007_lotus_sport_elise_exige_cup+front.jpg' ,480,360))
BRASELTON, GEORGIA Six people. That's how many employees Lotus Cars USA had on its payroll in 2003. Six. Lotus sold seventy-five cars in America that year, and all of them were Esprits.
Things have changed a little since then. The 1970s-born Esprit was finally given the ax in 2004, when the long-awaited Elise arrived on our shores. And what an arrival it was. The 1975-pound Elise was a revelation: It could lap a racetrack faster than some supercars, it was light enough to see through, and it cost only $41,000. Strapping on an Elise was like giving your right foot a direct line to God--and then finding out that the Man Himself had flameproof coveralls and a full-face helmet stuck in the corner closet.
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/coupes/0609_z+2007_lotus_sport_elise_exige_cup+front.jpg (javascript:Zoom('http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/coupes/0609_z+2007_lotus_sport_elise_exige_cup+front.jpg' ,480,360))