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Lotus Elise to Hit the U.S. Market in 2020

(Credit: © Lotus)

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Lotus Elise to Hit the U.S. Market in 2020

Lotus Elise S Cup

Lotus Elise S Cup (Credit: © Lotus)

Lotus has had a rough go of it lately thanks to mismanagement by its former CEO and the expiration of its safety exemptions that resulted in the elimination of the Elise and Exige from the U.S. market in 2011. Since Jean-Marc Gales took over the company, it has had a string of good fortune in the form of increased sales and profits, the introduction of the U.S.-compliant and downright bad-ass Evora 400, and now the announcement that the Elise will return to America in its next generation.

While it is great that the Elise will return to the U.S., I need to temper my excitement a bit because this will not happen until 2020. Regardless of the date, the reintroduction of the Elise should bring the Lotus brand back into the wheelhouse of the upper middle class, something the upcoming Evora cannot do. Of course, I am assuming that the new-generation Elise will stay around the $41,000 price range it had before.

This good news is all thanks to advanced planning by the Proton-owned company. Instead of giving up and just keeping the Elise in Europe for the rest of its days, Lotus decided to look forward to the next generation and design it with U.S. safety bits in place.

Back in 2011, when Lotus pulled the Elise from the American market, the automaker debated retrofitting the Elise with the smart airbags and additional crash protection needed to meet U.S. safety requirements, but that would have added a lot of cost and 220 pounds to the weight of the Elise. This extra heft would seriously impact the agility of the tiny sports car and the added cost would have likely made the model too expensive.

It’s incredible how fast a great automaker can turn around its fortunes with a smart businessman like Gales at the helm. I have to tip my hat to the job he’s done so far it pulling Lotus from its death spiral and stabilizing the company.

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