Lotus Celebrates Manufacturing Milestone

Lotus Exige S (Credit: Lotus)

Not that long ago pretty much everyone was talking about Lotus in the past tense, as if the British automaker had already gone out of business. Things looked bleak, for sure, which makes the company’s current turnaround that much more miraculous.

Despite some present challenges, today Lotus seems to be performing great. As evidence, the company recently celebrated a manufacturing milestone as the 40,000th “small car platform” Lotus model rolled off the production line.

For those wondering, the “small car platform” launched back in 1995 with the Lotus Elise. It has made for a lightweight base used for creating some truly incredible vehicles. They include the Exige, 340R, Europa and 2-Eleven. On top of that, the platform involved the use of extruded and bonded aluminum, which was a first for an automaker.

Of course, today quite a few companies are copying the method for adding lightness and maintaining an incredibly rigid structure. Lotus has continued to improve on the small car platform, which currently only weighs about 149 pounds. With that kind of advancement, it’s easy to see that Lotus hasn’t lost its unique edge, which hopefully means it continues to stay relevant in the evolving automotive landscape.

The 40,000th car to use the small car platform was an Elise 20th Anniversary model. According to company executives, Lotus plans to continue refining the vehicle platform, perfecting the design further.

With its sights set on bigger profit margins, Lotus is considering making a sport utility model. Considering that the company is known for doing its own thing, such a vehicle would be like no other SUV on the market today. After all, Lotus subscribes to the mantra of adding lightness to everything it produces, which is part of the reason why its cars are fast and handle incredibly well.