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Lotus Elise Club Racer Launched

The Lotus Elise Club Racer Lotus may have plans to be the next Aston Martin, but for now it’s stuck with an Evora that’s not selling as well as it should and an Elise that is basically the same as the car that launched a decade ago. The plan with the Evora – apart from the rather odd move of getting Mansory to tart up an Evora – is to get the Germans in to give the Evora’s interior some class. As for the Lotus Elise, all there really is to do – because it has a hard-core clientele anyway – is to divvy up the odd special.

Henrik Fisker leaves his eponymous company

Henrik Fisker, co-founder of Fisker Automotive, has resigned from the company as Fisker seeks funding to move forward. But Henrik Fisker managed to convince the car world his Fisker Karma was credible, even if its gestation has been plagued by problems,  the latest of which has been the demise of its battery supplier – A123 Systems – and the wrecking of a dock full of seemingly uninsured Karmas by Hurricane Sandy. The current problems at Fisker has seen them seeking a new investor, with two Chinese companies – Geely and Dohnfeng – vying to take a majority stake in Fisker Automotive and help Fisker recover sales of the Karma and move on with Project Nina, the smaller Fisker Atlantic.

Lotus Elise Club Racer (2011) at 2011 Geneva motor show

The Lotus Elise Club Racer is the latest variation on the long-serving Elise, which will debut at the 2011 Geneva motor show. Disciples of the 'Lotus=lightweight' mantra will be pleased to know the Elise Club Racer does without the German tuner bling, additional luxury features or merchandising that have appeared during CEO Dany Bahar's bold reinvention of the Hethel sports car maker. The Elise Club Racer marks a return to old-school values for Lotus, with some 24kg of extraneous weight removed from the 15-year-old Elise; and added hardware tweaks to ensure the well-regarded roadster retains its performance edge.