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Lotus car question

Thrasher

Thrasher

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Joined
May 13, 2005
Messages
520
Location
Vancouver, Washington
Car(s)
1976 BMW 2002
I started wondering the other day why do all lotus cars start with "E"

Elan
Europa
Espirit
Elise
Excel
Eclat
Elite
Exige
 
seven... starts with an S... but other than that... looks like it

TF
 
Cortina? Ehehe...

Yeah yeah, a ford...

Anyway, colin chapman started off just by giving them incremental design numbers, hence the seven (which was the seventh car he designed).

I suppose names are sexier than plain numbers though...

"Oh wow, look at that hot 1996 84!!" :bangin:
 
Maybe they justt want that those names are somehow similar...
For example all Opels end with an A:

Agila
Corsa
Meriva
Tigra
Astra
Zafira
Vectra
Omega
Sintra
Frontera
Speedster
 
kadett
captain
rekord
and there are more i think
 
back to the original question

i did some googling, and the answer is..

"Nobody really knows"

actually, the full answer is:

Nobody really knows but before the Lotus Eleven all Lotus road cars were known as Mark 1, Mark 2 etc. However, when it came to the Lotus Eleven using the numerical symbol confused the car with the Roman Numerals for the number 2. Consequently, since the Lotus Eleven all Lotus road car names have started with the letter E.
Click to expand...

taken from: http://www.grouplotus.com/faq/index.php?section=9&cid=2#3

from the above site, it seems that "Elise" comes from the granddaughter of the chairman of lotus
 
Wow, scientific stuff. ;)

But there are lots of trends in the motor industry that defy logic just for historical value, like how Porsche still have that silly "engine hanging off the back" design... Thank god for PASM!

:p

BTW, porsches are neat, i just wouldn't punt one down a twisty road at full bore. On a 10m wide track with loads of runoff though, i might be game to turn PASM off...
 
just to be pedantic there are two different lotus Elites, the revolutionary 1950s fibreglass monocoque type 14 which is a two seater and the later Elite which has more in common with the Elan +2 having a fibreglass body on the trademark Y shape backbone chassis and 4 seats :mrgreen:
 
back in the years this topic was active, there were no plans for a GT yet ;)
 
bone said:
back in the years this topic was active, there were no plans for a GT yet ;)
Click to expand...

Good point! But it doesn't explain why they're suddenly making a car that doesn't start with an E.
 
I thought they were gonna call it the Europa?? :? I don't think they are going to stop the "E" naming convention... cos they call their latest car the "circuit car" on the website rather than just circuit car leading me to believe they haven't found a word that starts with E yet that conveys the message of stupid fast and no roof :lol:
 
^there already is a lotus europa, i doubt they would reuse that name

lotus-europa-3.jpg
 
^ lol duh I know they already had a Europa... but they already had a Esprit and they already had a two different Elites, two different Elans(the latter model was FWD :thumbsdown: ), four Sevens, etc etc... why would they care about re-using a name? they haven't in the past.

why do you think they wouldn't re-use the name Europa???? sure it wasn't a 2+2 but neither was the Type 14 Elite when they came out with the ugly 70s "Elite" that was a 2+2 :)
 
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