Lotus celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Elise with a special edition

The Lotus Elise 20th Anniversary Special Edition has been revealed to celebrate the Elise’s 20 years, with less weight and more equipment. Costs from £39,900.

The Lotus Elise arrived in 1995 as a new direction for Lotus, moving back to Colin Chapman’s ethos of ‘make it as light as possible’, at a time when the only model Lotus had – having already dropped the Elan and Excel – was the ageing Lotus Esprit.

It wasn’t that long before the Esprit also bit the dust, leaving the Elise as the basis for Lotus to build a business on (at least until the Evora arrived), a plan that’s not actually gone that well, but that’s not the fault of the Elise, more those who’ve run the Lotus business.

But with Lotus looking like they may finally be getting back on track, they’re celebrating 20 years of the Elise with a special edition 20th anniversary edition that offers more for less.

Based on the Elise S Club Racer, the 20th Anniversary trims 10kg off its weight, gets a set of matt black forged alloy wheels, a titivated interior, sport mode and birthday badges.

Colour choice is limited to Blue, Green, Yellow and Silver, with the rear diffuser, mirrors, roll-over hoops and rear transom in matt black.

Lotus reckons the titivations the Elise gets would normally cost £5,150, but the 20th birthday model actually only costs £2,700 more than the Elise S.

The Lotus Elise 20th Anniversary Special Edition model is already on sale at Lotus dealers in the UK, replacing the Elise S Club Racer, and costs £39,900.