Autoesque

2020 marks twenty years since the original Exige was launched. Such a birthday is worthy of celebration, so Lotus has created the logically-named Exige Sport 410 20th Anniversary.

Lotus has launched four Classic Heritage Editions. Based on the Elise Sport 220, each wears a special livery inspired by the firm’s Formula One history.

Lotus has seemingly become addicted to producing special editions. The latest one is the Exige Cup 430 Type 25, which involves some cosmetic changes and a rather hefty price tag.

It's a replacement for the Exige Cup 380 (a limited edition) that uses the supercharged 3.5 litre V6 engine from the Evora GT430 (another limited edition). However, Lotus says the Exige Cup 430 is a proper series-production model.

Only thirty examples of the Elise Cup 260 are going to be built. However, with a price tag of £59,500, there probably won't be long queues of prospective customers at Lotus dealers.

Lotus has announced another special edition. The Evora GT430 is available to order now, but only sixty examples are being built.

When it was first launched early last year, Lotus described the Cup 250 as the fastest road-legal Elise ever. That remains the case for the latest version.

Next month will see the arrival of another Elise variant. The new Sprint, which is going to slot in between the existing Sport and Cup 250 models, has been on a strict diet.

Lotus Exclusive, the brand’s personalisation department, has created a one-off Evora Sport 410 . A tribute to the Esprit S1 submersible that was driven by James Bond in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’, it features numerous cosmetic flourishes.

Lotus is continuing its fifty-years-at-Hethel celebrations by introducing the Elise 250 Special Edition.

As its name suggests, the new Elise Race 250 is intended purely for competition use.

Gulf Oil racing colours have never really been associated with Lotus, but that hasn't prevented the pale blue and orange scheme from winning a recent online poll that canvassed the marque's followers. In fact, it attracted almost a quarter of all votes cast, comfortably beating the second-placed JPS-inspired black and gold design.

In 1966, Lotus founder Colin Chapman decided to relocate his company to a new factory in Hethel, Norfolk. Now, the fiftieth anniversary of that move is being celebrated by a series of special cars.

Lotus founder Colin Chapman resolutely took the “to add speed, add lightness” approach when designing his road and race cars. While that philosophy has never really left the company, it's currently being pursued with a renewed vigour.

Three months after the Sport and Sport 220 models were launched, Lotus is continuing the revamp of its Elise range with the arrival of the Cup 250.

Most of the ten models listed below are destined to achieve relatively modest sales volumes. Nevertheless, they are among the more interesting new cars scheduled to arrive at dealers during 2016.

Following the recent launch of the Elise Sport and Sport 220 , it's now the Exige's turn for a range revamp. Out goes the S model, in comes the new Sport 350.

Revisions to the Lotus Elise range mean the entry-level model is now called Sport, while the S has been replaced by a Sport 220 version.

Lotus Motorsport has created the Exige 360 Cup, which is essentially a lighter, slightly more powerful version of the Exige V6 Cup.

With deliveries due to begin this coming August, Lotus has revealed that the new Evora 400 will cost from £72,000 in the UK. By comparison the Porsche Cayman GT4 - arguably its closest rival - is slightly cheaper at £64,451.