EliseInfo.com

We all knew that Lotus would be making changes to the Elise and Exige after their bumper exemption ran out 12/31/06, and finally, the first pictures have surfaced. Small bumperettes have been added to the rear on either side of the license plate. No change to the front is evident, strangely. You can view more pictures over at EliseTalk.

Lotus Cars Australia has loaned (for six months) a new Exige to the local police department; it’s destined to be used as mainly a public relations tool, despite its traffic enforcement potential. It features the expected graphics and decals, as well as a removable light bar. Full press release after the jump. (via Autoblog)
Read the rest of this entry »

I know I’ve seen these pics on EliseTalk before, but a friend emailed me the link just today and I thought this was worth sharing. It’s a widebody Lotus Exige, and is very nicely done. No word on whether this is available in the US yet, though I think it’s only a matter of time before someone imports this body. You can view more pictures at Bodyshop-Kobayashi.

A 2007 Lotus Elise is being raffled off to raise money for the Napa Valley Symphony; 2,000 tickets will be sold at $100 each. Mario Andretti will be autographing the car (he owns a winery in the area), and the lucky winner also gets two track days at nearby Thunderhill Raceway with Hooked on Driving. For more info, check out the Napa Valley Symphony website.

Robb Report magazine has named the Lotus Exige S as one of its twelve finalists for the title of ‘Car of the Year‘. I’m not sure what to make of it. I mean, I’m not a Robb Report subscriber, it seems to appeal to an entirely different lifestyle. The Lotus Exige S is a car that brings awesome performance to the masses, it’s supercar styling and performance at an affordable price. Still, it’s up against competition that costs more than twenty three TIMES as much (namely the Bugatti Veyron). Wow, how can it compete with that? But hey, whatever, it’s an awesome car and to see it get recognized as such is great! (via businesswire)

One lucky person is going to be very, very happy when she or he walks away with a brand new 2007 Lotus Elise for only $9.99! It’s your basic publicity stunt headed up by Domino’s Pizza to promote their $9.99 ‘anything goes’ pizza. The official contest website (click here) isn’t working at the moment (too much traffic, I’d guess), but as far as I can gather, the car will be posted on Ebay at an unannounced time, and the first one to run across it wins the car. (more info)