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Last Lotus Elise delivered to the person it was named after

Lotus just made an announcement on its social media channels that the last customer-bound Elise has been built — we'll note that Lotus built the very last Elise for itself — and delivered to its final customer, Elisa Artioli. If you havenÂ’t heard of her before, itÂ’s time for a little Lotus history lesson. Back when the Elise came to fruition and was released in 1996, Romano Artioli was the companyÂ’s chairman. When it came time to finalize a name for the two-seat sports car, Romano looked to his granddaughter, Elisa, for inspiration.  For those who find full-circle stories satisfying, itÂ’s hard to get any better than this one. The Elise youÂ’re looking at here is the final customer-bound Elise in the world, and itÂ’s going to none other than the woman who the car is named after. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. As for the spec of the car itself, this is an Elise Sport 240, and itÂ’s painted in “Championship Gold.” The Sport 240 features a 1.8-liter supercharged four-cylinder thatÂ’s good for 240 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque. Weighing only 2,033 pounds, itÂ’s capable of a 4.1-second 0-60 mph sprint and has a top speed of 147 mph. What a lovely story! WeÂ’ve asked Lotus for more photos and additional information, and weÂ’ll update when we hear back.

In hindsight, Musk wouldn't use Lotus for Tesla Roadster

The world will be a different place after Elon Musk builds a time traveling device (don't ask us how we know that will happen). For one thing, the Tesla Roadster of the rewritten future will not have been built using the chassis of the Lotus Elise. Also, verb tenses will be becoming even more confusing and, possibly, awkward. "We ended up changing most of the damn car" – Elon Musk We know about the not-using-the-Lotus thing because the Tesla Motors CEO said as much yesterday at the World Energy Innovation Forum at the Tesla Factory in Fremont. The two-day event, which also offers Model S test rides and a factory tour for attendees, featured a fireside chat with the electric automaker's CEO and Ira Ehrenpreis. During the discussion, Musk revealed that if he had to do it over again, he would have built the Roadster from the ground up instead of using the Lotus Elise chassis. "We ended up changing most of the damn car, so we thought later, why did we do that," he said. Another problem with the original idea for the car was the drivetrain. At first, Tesla had meant to use the motor and other propulsive bits from AC Propulsion, only to find that powertrain didn't work well in a commercial application. Instead Tesla only licensed the reductive charging patent, which allowed some integration of the inverter and charger. Besides knocking Tesla's own early efforts, the outspoken entrepreneur took a couple swings at other technologies with quotable quotes such as: "The internal combustion engine is a ridiculous thing!" and "Current lithium ion technology is better than theoretical fuel cell limits. So, game over. Why bother with fuel cells?" Looks like there are some things Musk is not interested in going back in time and changing.

Lotus won't rule out SUV, but first we'll get a new Elise

Not even Lotus can ignore the sales potential of SUVs. Speaking to media yesterday, Lotus CEO Jean-Marc Gales said "The SUV is an interesting market. We're working on a concept but haven't made a decision yet." Lotus has reorganized lately, and is cash flow neutral on a path to future profitability. Put away your pitchforks. Yes, Lotus is the last automaker we'd expect to make an SUV, but nearly every other carmaker has already given up resistance. And we surmise that even a Lotus SUV would follow the Lotus founder Colin Chapman's famous ethos of "Simplify, and add lightness." At least relatively. Or, as Gales put it, "We stick to our roots, because they are enviable roots." That means the new Elise, coming in 2020 and destined for America, will be a lot like the current model sold in other markets. As we reported last week, Gales confirmed that the next Elise will be slightly wider to accommodate side airbags, but otherwise will have similar dimensions and power-to-weight ratio. The Evora 400 Roadster is also still planned, but won't come stateside for at least two years. "Lotus will not fit electrical steering [systems]. They take away the steering feel." And while the SUV ship may sail, there are still a few heretical ideas left in Hethel. In confirming that the Elise will add assisted steering in the next generation, Gales assured us it would be hydraulic. "Lotus will not fit electrical steering [systems]. They take away the steering feel." Also off the table for Lotus is any kind of hybrid. Speaking to Autoblog, Gales explained that hybrid systems adds weight, complexity, and take up space. The first two items go against the core values at Lotus, and the third creates packaging issues. "Besides, when you have low mass it's easy to be efficient," the CEO said. He added that a pure EV might be something Lotus would consider, but not anytime in the near future. Lotus returns to the US this year with the Evora 400. Stay tuned for our first drive review in a couple of days (spoiler alert: the car is awesome). And beyond the Evora convertible and next Elise, Gales says "You will enjoy many more cars from our company." We can't wait.Related Video: Lotus Convertible Coupe SUV Performance lotus evora 400 jean-marc gales lotus evora 400 roadster