Elise Now Available In Green

'Eco Elise' is greener and faster

Lotus has unveiled the ‘Eco Elise’ – a greener and faster version of their lightweight sports car. The company says it has focused on more than just the CO2 emissions, looking at everything from materials used to greener manufacturing techniques.

Lotus hopes to become a world leader in environmental automotive consultancy and has used a number of clever methods on the Eco Elise. For example sustainable materials, hemp, eco wool and sisal have been developed for body panels and trim and, combined with hi-tech water based paint solutions.

The Eco Elise weighs 32 kg (70.5 lbs) less than the standard Elise S, which means that the efficient Elise S engine in the Eco Elise will give higher fuel economy figures and even better performance. Meanwhile the company has made huge reductions in energy (Electricity 14%, Gas 30%) and water (11%) consumed across the Hethel headquarters in 2007, compared to 2006.



The Eco Elise also has a green gear shift display integrated into the instrument panel to ensure that gears are changed at the optimum point to reduce emissions and save fuel.

Mike Kimberley, CEO of Group Lotus said: ‘This Eco Elise is a great example of the advanced and affordable green technologies Lotus is developing. We are at the cutting edge of environmental technology and are determined to push forward with our green agenda. The Lotus brand values of lightweight, fuel efficient and high performance are more relevant today than they ever have been.’

http://www.pistonheads.com/lotus/default.asp?storyId=18357