Lotus Exige

You can get the measure of a car brand by the environment in which its products are built. The narrow, bumpy, hedge-lined lanes of eastern England explain a lot about the way a Lotus goes. The character of a company's chief speaks to the brand's intentions as well. Jean-Marc Gales has been portrayed unflatteringly as a Eurocrat bean counter, but his approach has been to strip weight and cost out of the product to the benefit of performance on both track and bottom line, defining brand attributes

Few automakers short of Jeep love cranking out new variants of a current model like Lotus. Today, the storied British sports car manufacturer revealed the new Exige Sport 410, essentially a more comfortable and road-friendly version of the track-focused Exige Cup 430. This is a mid-engine coupe with 410 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque and a dry weight that's slightly more than an ND Mazda MX-5 Miata. Too bad it's not-for-U.S. consumption.

The all-new metal would be the brand's first since 2009.

It has a top speed of 180 mph.

It's also only available in Europe.

That is a not-insignificant amount of weight loss.

Lotus shows its latest lightweight models in Geneva by displaying the Evora Sport 410, Exige Sport 350, and Elise Cup 250. This trio could put a smile on any driver's face.

Hethel is getting into the personalization business with the launch of its new Lotus Exclusive program, available on new and existing models this year.

Lotus has trimmed a good 112 pounds off the curb weight of the already featherlike Exige to produce the new Sport 350 model, capable of hitting 60 in 3.7 seconds.

Limited to just 50 cars, Lotus is getting 10 more horsepower out of the Exige for the new 360 Cup. It's also adding lightweight parts for the front access panel and louvered rear to this race-ready coupe.

The Exige may be 15 years old, but Lotus is here to say it still has some tricks up its sleeve with the introduction of the weight-reduced, aerodynamically optimized new Exige S Club Racer.

The trials and tribulations at Lotus over the past several years haven't put the company in best financial position, and after the dismissal of Dany Bahar as CEO, the automaker seemed rudderless. Jean-Marc Gales (pictured above) is the new captain at the helm of the Brit

A vehicle as light and agile as the Lotus Exige is all about driver involvement, but those enticed by the nimble sports car's handling and performance who aren't keen on working a stick shift now have another option at their disposal.

"We are delighted to open our doors to customers so that they can collect their new car from us direct." – Jean-Marc Gales

What separates a road car from a race car? You're looking at it. It's the Lotus Exige V6 Cup, a model based on what is already one of the most hardcore performance machines on the road, albeit upgraded to an even harder-core spec. It's a good 130 pounds lighter than the Exige S (a vehicle which didn't have much flab to trim in the first place) a

Lotus is recalling 860 vehicles after dis

Detroit Electric is still on board to produce the Lotus Exige-based SP:01 electric sports car, which has been John Beltz Snyder

Lotus has announced a new, special edition of its hardcore Exige for customers in the UK and Europe. Limited to just 81 units (for the Lotus Formula One team's 81 victories), the new Exige LF1 is the ultimate accessory for fans of the British manufacturer's Formula One efforts.

Some things just don't make sense. But then we're not sure they really have to. Imagine Porsche took the Cayman, which is essentially the coupe version of the Boxster, and turned it into a convertible. Wouldn't make much sense, would it? Well that's essentially what Lotus did with the creation

Lotus is getting a shot in the arm courtesy of corporate parent DRB-Hicom, which has announced a 100-million pound ($152.3M USD at today's rates) investment in the Hethel, UK-based manufacturer. The troubled brand was also in the news last week, with DRB announcing a new, three-year plan<