Lotus

The first Lotus car, produced in 1948, was based on the classic Austin Seven. The Lotus Mark 1 was built by engineer and racing enthusiast Colin Bruce Chapman in his girlfriend’s garage, using only a power drill. By 1952, Chapman had produced the impressive Mark 2 and Mark 3, and in this year formed the Lotus Engineering Company. The new company quickly produced the light and powerful Mark 4, followed by its first series production cars – the Lotus Mark 6 through to Mark 10 models. In 1958, Lotus’ long and illustrious association with Formula One racing began. A string of successes quickly followed, with a win in the 1960 Grand Prix in the Lotus 18, and the first of many World Constructor Championship titles in 1963 with the Lotus 25. Lotus went on to win the F1 Constructor Championship another six times between 1965 and 1978. Over the nearly 40 years of its involvement in Formula One racing, Team Lotus won 79 Grand Prix titles. Since the death of Chapman in 1982, the Lotus brand has passed through many hands, including General Motors and ACBN Holdings SA. Since 1994, Malaysian carmaker Proton has been the majority owner of Lotus, which now trades as Group Lotus PLC. Lotus continues to be very active in car manufacturing and engineering, and has recently put together a new Formula One team, known as Lotus Racing. The company exports cars all over the world; models available in Australia include the Lotus Elise, Europa, Exige, Evora and 2 Eleven models.