30 July 2015

Lotus Production By Model 1973-2014

The Europa S 2006-09. It is a fine looking car! 

Update news: To see a more accurate and up to date article, please click here. However, by all means read this one first as the text and pictures are unique to each article .

Since 1973, 65,000 Lotus sports cars have been made. The data below has come from different sources so as long as they are accurate - and I believe they are - then 65k it is. This excludes cars made for GM (mostly between 2009-11 / c. 6,900) and Tesla (mainly from 2001-04 / c. 2,500). Production has bounced around a fair bit with the Elise being the 'bread and butter' model in recent times. Including GM and Tesla cars, it would exceed half of total production in the nearly cars 75,000 made in the time frame below.

In recent times the the Evora has sold well, as too the Exige. However the recent Europa didn't go so well and it probably was too soft for Lotus buyers. It was a better car than production numbers would indicate. The fact that it wasn't sold in North America affected volume greatly. Earlier on in the 70's and 80's it was the Esprit was the backbone of sales. The Elan and Elite were also successful.

Yr Exige Elise Evora Euro Esprit Elan Excel Eclat Elite Corr Total
73 - - - - - 916 -
6
922
74 - - - - - 137 -
687
824
75 - - - - - - - 20 459
479
76 - - - - 134 - - 341 451
926
77 - - - - 580 - - 280 210
1,070
78 - - - - 553 -
354 293
1,200
79 - - - - 474 -
281 276 - 1,031
80 - - - - 137 - - 121 125 - 383
81 - - - - 301 - - 31 14 -1 345
82 - - - - 365 - - 162 1 13 541
83 - - - - 427 - - 214 - 1 642
84 - - - - 522 - - 315 - - 837
85 - - - - 451 - 130 232 - - 813
86 - - - - 454 - 249 - - - 703
87 - - - - 462 - 337 - - - 799
88 - - - - 1,056 - 244 - - 2 1,302
89 - - - - 877 - 183 - - - 1,060
90 - - - - 779 1,275 113 - - -25 2,142
91 - - - - 125 2,060 81 - - -26 2,240
92 - - - - 178 - 107 - - 406 691
93 - - - - 320 - - - - - 320
94 - - - - 368 342 - - - - 710
95 - - - - 385 458 - - - - 843
96 - 425 - - 319 - - - - - 744
97 - 2,155 - - 279 - - - - - 2,434
98 - 3,032 - - 301 - - - - - 3,333
99 - 3,164 - - 210 - - - - - 3,374
00 - 1,800 - - 222 - - - - 340 2,362
01 - 1,917 - - 101 - - - - - 2,018
02 - 2,369 - - 157 - - - - - 2,526
03 3 1,609 - - 119 - - - - - 1,731
04 522 2,674 - - 16 - - - - - 3,212
05 810 4,243 - - - - - - - - 5,053
06 1,291 1,574 - 197 - - - - - - 3,062
07 1,094 1,357 - 179 - - - - - - 2,630
08 619 1,439 - 48 - - - - - - 2,106
09 410 802 378 28 - - - - - - 1,618
10 514 921 1,172 6 - - - - - - 2,613
11 153 593 713 - - - - - - - 1,459
12 47 516 480 - - - - - - - 1,043
13 477 417 475 - - - - - - - 1,369
14 624 617 251 - - - - - - - 1,492
Tot 6,564 31,624 3,469 458 10,672 5,188 1,444 2,351 2,522 710 65,002
Yr Exige Elise Evora Euro Esprit Elan Excel Eclat Elite Corr Total

The company is being run more professionally now, with a clear yet realistic focus. The Evora 400 is on its way and will help nicely. The new CEO Jean-Marc Gales is doing a fantastic job getting Lotus sorted by all accounts. The goal is 3,000 cars p.a. and stopping the losses the company was running up. An SUV would be a money spinner but not feasible financially to do alone. Can they get a Jaguar F-Pace made for them with some cosmetic treatment to differentiate? Worth trying.

All I can say is the Esprit must have had a powerful heater

7 comments:

  1. I think some of the Excel numbers are off. And how does a company produce -1 cars? http://www.lotusexcel.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9477&hilit=Produced+eclat

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Hubert. The 'Corr' column means correction, so -1 cars isn't a production number but a way to align the numbers to the total figure, assuming the total figure is accurate.
      The 340 correction figure is for the 340R limited edition model but I didn't have the page width to give it its own column.
      As for Excel numbers being a bit off, as most of the corrections took place during the Excel being made that is highly likely. If you can put forward some numbers to clarify, I would gladly correct it.

      Delete
    2. Further to your comment Hubert, I've sniffed around and updated the article. It's now available by clicking on the link in the article.
      Thanks for your comment because it got me sorting out a few issues with the last one.

      Delete
  2. Where are the 608 Exige S1's that were produced in 2000?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown, if you click on the 'please click here' in the article, it takes you to updated data. There you will find 499 produced in 2000 and 105 the following year. That equals 604, about the same as your 608.
      Cheers.

      Delete
  3. where was the Lotus Elan 1991 with a door sticker that says "Lotus Manufacturing America, actually manufactured? in their plant in Georgia? or elsewhere?

    ReplyDelete