How the least fun Lotus a very cool Kia was
Posted on 03-05-2016 at 17:58 by Dizono – 22 Comments”
You think about the Elan, you think of the brilliant sports car from the ’60s. At the end of years ’80 blew Lotus is the name for a new life, but that they had better not do it.
As a British brand it is fitting, Lotus has more owners than the average Golf II on Marketplace. In 1986 it was the turn of General Motors and one of the first projects was the development of a new, affordable sports car. At that time you could be at Lotus, only for the Esprit and the now quite outdated Excel.
There was as once the bedcaht to a 1.6 from Toyota to use and sell the car as a Lotus Toyota through the dealers of the Japanese brand. That project, however, came not from the ground, though it seems Toyota is the one and the other used to have for the MR2. At the end of 1986 with the help of GM, the project M100 of the ground. A small, wedge-shaped roadster, designed by Peter Stevens.
If the power source was a 1.6 four-cylinder from the shelves of GM subsidiary Isuzu borrowed. After the tovenaren from Hethel done with it, was the atmospheric version 132 horsepower, and the Turbo-variant 164 hp. What remained to the rear wheels? Absolutely nothing.
The Elan is the only Lotus ever with front wheel drive. According to the Lotus in such a light car faster than rear-wheel drive, already got the later Elise, Exige, Europa and Evora just powered rear wheels. That Mazda almost at the same time, the much cheaper MX-5 presented -with rear-wheel drive and a design that is more than a nod to the original Elan was evident in the disappointing sales figures.
In 1995 was the canvas for the Elan, at least, at Lotus. In an attempt to still to be able to earn to the little sports car, sold Lotus all rights to Kia. Appearance you can recognize the Kia Elan only to the other rear lights and Kia logos, but underneath the changes are larger. The Lotus tuned Isuzu 1.6 was replaced by a 1.8 Kia themselves, good for 151 hp. The Impetus was mainly sold on the domestic market and in Japan as Kia Vigato. A few copies found their way to Europe, so there is one on the Dutch Kia importer in the showroom.
