Last Lotus Elise handed over to owner the car was named after

Luxury carmaker Lotus handed over the last Elise sports car built for a customer to Elisa Artioli, the granddaughter of Lotus’ ex-Chairman, Romano Artioli. Interestingly, Elisa was the original inspiration behind the name of the sports car. The final unit features Championship Gold exterior colour.

When the two-seat, mid-engined roadster was launched in mid-90s, the then chairman Artioli's granddaughter Elisa was only two years old at the time. And recently, the last ever unit of the sports car was handed over to her at a ceremony in Norfolk, England.

Elisa bid goodbye to the Lotus Elise series in an emotional letter that shows her deep connection with the car. “In 1993, when I was born, you only existed on a sheet of paper. Still no one knew that we were destined to spend life together," she wrote, Motor 1 reported. She went on to describe the time when Lotus Elise was revealed to the world.

Yesterday, we were delighted to welcome Elisa Artioli to Hethel to hand over her new car – the last Elise built for a customer – a Sport 240 in “Championship Gold”.

The granddaughter of Lotus’ then Chairman, Romano Artioli, Elisa was the original inspiration for the car’s name. pic.twitter.com/pt0hf9WZIo

— Lotus Cars (@lotuscars) February 25, 2022

Her letter read, “It was September 12, 1995 and we were waiting to be revealed to the world because, up until that moment, no one had ever seen us, above all, no one knew that under the cloth there would not be just any person, but the 2-year-old Elisa." She goes on to explain that she was attached to the steering wheel at the time of the unveiled, proudly wearing a T-shirt with the words "I am Elise". “I felt in my world the way I feel today, when I am with you, I sit and I am at home."

Last December, Lotus announced the end of production of the Elise, Exige, and Evora sports cars. These three cars represented almost half of Lotus' total production during its 73 years of existence. With this, the carmaker is entering the era of electrification and the the limited-run Lotus Evija hypercar will welcome the marque to electrification.

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