Managing Innovation, Design and Creativity

Chapter 11. Collaboration – innovation in manufacturing

CASE STUDY 4: THE LOTUS ELISE^[37]

The philosophy behind Lotus and the Elise

A proper sports car should weigh little, handle and ride superbly, and deliver high levels of driver satisfaction.

—Lotus founder Colin Chapman

The Lotus Seven, launched in 1957, was Chapman's first car to be built on a commercial scale – previous models had been built exclusively for racing purposes. By taking his cars to market he wanted to transfer some of the excitement of racing cars to the road. ^[38] The Lotus Seven offered racing-car qualities at kit-car prices, with performance achieved through light-weight construction rather than a powerful engine. Chapman was quoted to have said, "It is a bit like a four-wheeled motorbike."

In 1966 Lotus, which had started off on a site in Tottenham, London, moved to its current site in Hethel, Norwich. The site, which had been the home of a USAAF Liberator squadron in the Second World War was chosen not only because it offered ample room for expansion, but also because it allowed the building of a great test track on what was the former runway and the airfield perimeter road. While keeping the driving fun, Lotus moved decidedly upmarket with the development of the £60,000 Esprit in the 1970s, a direction that was substantiated through the introduction of the Elan, a two-seater sports car, in the 1980s. Neither of the cars has ever been built in large quantities.

Group Lotus plc consists of two parts: Lotus Cars ...