Lotus Elise is a sports car created by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars, which is a private limited company creating sports and racing cars. The Elise is a two door, two seater roadster that has a rear mid engine, rear wheel drive layout. The name Elise was derived from Elisa, who is the granddaughter of Lotus’ chairman at that period, Romano Artioli.

                This sports car is assembled in Hethel in Norfolk. England, and is created as a successor of the Lotus Elan, a coupé and roadster produced in 1962. The Elise began production in the year 1996, and it was released in September of that year. This car is characterized to have a speed of 240 kilometers per hour or 150 miles per hour, and it has a hand finished fibreglass body.

                The first Lotus Elise called the Series 1 was produced in the years 1996 until 2001 with a five speed manual transmission. This version is designed by Julian Thomson who is head of the Lotus design team, and by Richard Rackham, who is the chief engineer of Lotus Cars. In 2002, Series 2 of Elise began production with a five speed manual and six speed manual transmission.

                Other versions of the car include the 111S, which is a faster edition, the 340R which is a roofless limited edition model released in 2000, the Exige, which is a hardtop version also released in 2000, 111R or Federal Elise, and Zytek Lotus Elise, an electric sports car. Other special edition versions include Sport 190, Sport 135R, Jim Clark Type 25, Club Racer, Sports Racer, Final Edition, Purist Edition, California Edition, 50^th Anniversary Edition, 60^th Anniversary Edition, Lotus Sport 111, Type 23, Type 25, Type 49, Type 72, and Type 99T.