Lotus Elan M200 Speedster
Weird Car of the Day #459: 1991* Lotus Elan M200 Concept – Patina non grata
I try to have tremendous empathy for entities forced into a path that forces them to shrink. Lotus, for example, after Colin Chapman's death in 1982, was adrift despite being much closer to its F1 world championships than it is now.
Believe it or not, the audacious M200 concept happened under GM's watchful eye, while Lotus was still an authentic sports car manufacturer competing in Formula 1 (before it was cool).
Actually, this car happened during an era where most F1 accounts were a black hole of expenses for every team…and not scoring points made it even worse. Points were only awarded to the top 6, there was no cost cap, and Lotus tended to circulate near the back, far from the (single) world TV feed.
*Note, I'm calling this car a 1991 because that was its first public appearance; 1990 is what the chassis indicates
Top sponsors were few and far between, and commercial payouts slim. Teams were not worth profit-makers.
Still: Lotus soldiered on, racing in F1 while simultaneously developing what generation after generation of car enthusiast begs for: a more affordable sports car, preferably a convertible.
The M100-series Lotus Elan, with pop-up headlights, powered by an Isuzu 4-cylinder engine and front-wheel drive only.
Send.
It:
Duly introduced the same year as the Mazda MX-5, at a price higher than the genre-defining, once-in-a-lifetime competition from the Japanese marque.
Like other former GM brands, Lotus had "investment", investment that all but evaporated when its plans were subjected to market forces, as in: people didn't buy it.
A shame, not only because Lotus managed to take one of Isuzu's most advanced 4-cylinder engines and package them at the front of a sporting car, but because if Lotus had been a Japanese car of that era, the bar would have been easier to clear: a front-drive sporty car, like a Honda Integra, Mitsubishi FTO, or Toyota Curren.
The Elan's engine? Take a Geo Storm GSi's 130 horsepower, 16-valve 4-cylinder engine and add a turbo, for 160 horsepower. This peak version of the Isuzu 4XE1 engine can only be found in the Isuzu Impulse RS, Stylus RS, and Japan market Gemini. (Lesser Isuzu 4X engine variants went to lesser economy cars like the North American Chevrolet Spectrum, which is totally a real car that has nearly become extinct before my eyes.)
