Lotus unveils Eco Elise Concept
July 10, 2008 by George Skentzos
Already touted as the manufacturer of some of the most fuel efficient performance cars on the market, Lotus has taken this concept one step further after revealing its Eco Elise technology demonstrator ahead of its official British Motor Show debut.
The Eco Elise takes a somewhat passionate approach to the environment, sporting some highly unusual green design elements extending to more than just the contents of the exhaust.
Already an adrenaline-pumping sports car, it may also get you high with the use of materials such as hemp, eco wool and sisol for body panels and trim combined with hi-tech water based paint solutions.
“The Lotus brand values of lightweight, fuel efficient and high performance are more relevant today than they ever have been. We are keen to ensure that Lotus as a company and its products offer an ethical, green option that appeals to our customers”. Mike Kimberley, CEO of Group Lotus.
Astoundingly, this Green abomination is actually quicker than the standard Elise S due to a further 32kg weight loss through the use of green materials – however the marketing manager at Lotus prefers us to think of this as an improvement in fuel economy with a performance side-effect.
For a manufacturer which embodies the notion of pure driving pleasure without compromise, it is certainly a shock to see that Lotus have replaced the shift light with a ‘Green’ light – indicating to the driver the ideal point to shift gears for fuel economy.
The Eco Elise even integrates solar panels into its roof structure to supplement the electrical systems and save energy.
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Nice.
Great to see someone is working on replacing man made, chemical amd oil based plastics ect with natural products. If only the designers could come up with a car that is actually good looking. Having looked at one again yesterday it still looks like a build it youreslf kit car, albeit a very fast one.
When will people start seeing that a so called Carbon Trading Scheme, is well, you’ve guessed it, a “scheme”.
This has got nothing to do with reducing carbon and methane emissions into the atmosphere, this is just another tax.
Don’t get me wrong, but I’m just sick and tired of all these marketing tricks, and all this media/government hysteria that surrounds the global warming phenomenon. Guess what, be kinder to the environment, stop being bloody waste of resources, but paying more for the CT scheme will only make you poorer, and our planet Earth will still suffer.
PS: nice lotus.