18 June 2010

The people have spoken: Let the cars do the talking

Readers of prestigious German car magazine “Sport Auto” have voted the New Lotus Elise (MY2011) and the Exige S as the “Most Sportiest Car” in their respective categories in the magazine’s 2010 awards. Stable-mates the Elise SC MY2011 and the Evora also managed podium finishes.

The awards come just weeks after the brand new Lotus Elise MY2011 was launched to a strong reception from the media, many of whom chose to focus on the low emissions of just 149g CO2/km and the class leading fuel consumption. The Elise received an incredible 29.8% of the reader vote in the category of open sports cars up to € 40.000,-- resulting in the sought after ‘Most Sportiest Car’ title.

And it’s not only the Elise models that were recognised in the awards, the high performance, lightweight Exige S was also victorious in the category of Coupes up to € 50.000,--. The Exige stole an even better percentage of the vote with 34% of all readers pushing it; placing it nearly 20% ahead of its nearest rival in the class.

Lotus cars were nominated in two further classes: Coupes up to € 100.000,-- and Cabriolets up to € 60.000,--. The Evora finished second in the Coupes up to € 100.000,-- just missing out on the top spot by a fraction with the Elise SC coming in third in the Cabriolets category just 0.8% behind the second car.

Lotus Chief Commercial Officer, Andreas Prillmann, said: “The German market is one of our strongest worldwide so we are delighted to see that Lotus cars have been so successful among so many other well established and highly competitive manufacturers such as Audi, BMW and Porsche. To rise to the top in the German market which is home to many great car makers makes the awards doubly important to us.

“A big thank you goes to all the Sport Auto readers, industry recognition is essential but we never underestimate the power and passion of the customer which is why awards like this are so significant to us. We take these awards as a sign that customers understand that the combination of lightweight and green technology without compromise on performance will be key characteristics for the clever sports cars of the future – that’s what Lotus is all about. “