Lotus Cars is a British manufacturer of sports and racing cars based at the former site of RAF Hethel, a World War II airfield in Norfolk. It was founded by engineer Collin Chapman in 1952. The company was specialized into developing road cars and producing racing cars for customers. It continued its legacy until today since the company designs and builds race and production automobiles of light weight and fine handling characteristics. It also owns the engineering consultancy Lotus Engineering, which has facilities in the United Kingdom, United States, Malaysia and China. Lotus is owned by Proton, which acquired it following the bankruptcy of former owner Romano Artioli in 1994.
The Lotus logo shows unique identity which is the same with other car logos. Looking at the badge on the hood of a Lotus, there’s a jumble of letters above the company name. These letters stand for Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman, the founder who built the first Lotus in a garage using a 1930s Austin Seven and a power drill. The Lotus logo shows unfading legacy of Chapman which is an edge to other car logos. Lotus logo is in list of other memorable car logos in automobile industry.
The first Lotus cars were used for racing. In 1962, there were four Lotus race cars and one road car, the lightweight Lotus Elan roadster, which was in production until 1973. In 1965, the Elan got a hard top, and in 1967, the Lotus Elan plus 2 came on the scene, with a couple of small rear seats. The Lotux Cortina four-door had a short run from 1963-66, and the chunky, wagon-ish Europa followed it in 1967. The company was outgrowing its factory with all this activity, so the operation was moved to Norfolk, U.K., in 1966, where it still builds cars today.
Lotus Cars were awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for contribution to International Trade, one of 85 companies receiving the recognition in that category in 2002. Lotus cars wore the badge of the award for a number of years.
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