Remember when Hertz announced that it was adding the Lotus Elise and the Lotus Exige to their fleet of rental cars? Well, now we know just how much it’s going to cost us to sit behind one of these bad boys for a day.
The rental car agency announced that the two Lotus models can be rented out for the princely sum of €458.54 per day in Italy and around $600 per day in the US. Unfortunately, that price doesn’t include insurance packages, which you’ll probably need if you do rent out one an Elise or an Exige.
It’s a lot more expensive than any of us previously thought, but then again, the thinking goes that if you can afford to pay that amount for a chance to blast off into the sunset with an Elise or an Exige, then it should be well worth every penny.
In addition to announcing the rental price for the two Lotuses, Hertz also announced that they are now offering a rental BMW Z4 sDrive 23i and a Fiat 500 Barbie edition. The Z4 will be available in selected dealerships in Spain with prices starting at €121 per day, while the Fiat 500 Roso will be available in The Netherlands for just €35 a day.
Fresh off the heels of delivering their first truly all new car in years, the Evora, and the release of a hard core track tuned Lotus Exige Cup, the lightweight English sports car builder has just revealed another version of their compact thrill machine. The Lotus Elise Club Racer is a very simple and straightforward sports car that borrows a few shades of paint from Colin Chapman’s personal pallet from the 1960s, colors like Elite Yellow, Carbon Grey, Sky Blue and Old English White.
According to the Director of Lotus Cars, Luke Bennett, "Special Editions of the award winning Elise have always proved popular with our customers around the world, and I expect the Elise Club Racer to be no different. We have taken colour schemes from our past, used on the Elite and Elan in the 1960s and cleverly brought them up to date with a modern feel to the interior. The whole design package is modern with a classic twist, which of course matches the peerless ride and handling of a Lotus and the convertible experience of the Elise perfectly."
Called the Elise Club Racer, the new lightweight English sports car is based on the 134 HP version of the Lotus Elise S and is scheduled to arrive in showrooms on September 15th and go on sale for around $40,000. The car makes use of silver and black highlights in the interior as well as an anthracite anodized gear knob and handbrake with the Club Racer "CR" logo embroidered everywhere. The Lotus engineers even saw fit to incorporate a smaller diameter steering wheel and a set of lightweight six spoke alloys for that extra sporty look and feel.
Press release after the jump.
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The lightweight English sports car builder Lotus has just unleashed a whole new type of animal onto the performance car market, taking Colin Chapman’s original philosophy to a whole new level in order to create a 257 HP supercharged hard top Lotus Elise that can go from 0 to 60 MPH in only 4 seconds. By using items like a lightweight ’motorsport’ battery, ultra-light five spoke forged alloy wheels, revised rear engine subframe with lightweight coating, lightweight fly wheel, lightweight composite bulkhead panel replaces rear window as well as alloy supercharger U-bend pipes; and by deleting unnecessary items like carpets, front mud flaps, battery cover, interior mirror, sunvisors, rear tailgate gas strut the Lotus design team has been able to shed almost 250 pounds from the compact sports car.
Although the 1.8 Liter Toyota four cylinder still makes the same 257 HP and 174 lb-ft of torque thanks to a supercharger, the Lotus Exige Cup 260 is highlighted by an extensive use of carbon fiber, motorsport lightweight wheels, Ohlins 2-way adjustable dampers
and rear chassis stiffness increased by 30%. The Cup car for the streets also comes with race equipment like a redesigned front end and GT3 inspired wing out back with a set of HANS device ready racing buckets inside. However this is a true track day special and the when you come to think of it $80,000 is a lot to pay for a lot of discomfort however air conditioning and an interior noise reduction pack are available at the owners request, For some owners that is only a small sacrifice to endure and a smaller price to pay for such a visceral driving experience.
Press release after the jump.
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The American arm of the lightweight English sports car builder, Lotus USA, has announced that they will be offering a new Supercharger Kit for both naturally aspirated Lotus Elise and Exige models. The kit includes the same supercharger and cast intake manifold as the production Elise SC and allows owners who have decided that they rely did want that extra power after all by boosting their Toyota 2ZZ-GE engine.
The kit includes a new intake manifold, high-flow fuel injectors and a re-programmed engine management system that work together to increase the engine’s power up to 218 HP from the stock 189 HP rating. It may not seem like all that much, but the 2ZZ is tuned to work as efficiently as possible as it comes from the factory. The main advantage of the kit is much more power down low in the RPM band and because the supercharger is always spinning, instantaneous throttle response.
Press release after the jump.
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The next time you find yourself in Italy and may need a rental car, we suggest that you give Hertz a call. Not only is it one of the more established car rental brands in the world, but they’re latest fleet of rentals are enough to make everyone scramble for the rental company’s phone number. When you do go through to them, might we suggest that you ask for a Lotus Elise SC. We guarantee you won’t regret it.
As one of the world’s most popular sports cars, the Elise SC is now available for rent from Hertz Italiana S.p.A. Part of the agreement between the car rental company and Lotus Cars Limited, the sports car subsidiary of Group Lotus, a fleet of Lotus Elise SC’s will be made available to hire from a number of Hertz centers throughout Italy.
It’s a tie-up that both companies are eager to get started.According to Michael Kimberley, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus, “I am delighted that Lotus Cars has entered into this agreement with Hertz, giving us the opportunity to make our stunning world class sports cars available to the rental market.
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