"The Evora 400 is the latest in a long line of world-beating sports and racing cars to have been hand built in Hethel over the last 50 years," Jean-Marc Gales, CEO of Group Lotus plc said.
The anniversary edition of Lotus' latest model, the Evora 400 weighs in at just 1,395 kilograms and is built by hand at the purpose-built factory at a former RAF airfield in Hethel, Norfolk.
The Lotus Mark 1 was built in 1948 and was an Austin 7-based sports car; fast forward almost 70 years and the limited edition Evora 400 has arrived, built to mark 50 years since the founding of Lotus' factory in Norfolk.
British Built, Not British Owned
There are just four British-owned car companies left: Bristol, Morgan, Caterham and McLaren. The most famous ones, Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls Royce and Mini are foreign-owned. However, they are made on British soil.
Lotus, made in Norfolk is Malaysian-owned and Aston Martin in Warwickshire is owned by two Kuwaiti companies.
Bentley Motors built in Crewe is owned by Volkswagen and Rolls Royce, manufactured in Goodwood is owned by German BMW.
Jaguar/Land Rover are built in the West Midlands and Liverpool — but are owned by Tata Motors in India. BMW builds Minis in Oxfordshire.
The UK production line is pretty busy, producing more than 1.5 million cars and 205 million engines a year — and production is looking pretty hot.
