Financial issues, the death of the company founder and a change of drivetrain ethos at a Japanese giant all played their part in the demise of this 1980s concept for a rear-driven Elan -
On paper M90 was a promising idea, what with a zingy little engine driving the rear wheels and a target weight of just 860kg. Unfortunately, the finished car didn’t live up to this promise, blighted by poor chassis rigidity and a wedgy design that risked looking dated by the time it went on sale. Worse yet, there was a feeling within management that the car was too predictable, at odds with the Lotus spirit of innovation.
Meanwhile, the Toyota consultancy had allowed senior Lotus engineers to compare the existing rear-drive Corolla to an early example of its front-wheel-drive replacement, and their conclusion, cemented by findings on projects for other car makers, was that the future would be pulled rather than pushed.
The lone prototype was stashed in a Hethel warehouse until 1998 when, as part of an auction of unwanted assets, it was sold to an American collector. In what might pass as a happy ending for this doomed one-off, the car was subsequently restored and made road legal, while its usurper would evolve – via a GM takeover, a complete redesign and a switch to Isuzu power – into the M100 Elan of 1989.
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