Lotus Appoints Mansory as its Official Customization Partner, First Models to Appear at Paris Motor Show

At the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, Lotus displayed a concept version of the Evora coupe developed in collaboration with Mansory.

The German tuning house also worked on the Evora GTE and other special Lotus versions such as the carbon fiber-bodied Evora GTE that was unveiled last month in Geneva.

Today, Lotus announced that from now on, Mansory will be its official customization studio. The German company will work closely with Lotus’ engineers on special editions of the Elise, the Exige and the Evora and the first samples of this collaboration will appear at the Paris Motor Show in September.

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The Mouse that Roars: Custom Lotus Exige with 680rwhp is Insane

Lotus has always designed sports cars that are fast, light and handle superbly. The fact that most its models fall into the flyweight category eseentially eliminates the need for extremely powerful engines.

But not for one Lotus owner who wasn't content with his stock Lotus Exige. Enter the world of Frank Profera from California.

After six years of constant development and numerous upgrades, Profera and his team have tweaked the British sports car's 1.8-liter twin-turbocharged engine to the point that it currently pushes 680-horsepower at the wheels (which means 700hp or more at the crankshaft).

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New Lotus Exige S Roadster and Carbon-Bodied Evora GTE Unveiled in Geneva by Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula 1 World Champion who after a three-year foray into the WRC returned to F1 with Lotus for the 2012 season, was on hand at the Geneva Motor Show to unveil the British carmaker’s two new models.

The first was the open-top version of the Exige S. The Roadster is the first Exige ever to be fitted with a soft-top roof, which Lotus claims, is both lightweight and easily removable.

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Lotus Goes Rallying with the Exige R-GT and Endurance Racing with the Evora GTE

Six Drivers' and seven Constructors' Formula 1 World Championships won by legends Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti are enough to secure Lotus' place in the history of F1 racing, even if it currently isn’t ranked among the title contenders.

Yet, the Hethel-based sports car maker has another world title to show for itself in a completely different form of racing: it won the 1982 World Rally Championship with the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus.

Confirming previous reports, Lotus is returning to special stages in partnership with the Italian team United Business, which won the 2011 title. It will enter the FIA European Rally Championship with the Exige R-GT painted in its iconic black and gold colors.

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