When Lotus killed off its Elan two-seater sports car, Kia swooped to pick up the pieces. It didn’t end well…
Lotus wasn’t mucking around in the late 1980s. Under new General Motors ownership, the British carmaker invested heavily in what it believed would become a sports car for the masses, including in the lucrative US market.
Lotus spent around £35 million (AUD$65 million) in mid-1980s money developing what would become the Lotus Elan, a lightweight, two-seater convertible designed to future-proof the company.
The reborn roadster harked back to the original Elan from the 1960s, a fibreglass-bodied convertible bearing all the hallmarks of Lotus’ lightweight philosophy. But, despite the big buck investment from the US parent, the Elan failed to excite the masses and after just three years of production from 1989-1992, where just 3855 cars rolled out of Lotus’ Hethel factory (including just 559 for the U.S.), the Elan slipped away quietly.
GM cut its Lotus losses in 1993, offloading the British marque to Italian businessman Romano Artioli who owned, among other brands, Bugatti at the time.
Under his watch a further 800 Elans – S2 models – rolled off the production line before time was called for the second time in September 1995.
But, how to recoup all those invested GM millions? Enter Korean carmaker Kia which bought the rights and the tooling for the Elan from Lotus.
The Kia Elan differed little from its British forebear, the most visible distinction found in the tail-light treatment. Where Lotus had pilfered the tail-lights from French carmaker Alpine, and specifically its GTA model, Kia installed a bespoke rear light cluster featuring circular elements against the Lotus’ rectangular design.
Inside, the Kia Elan was pretty much all Lotus, but for the Kia-branded steering wheel which came straight from the parts bin, also serving duties in the Kia Sephia, or, as it was known in Australia, Kia Mentor.
Under the bonnet, Kia ditched Lotus’ Isuzu-sourced 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo four making 121kW in favour of its own T8D Hi-Sprint 1.8-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder unit, good for 113kW. Drive was sent to the front wheels via a five-speed manual.
Kia claimed a top speed of 205km/h while the dash from standstill to 100km/h was said to take 8.8 seconds, both numbers down on the Lotus’s 1.6-litre turbo unit.
Kia also revised the Elan’s suspension geometry, raising the ride height by an almost comical 40mm, the result a car that didn’t handle as well as its British counterpart although with a far more supple and comfortable ride.
British magazine Autocar got its hands on a Kia Elan at the time and its review of the 27.5 million Korean Won (about AUD$32,000) sports car wasn’t dripping with praise, citing the raised ride height, poor interior build quality and shocking grip levels, thanks to the fitment of low quality, budget tyres.
Autocar added that the Kia Elan had potential with more development, but sadly, and despite Kia’s hoped-for annual production run of 2000 cars, the Korean brand’s first sports car soon faded into obscurity with just 792 having been built from 1996-99 at its Ansan production facility.
When the last car rolled off the line, it signalled the end of a chequered history that started with Toyota (an earlier M90 prototype was designed by Lotus for Toyota which the Japanese company ultimately rejected, giving rise to the M100 Elan), with money from General Motors, an injection of Bugatti cash before finally ending its life as an obscure and rare Kia.
MORE: Everything Kia
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