(Wed 17 Feb 10)

The 2011 model-year Lotus Elise will make its world debut at the Geneva Show next month before arriving in showrooms in April. It still looks very much like previous Elises, but there has been a conscious effort to give it a family resemblance to the Evora, and the redesign has also improved aerodynamic efficiency.

The high-performance models - the 189bhp R and the 217bhp SC - continue to use the familiar 1.8-litre engine (supercharged in the case of the SC), but the entry-level car now has a 1.6-litre unit. Despite the reduction in size, maximum power output is similar to what it was before at 134bhp, but Lotus expects the official combined economy and CO2 emissions figures to be substantially better than in the older car at around 46mpg and 155g/km respectively.

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