Introduced in 1996, the Lotus Elise was the quintessence of the sports car: light and spartan, low and stiff, it ensured driving sensations worthy of an enormously higher cost supercar. The 1800cc Rover engine was powerful enough even in the base 111 version with 120 horsepower. More extreme versions with horsepower from 143 to 190 horsepower were produced, but were sometimes less balanced. The Lotus Elise first series was produced until 2000.