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For anyone who knows a thing about Lotus knows that the company is all about manufacturing cars with sporty and sturdy looks. Lotus cars focus is all on driving in speed while the car looks fabulous. These cars have now become the symbol of pace and maneuverability. So, where did it start?

Lotus is a British automotive company that was established by Colin Chapman and Colin Dare in 1952. Chapman was a graduate and always had a vision for cars. He built his first car in a garage in 1956. The car was named Austin Seven Special. It managed to enter into few races and even got victories in some of them.

In 1950, the first car was built that was named Lotus that had a powerful Ford engine. The car managed to win against Bugatti Type 37. This was when Chapman decided to pay attention to building cars that would be a part of Formula 750. Later in the year, they entered Lotus Mark IX in another race however, it was disqualified.

But this did not stop Chapman, he decided to create new Lotus models and created a classic version of Mark VI called 'The Seven'. The car turned out to be one of the groundbreaking cars produced by Lotus and is still produced under the name 'Caterham Seven'.

In 1959, due to the increase in production, Lotus had to move to a bigger facility in Chestnut. Here all of the latest classic models, that had the body made from glass fiber and chassis were to be built.

After entering the racing in 1958, Lotus had already bagged its first Grand Prix award. Later, Lotus managed to win 2 championships. Additionally, it also managed to build one of the best sports cars known as 'The Ford Cortina'. And soon in the year 1960, the kit era began to end.

Therefore, in 1970 the first Lotus Elan Plus II road car was released without a kit form. In the same year, the Lotus Eclat and Elite were the two cars that were available in factory-built versions.

In the 70s, Lotus 30v and 40v were unsuccessful in the market. However, Lotus still managed to rule the F1 circuit. After the death of Chapman in 1982, things changed for Lotus. It was sold to GM in 1986. 6 years later, it sold out to ACBN Holdings and soon after three years the company was again sold to a Malaysian automobile firm. Proton continues to sell cars under them.