After introducing the Elise on the market, Lotus was pressed by its customers to build a coupe version for it and the Exige was born.
Usually, a roadster is heavier than its coupe sibling. But Lotus did the Exige the other way around and made it heavier than its Elise sibling. They just put a fixed cover over the Elise already rigid chassis. The good part was that it didn’t spoil the hairstyle with the windows closed.

When Lotus made a closed cabin for the Exige, it used the new shapes to create a new air-duct for the engine on top of the car. But the front remained similar to its open-top sibling, the Elise. At the front, it featured a sharp nose with two extraction vents on the upper panel. Its round headlights were pushed outward on the fenders while the turn-signals were on the inner side. Exige’s new profile brought new aerodynamic advantages and better use for a rear wing. The overall curved shapes provided a better drag-resistance factor and led to a higher top speed than on the Elise.

The interior was very similar to the one in the Elise, but the AC was fitted as standard. On the other hand, the windows used an old-fashioned cranked system. But Lotus considered that the car should offer more comfort features and added Alcantara on the doors and sills.

Under the hood, Lotus used the same K-Series Rover engine, but only on the top power version, which provided 179 hp. The less-powered units were used only on the Elise.