This nameplate began with Lotus’s original Type 14, introduced at the 1957 Earls Court Motor Show as the company’s first four-seat road car. The early car was notable for its advanced fiberglass construction, lightweight philosophy, and aerodynamic shape, and it helped establish Lotus’s reputation for producing technically inventive, driver-focused sports cars. The first production run ended in the early 1960s, after which the nameplate disappeared for more than a decade.
Lotus revived the badge in 1974 for a very different grand-touring model, the Type 75. This later car was a larger front-engined four-seater with a fastback profile and a more luxurious brief than the original. It became known for its unconventional two-piece fiberglass body construction and for introducing Lotus’s new 907 four-cylinder engine. The model remained in production through the late 1970s and was updated in 1980 as the Series 2 and Series 2.2, designated Type 83, with further mechanical and styling revisions.
Because the nameplate was used for two clearly separate production eras, it should be treated as a revived Lotus model rather than a single uninterrupted line. The badge has strong enthusiast recognition for linking two very different interpretations of the Lotus idea: the original lightweight fiberglass pioneer and the later, more refined grand tourer.