I also wanted to use Bagina. Anyways, so you like Lotus? Very unique company, with a strong racing heritage who whore them selves out corporately to get money to race. Sometimes this whoring results in some oddity....
The Elan, a name that's associated to small, light weight convertible sports cars. So when the M100 came out, people were expecting a lightweight, convertible. That's exactly what Lotus provided, what people weren't expecting was Lotus's first ever front wheel drive. Built with an Isuzu engine the M100 was a bit of a stray from the norm. During the 80's Lotus played a bit with Toyota's, with a questionable presence in the design of the AW11 Mr2, as well as dabbling a whole bunch with Isuzu's and ultimately GM. I have a strong feeling there was a lot shared between the M100 and the second generation Isuzu Impulse. Another surprising thing about the M100? This:
That's not a mistake, the M100 was also sold at the Kia Elan. After a failed venture to produce the Lotus Toyota using I'm only guessing a 4AG, the car was released with the Isuzu engine as a Lotus Elan in some markets, and with a similar KIA motor in others under the Kia brand.
Now we arn't done here, simply because I don't care if you like what I write about or not. :D But I'm a fan of Lada's in general, and the Niva is one of them. Having almost owned one as a first car, they've always remained interesting to me.
Now, Lada has a reputation for Never changing body styles, and the Niva has always had a bit of a Fiat-esque feel to it from the beginning. Funny enough, you can still buy this 1 generation Niva brand new in Russia. What's also funny? You can buy the second gen along side it, but there's something fishy about the second gen.....
Oh yeah, that's right. GM worked with VAZ (Lada) to build the second gen. The Chevy Niva literally uses the same basic drivetrain as the old Niva but with a newish body design. People always give me weird looks when I tell them none of the current GM cars are actually American cars, but it's true, many of them are designed elsewhere for cheaper, mostly pre-assembled, then shipped in pieces and a final assembly is done on American soil. And don't think the GM truck lineup is safe as American as apple pie gets, that bubble is well popped with the inline 5 powered Chevy Colorado.
Share this post
Back to SPEED HERO Blog
out of the closet lada fan? boy do i have a deal for you Quinn. When people at work come to me and tell me to be ready to look for obscure vehicle parts i laugh and ask if they own a Lada. Long story short i have 2 original hard cover rather large dealer books. I’ll figure out what models and they are all yours
Truth being stranger than fiction, that Kia elan was the Korean company buying the licenses and production line from Lotus and manufacturing with their own engines