Who is The Founder of Lotus Cars?

As some of us might know, the Lotus sports car has two seats and is designed with two aerodynamic doors which allow the person driving the car to feel light and very speedy. But do you the person behind this brand's success?

Many still not known the founder of Lotus Cars which is Colin Chapman.

Colin Chapman perhaps is the greatest person in the automotive industry. For your information, he is not just the founder of this great brand but also an innovator for cars on the roads, planes, and boats.

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Let us introduce to you, Colin Chapman.

Background

Colin Chapman was born on 19 May 1928 and was raised on the border of Muswell Hill, London, England. He has a qualification in structural engineering from University College London(UCL) and has also joined the University of London Air Squadron. He was learning how to drive a plane at the time.

After finishing his studies, he once worked for a British Aluminium company and used his engineering skills to sell aluminum as a structure material viable for development.

Early Involvement Of Colin Chapman In The Automotive Industry

In 1948, Colin Chapman designed a custom-made car for local race competitions. He decided to name his car, Lotus MKI. What's more interesting is the fact that he also won that race.

With the prize he gained from winning the race, Colin developed another car and named it Lotus MKII. At this moment, Colin Chapman has shown the capability of competing with other car brands out there. He also came up with several other components that are more advanced than his competitors.

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Success and Innovations

Lotus Mark VI

With his accomplishment through Lotus 6, Colin Chapman started to sell his race car components and he managed to sell 100 units until 1956. It is definitely a great achievement for someone who just started in this industry.

In the 1950s, he also designed and built 1 series of Formula One cars. This was considered a turning point for Colin Chapman as he managed to gain one success after another.

Motor Sports 

The company Lotus was successfully established in 1959 that emphasizes more towards road cars and the manufacturing of race cars for their clients. In the beginning, Lotus only sold cars that are focused more on personal racing to reduce the sales tax imposed.

In the early 1970s, Lotus Elan Plus Two became Lotus' first car that is not offered in the form of kits and only in the factory-made version.

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Lotus Sports Car

To expand his business further, Colin Chapman has introduced very iconic sports car and probably the most popular of the time which is the Lotus Elite and Lotus Eclat. Interestingly enough, the production of this car features 4 seats and targets more of their wealthy customers.

With that being said, Colin Chapman happens to be one of the figures in the automotive industry that is without a doubt the best one in that. He is the precursor of many kinds of innovations in the world of automotive and his success is because of his creative thinking in solving problems.

The death of Colin Chapman on 16 December 1982 was considered a huge loss for us all since not many today are capable of doing something that he had achieved.

Source:

• Majalah Labur

Also read: Toyota History Starting from Selling Loom Machinery