The Speedster was a small two-seat roadster that Lotus built at Hethel in Norfolk on the same line as the Elise, and the UK sold it as the Vauxhall VX220. The concept was shown at the Geneva show in March 1999, and Lotus and General Motors struck a deal later that year that also helped pay for the new Elise. The usual engine was the 2.2-litre Ecotec from the Astra, and a 2.0-litre turbo with 200 PS followed in 2003. Production ended in 2005 with no direct successor.
The Speedster is Opel's mid-engined, Lotus-built lightweight two-seat roadster, built in the early 2000s and sold in Britain as the Vauxhall VX220. It was built on a bonded-aluminium chassis at Lotus's Hethel factory and used Opel Ecotec four-cylinder engines, a 2.2-litre naturally aspirated unit and later a 2.0-litre turbo, driving the rear wheels. Low weight and sharp handling were its main strengths.
25years
2trims
145–197hp range
The Story
Why the Speedster mattersTrims
2 trims · 2001–2005The Speedster topped out with a 200 hp 2.0-litre turbo, cutting 0-100 km/h to under five seconds.