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Lotus car statistics

How many Lotus cars are on the road in Great Britain, every Lotus model, its share of new cars over time and which fuels they use, how they do at the MOT and their safety recalls. Built from DVLA licensing records and DVSA MOT results.

Last updated
Records analysed
37,519,147 car records (licensed and SORN)
Methodology
View methodology
  • Licensed in Great Britain 17,099 +6.0% on a year earlier
  • Rank among makes No. 51 0.05% of licensed cars
  • MOT first-time pass rate, 2025 86.2% Cars of the same ages 64.4%
  • New registrations in 2025 1,424 0.070% of all new cars
  • Most common fuel Petrol 80.8% of those licensed
  • Safety recalls since 1992 17 naming 4 Lotus models

How many Lotus cars are on the road?

There were 17,099 Lotus cars licensed in Great Britain at the end of June 2026, and a further 8,522 declared off the road (SORN). That is 0.05% of all licensed cars, making Lotus the No. 51 make on the road. That is the most on the road at any year end since 1994. Petrol makes up 80.8% of licensed Lotus cars, against 54.2% of all cars.

Lotus cars licensed in Great Britain

Numbers are still rising: the latest count is the highest in this series.

Lotus cars licensed in Great Britain at the end of each year
Year Licensed
1994 6,790
1995 6,899
1996 7,608
1997 8,420
1998 10,291
1999 12,043
2000 12,995
2001 13,696
2002 14,569
2003 15,067
2004 15,670
2005 15,939
2006 15,965
2007 15,955
2008 15,242
2009 14,480
2010 13,393
2011 12,589
2012 11,669
2013 11,290
2014 11,118
2015 11,319
2016 11,185
2017 10,902
2018 11,099
2019 11,140
2020 10,681
2021 10,976
2022 10,955
2023 11,900
2024 13,244
2025 14,464
2026 17,099

Source:DfT / DVLA End of June 2026 Updated

Fuel type

Lotus cars

All cars in Great Britain

Source:DfT / DVLA End of June 2026 Updated

Lotus models

13 Lotus models have a page of their own. The most common is the Lotus Elise, with 4,464 licensed: 26.1% of all Lotus cars on the road. Over the last year the Eletre added the most cars on the road (+664, +31.2%) and the Elise lost the most (−105, −2.3%). The totals above also count models too small for a page of their own.

Lotus models with their own page, most licensed first
Model Licensed Change on a year SORN Main fuel MOT pass rate
Elise 4,464 −2.3% 2,885 Petrol 86.1%
Eletre 2,792 +31.2% 18 Electric –
Elan 2,708 −2.0% 1,863 Petrol 78.4%
Emira V6 1,240 +5.3% 57 Petrol –
Exige 1,216 −0.2% 486 Petrol –
Esprit 893 +0.4% 1,104 Petrol –
Evora 718 −0.3% 181 Petrol –
Emeya 478 +259.4% 12 Electric –
Emira 469 +19.0% 25 Petrol –
Eclat 396 +4.2% 708 Petrol –
Europa 396 +1.3% 247 Petrol –
Elite 303 +2.0% 250 Petrol –
Seven 233 −2.5% 108 Petrol –

MOT pass rates are first-time passes of cars aged three and over in 2025. A dash means too few tests, or a model DVSA’s records do not separate from vans.

New Lotus cars registered each year

Registrations of new Lotus cars in Great Britain peaked at 1,677 in 2024. In 2025, 1,424 were registered for the first time: 0.070% of all new cars, against 0.086% in 2024, Lotus’s best year for share of new cars.

Registered for the first time, by year

Lotus cars registered for the first time in Great Britain, by year
Year First registrations
’01 1,260
’02 1,327
’03 1,014
’04 891
’05 994
’06 868
’07 731
’08 684
’09 520
’10 625
’11 358
’12 168
’13 298
’14 298
’15 395
’16 402
’17 323
’18 318
’19 343
’20 219
’21 289
’22 228
’23 1,571
’24 1,677
’25 1,424

Source:DfT / DVLA 2001 to 2025 Updated

Share of all new cars

Lotus’s first registrations as a share of every car registered for the first time in Great Britain that year.

Lotus share of all new cars registered in Great Britain, by year
Year Share of new cars
2001 0.049%
2002 0.049%
2003 0.038%
2004 0.034%
2005 0.041%
2006 0.037%
2007 0.031%
2008 0.032%
2009 0.026%
2010 0.031%
2011 0.019%
2012 0.008%
2013 0.013%
2014 0.012%
2015 0.015%
2016 0.015%
2017 0.013%
2018 0.014%
2019 0.015%
2020 0.014%
2021 0.018%
2022 0.014%
2023 0.083%
2024 0.086%
2025 0.070%

Source:DfT / DVLA 2001 to 2025 Updated

Lotus MOT reliability

In 2025, 86.2% of MOT tests of Lotus cars were passed first time, from 9,781 tests. Cars of the same ages pass 64.4% of the time, so Lotus does better than average for the age of its cars, by 21.8 points. That ranks Lotus No. 3 of the 50 makes with enough tests to compare. 2.0% of Lotus tests found at least one dangerous defect, against 7.3% for all cars.

Among Lotus models with enough tests, the Elise does best for its age (+22.9 points against cars of the same ages) and the Elan does worst (+17.3 points). Average age at test for Lotus cars: 22.5 years.

Lotus models by MOT pass rate against cars of the same ages, 2025
Model Tests Pass rate Same ages Difference
Elise 5,070 86.1% 63.2% +22.9 pts
Elan 1,356 78.4% 61.1% +17.3 pts

Every make and model ranked on MOT results

Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis 2025 Updated

Lotus safety recalls

DVSA lists 17 safety recalls naming a Lotus car model since 1992, across 4 models. 5 were launched from 2016 to 2025, ranking Lotus No. 49 of the makes with recalls in those years. A recall naming several Lotus models counts once.

Recalls launched each year, 2006 to 2025

Safety recalls naming a Lotus car model, by year launched
Year Recalls
’06 1
’07 0
’08 0
’09 1
’10 0
’11 0
’12 1
’13 1
’14 1
’15 0
’16 1
’17 0
’18 1
’19 0
’20 1
’21 0
’22 0
’23 2
’24 0
’25 0

Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis January 1992 to September 2026 Updated

Models with the most recalls

Lotus models with the most safety recalls since 1992
Model Recalls
Lotus Elise 10
Lotus Exige 5
Lotus Evora 4
Lotus Emira 2

Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis January 1992 to September 2026 Updated

Latest Lotus recalls

Models mostly registered as vans are left out, as on our recalls hub. A recall applies to vehicles built on particular dates or with particular VINs, not to every Lotus. To check a specific car, use GOV.UK’s vehicle recall check. How we match recalls to models.

Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis January 1992 to September 2026 Updated

Makes of a similar size

Lotus compared with makes of a similar size
Rank Make Licensed Change on a year Main fuel MOT vs same ages
48 Aston Martin 25,420 +1.9% Petrol +21.4 pts
49 Chery 23,224 – Plug-in hybrid –
50 SsangYong 20,834 −4.5% Diesel −10.3 pts
51 Lotus 17,099 +6.0% Petrol +21.8 pts
52 Chrysler 16,022 −14.3% Petrol −1.1 pts
53 Ferrari 15,114 +1.4% Petrol +22.2 pts
54 Maserati 11,946 −0.4% Petrol +7.9 pts

Data stories to read next

All insights

Data sources and methodology

Datasets used on this page
Figures Source Period Records Updated
Licensed and SORN counts Vehicle licensing statistics Department for Transport End of June 2026 37,519,147 car records (licensed and SORN) 2 October 2026
Registered for the first time Vehicle licensing statistics Department for Transport 2001 to 2025 – 2 October 2026
MOT results Anonymised MOT tests and results Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency
Derived statistics UK Motoring 		2025 29,122,953 car MOT tests 19 September 2026
Safety recalls Vehicle safety recalls Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency
Derived statistics UK Motoring 		January 1992 to September 2026 7,495 road vehicle recalls (R/) 15 September 2026
  • Figures cover Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). Northern Ireland is not included.
  • Make totals count every car DVLA records under the make, including models too small for a page of their own. The rank is among all 529 makes on the record.
  • Licensed counts are vehicles with a current tax or exemption at the end of each year (or the latest quarter). SORN counts are shown separately.
  • First registrations count cars registered in Great Britain for the first time, including used imports.
  • MOT figures cover normal tests of cars aged three and over; retests are excluded. The same-ages figure is what all cars would score with this make’s mix of ages.
How we calculate these figures All data sources

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.