I have heard both eh-leece and eh-leeze.

 

Some people say "ay-leese" too.

The correct pronunciation is down to an Italian called Romano Artioli. The car's named after his granddaughter - he owned Bugatti and Lotus during project M111 (which became the elise).

Craigy

 

Elise in an Elise.

They didn't change much visually to productionize the car at all!

(by the way mine looks pretty similar but the only girls allowed in it are a bit older!)

Craigy

 

the guys on "Top Gear" call it an e-leeze.

 

I used to pronounce it e-lease but since watching / listening to the Top Gear videos and the official Elise video, seems the more correct is pronunciation is "eh-leaze".

 

EH!!! As a Canadian, i'm real confused with all this "eh" stuff. No-one up here calls it an "A" lease.

You really want to mess with non-car folks, pronounce it "ee-leeze-eh" (with a french accent)

 

I would not be surprised at any European saying that way, or ee-lease-ah.

 

Well, as a french Canadian, some female names here are Élise.

Easy for me I guess

 

That was real easy for me. My daughter's name is Elyse. Spoken the same.

 

Can anyone tell me how to pronounce "Lotus?"

 

I like the way this fellow pronounces it: (I must have watched this video about 50 times while waiting for good weather to pick up my Ardent Red a few months ago!)

 

That kind of beard can only be sported by a Lotus CALIFORNIA owner rotfl

 

Lotin Elite!

 

I pronounce it eh-Leeze

 

rotflrotflrotflrotflrotfl:UK:

 

Now there's a guy who REALLY loves his car

Look at the little pieces of material on the sills to stop him scuffing the tread plates when he gets out

I thought I was bad, but I'm not THAT bad!

 

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD, because he has a CALIFORNIA edition. Those will start bringing 7 figures soon at Barrett Jackson!!

 

I'm pretty sure it's pronounced 'Swiss B-EE-ts'

 

The real question is what does the grandaughter look like now? I hope she is driving a Lotus.

 

Ehh-lease?

 

Every time someone comes up to me and ask what type of car is that or what kind of Lotus is that I would say "Lotus Eh-leece or Eh-leeze" depends on how the pronunciation works for me.

 

ok so i saw the guy get in and out of the car.... he made it look harder. i get in way easier... how many of you use his method.... it just looks so weird the way he gets out with his butt first.. hahaha. i wouldn't want to be pulling up in front of a restaurant... have 30+ looking at me... and i show them my butt first

 

^^^IKR! I always use my left leg to get out and takes me like 8 seconds BTW how does this relate to the thread

 

here's the real pronunciation of elise, skip to 1:30:00

 

Shirley.

 

Awesome Video Javier... I will be watching that one when I get home tonight.

 

Yeah it's really an awesome video. I came up with it by chance on youtube, it's a full blown 2 hour documentary of how the lotus elise came to be