What a classic Lotus sells for at auction
1,788 Lotus have sold at public auction since 1995, at a median of £21,848; the middle half of them made between £12,648 and £35,481. The sale rooms see about 176 a year and 73% of the cars offered find a buyer. The Elan is the one that comes up most often, with 276 sales on record at a median of £21,510. The highest result is £1,019,805, paid for a Formula 1 in July 2026.
In 2025 the median classic Lotus sold for £23,373 across 193 sales, much where it was in 2024. In real terms, typical classic Lotus prices were down about 21% over the five years to 2025, once inflation is accounted for.
The busiest Lotus models in the sale rooms
| Model | Sales | Usual range | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elan | 276 | £15,297 to £28,002 | £21,510 |
| Elan M100 | 114 | £4,648 to £8,050 | £6,050 |
| Esprit S4 V8 | 102 | £33,905 to £59,389 | £44,119 |
| Elite (1957 - 1963) | 96 | £44,838 to £67,708 | £57,448 |
| Esprit X180 Turbo | 86 | £16,046 to £25,818 | £20,484 |
| Elan +2S | 80 | £10,542 to £18,716 | £15,004 |
| Europa (1966 - 1975) Twin Cam | 76 | £13,788 to £22,100 | £18,013 |
| Esprit S4 | 74 | £25,318 to £38,576 | £29,727 |
| Elan Sprint | 70 | £20,492 to £33,894 | £29,284 |
| Europa (1966 - 1975) | 70 | £10,707 to £19,757 | £14,380 |
| Elan +2 | 64 | £11,238 to £18,706 | £14,025 |
| Esprit S3 Turbo | 61 | £18,308 to £32,428 | £26,414 |
Plus 619 rarer variants with too few sales for a row of their own.
Sold prices from public classic car auction results (1995 to 10 August 2026), not asking prices and not a valuation: a concours car and a project both sit inside these ranges, and condition, history and specification move any one car well outside them. How to read these figures.