Romano Artioli, Italian businessman, was the owner of one of the biggest Ferrari dealerships in Italy, but he would eventually become known, above all, for the purchase of Bugatti in 1987, giving rise to the fantastic EB110. It would not stop here, buying Lotus from General Motors in 1993, and it was during his leadership of just three years that the Lotus Elise.
Reference sport, still sold today, marked the return to its origins by Lotus. When it came time to baptize him, by the will of Romano, he took the name of his granddaughter Elisa Artioli — a moment that was recorded for prosperity, when the woman was still a child.
After 22 years and already with Lotus in Geely's hands, Elisa, the woman, returned to the brand's premises in Hethel, to meet up with Elise, the car — as part of the brand's 70th anniversary celebrations —; not just with the model she named, but with precisely the same car she was then photographed in — the Lotus Elise chassis number 2.
Elisa Artioli, in 1996, with her grandfather, Romano Artioli, and the Lotus Elise
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