Elise

Make
Lotus
Segment
Compact

By all accounts Lotus developed a gem of a chassis with the Elise. The platform kicked off by Romano Artioli of Bugatti EB110 fame has led to numerous versions bearing the same name, but has given rise to so many more as well. Lotus itself used it as the basis for the Exige, Europa and countless racing cars, but so have other automakers entirely. The Dodge Circuit concept car, Melkus RS 2000, Tesla Roadster, Opel Speedster, Vauxhall VX220 and Hennessey Venom GT are all based on the Elise's platform - and here's one more.

Designed and crafted by Composite Worx out of Bergamo, Italy, the Extrema takes the Lotus Exige (itself based on the Elise) to further extremes. As you might have guessed from the company's name, the Extrema uses composite body panels to trim the car's weight down below the thousand-kilo mark to just 970 kg. This despite the Corvette-sourced LS9 V8 that's been optimized up to 649 horsepower. All that juice in such a lightweight package helps the Composite Worx Extrema hit 62 mph in just 2.9 seconds and hit a top speed of 200 mph, putting the Extrema in the same league as the Hennessey Venom GT among the top Elise-based supercars.