The Lotus Elise has been crowned readers' champion in the new Autocar Awards honouring the very best cars and people in the automotive industry.

The Elise won an online poll on the Autocar website after its panel experts had named their favourite 50 cars on sale. Beating some of the best cars ever built, the final shortlist of 10 contenders saw tight voting as the two-week competition drew to a close.

Jean-Marc Gales, CEO of Group Lotus who received the award at a glittering ceremony at the Silverstone Wing, said: 'Winning the readers' champion award shows what a key role the Elise continues to play in the automotive industry.

'When it was launched, it shook the rest of the automotive industry into acknowledging and understanding the importance of lightweight when producing class-leading sports cars – redefining the segment. It is one of the all-time greats which is always copied but never equalled.'

Jim Holder, editorial director of publisher Haymarket Automotive, said: 'The Lotus Elise is a car that embodies all that Autocar and its readers love about sports cars, combining pace, agility and a purity of purpose. Our testers named their favourite 50 cars and tens of thousands of readers proceeded to choose the winner. It was hotly contested, of course, but the Lotus Elise is a well-deserved readers' champion winner.'

The lightweight hand-built sports car from Norfolk has long been regarded as a benchmark for handling and performance and providing a level of precision and driver involvement that rivals cannot match. Following the founder of Lotus, Colin Chapman's engineering principles of performance through light weight, the Elise is perfectly tuned for demanding British roads, providing a pure yet involving and agile driving experience. The latest model, the Elise Cup 250 reaches 60mph in just 3.9 seconds yet produces only 175g/km of CO2 per 100 km.

The award also coincides with the 50th celebration of Lotus moving its factory to Hethel. As the spiritual home of the Elise, it's another reason for the company and its millions of fans to celebrate this year.