Lotus VIN Decoder: SCC Elise, Exige and Evora Codes

A U.S.-market Lotus VIN starts with SCC, the WMI for Lotus Cars Limited in Hethel, England. In our October 14, 2026 vPIC runs, Elise patterns starting SCCPC111 decoded to Hethel with Toyota's 2ZZ 1.8-liter four, and Evora patterns starting SCCLMD came back as Hethel 3.5-liter V6 coupes with the 2GR-FE family. Position 10 is the year and position 11 is the plant (H for Hethel). These are low-volume sports cars, so title brands, track use and incomplete recall work show up more often than on a mass-market coupe.

We built the samples from real complaint prefixes and ran them through NHTSA's free vPIC decoder. If you need the basics first, read how to decode a VIN. For another low-volume European sports car decode, our Porsche VIN decoder is a useful neighbor, and our NHTSA recall check by VIN walkthrough covers the lookup itself.

Elise and Exige: SCCPC111

Elise is the lightweight aluminum-chassis roadster Lotus brought back to the U.S. for 2005. Our 2005 pattern SCCPC111 decoded clean to Hethel with engine model 2ZZ and a 1.8-liter displacement. 2006 and 2009 patterns with the same prefix also pointed to Hethel; a couple of mid-year samples came back with error flags but still named the 2ZZ Croft and Cyclone engine family. Exige shares the Elise type code in Lotus service notes, so a decode that says Elise on an Exige-looking car is a reason to check the body and the Certificate of Provenance, not an automatic fake VIN.

Evora: SCCLMD and the Toyota V6

Evora is the mid-engine 2+2. Our 2010 pattern SCCLMDTU decoded to a Series 122 coupe with the 2GR-FE Evora 3.5-liter V6 from Hethel. 2011-2013 patterns SCCLMDTU and SCCLMDSU / SCCLMDSC came back the same way, with some listing 257 kW output. Lotus's own federal VIN chart for later Evora 400 cars still uses plant H for Hethel and market letter A for LHD USA, which matches what we saw on the earlier cars.

Year and plant codes

Position 9 is the check digit under 49 CFR 565.15. Year codes in our Elise samples were 5 through 9 for 2005-2009. Evora samples used A for 2010, B for 2011, C for 2012 and D for 2013. Plant code H meant Hethel every time we got a clean plant field. Shah Alam (B) shows up in Lotus service notes for some markets, but none of our U.S. complaint-derived samples used it.

Recalls: oil cooler lines and a few oddballs

Oil cooler hose detachments are the common thread. 11V-510 covers 2005-2007 Elise and Exige cars whose oil cooler line can detach. 13V-041 covers 2007-2008 cars for the same issue, and 14V-280 expands it to 2008-2011 Elise/Exige plus some 2011 Evora cars. 05V-571 covers 2005 cars whose six-speed gear lever can break. On Evora, 12V-477 covers a three-piece oil feed pipe that can rupture on certain 2011 supercharged cars, and 18V-781 covers a tiny batch of 2018 cars whose steering column may not collapse correctly in a frontal crash. Parts for these cars are not Chevy-bin common, so an open recall can sit longer than you expect.

Title traps on a low-volume sports car

Track days, prior salvage and flood brands show up on thin-volume cars because insurers write them off faster. A seller PDF with no VIN printed on it is not a history report. CARFAX says its reports draw on title, odometer, ownership and accident records. As of mid October 2026, a CARFAX report through us runs about $5.50 as a guest or about $4.50 as a member, and a CARFAX plus AutoCheck bundle is about $6.75, versus roughly $39.99 to $44.99 at retail. Confirm at checkout. We are a licensed CARFAX and AutoCheck reseller, not affiliated with CARFAX, AutoCheck, or Experian.

Low-volume title and parts reality

U.S. Elise volume was never Chevy-scale, and Evora stayed a specialty car for its whole run. That means a rebuilt title after a curb hit is not rare, and a missing soft top or a replaced chassis tub can hide behind a clean decode. Match the VIN on the windshield, the door label and the chassis stamp before you talk money. If a dealer says "Lotus will sort the oil cooler recall next month" without pulling the VIN on NHTSA's site in front of you, treat that as a hope, not a repair.

We've seen private sellers lean on a glossy brochure PDF when the car has lived on a track day calendar. Ask for service invoices that name the VIN, not just a folder of pretty photos. A Certificate of Provenance from Lotus is worth requesting on an Elise if the color and options story sounds too tidy.

Sources

• NHTSA vPIC VIN Decoder
• NHTSA: recall 11V-510 (oil cooler line)
• NHTSA: recall 14V-280 (oil cooler hose)
• 49 CFR 565.15 VIN requirements
• CARFAX: Vehicle History Reports