Which was the first production car with a fiberglass monocoque chassis?

The Lotus Elite was the first production car with a fiberglass monocoque chassis. Introduced as the Lotus Type 14 in 1957, it used a stressed-skin fiberglass structure in place of a conventional separate steel frame and body.

This construction was central to Colin Chapman’s lightweight engineering philosophy. The body itself carried major structural loads, while bonded-in steel sections supported the engine, front suspension, windscreen frame, and other attachment points. The result was a remarkably light and stiff two-seat coupe.

The Elite is often confused with the Chevrolet Corvette because both used fiberglass, but the Corvette’s fiberglass was primarily exterior bodywork over a separate chassis. The Lotus made the fiberglass shell part of the load-bearing structure. The design was innovative but difficult to manufacture reliably, and early suspension mounting points could suffer from stress-related problems.

Production continued until 1963, with roughly 1,030 cars built; some sources give a total of 1,047.