News: Life in Lotus yet?

  

Legendary sports car maker Lotus has been through the mill more than most over the past 24 months, with a takeover of its parent firm, the Malaysian car maker Proton, seemingly threatening its very existence.

With the acrimonious departure of high-flying (and quite possibly mad) former boss Dany Bahar, and the fact that Proton's new owner, DRB-HiCom, had stopped investment in crucial new models the like upcoming new Esprit,  it did seems as if Colin Chapman's company was on its last legs. The announcement late last year that Renault was to go into partnership with Caterham to develop a new range of sports cars seems to be the sound of nails being hammered into Lotus' coffin.

But, this week, there came news that all was not yet lost and that Lotus, despite having seen its heartland UK sales fall to just 137 cars last year, might not be for the chopping block after all.

Executive chairman of Proton, Dato' Sri Haji Mohd Khamil, issued a statement this week that seemed to offer some hope for a future for Lotus... ‘The Exige and Elise cars represent the best that Lotus has to offer right now, and I can truly say that the best is yet to come,' he said. 

'For Lotus to remain competitive and relevant, it will be necessary for us to introduce more and more exciting products to our customers in the future. We have many times affirmed our commitment to the future of this brand, and with the launch of Malaysia's first Lotus Flagship Showroom today, we are again reiterating our commitment to the future of Lotus.'

Does that mean that investment in the badly-needed Esprit will be cut, in favour of developing a new line of Elise and Esige models? Or do some shreds of Dany Bahar's ambitious (crazy?) five-new-models plan still exist? We'll have to wait and see, but at least this isn't goodbye. For now.