DRB-Hicom signs off on new Lotus funding

The future of Lotus Cars is brighter today thanks to word coming through that parent company DRB-Hicom has agreed to a new three-year plan. While the revised program isn’t quite as lofty as the five-model Bahar bonanza, DRB-Hicom says it will base its program around the Exige, Evora and Elise.

Hinting that the worst of the company’s financial woes are in the past, DRB-Hicom managing director, Tan Sri Mohd Khamil Jamil, told Malaysian media: “We have cleaned up and we are moving ahead.

“We are coming out with the variants based on existing products—variants with improved technology, improved performance, improved quality as well as improved costing.”

Sales for Lotus have also improved markedly on 2012 numbers which saw a paltry 80 cars sold in the entire year. In 2013 a total of 70 cars were sold to the end of May. Lotus is now expecting to build up to 40 cars per month with up to 85% set for export.

The all-new Esprit, pictured above, has not been given a green light just yet, but it was close to reaching sign-off before DRB-Hicom took control of Lotus. It’s been speculated that under the right circumstances the project could be revived without breaking the budget.

[Source: Autocar]