Tag: Elise

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Lotus

DRB-Hicom signs off on new Lotus funding

Lotus Esprit

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]

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Lotus Motor Shows

Paris 2010: Lotus Elise

Lotus Elise

Continuing the Lotus revamp is this new Elise concept. The car is not due until 2015 so there’s a whole heap of spy shots, testing images and information to come. For now, though, we can tell you the car will be powered by a 320PS 2.0 litre four-cylinder engine and with a very light 1095kg to shift around the new Elise is sure to build on the current model’s razor sharp handling prowess.

Lotus say the new Elise do the 100km/h sprint in 4.3 seconds and will have a top speed of 270km/h. The interior pics supplied are just renderings at this stage, but you can see enough to know it’s the bare essentials only, albeit presented in a slightly more upmarket finish than the current Elise.

Lotus CEO, Dany Bahar, hopes the all-new model wll attract an all new generation to his brand, “The design of the Elise 2015 is perfect for the target market, it’s young, strong, confident, verging on ruthless, it mirrors the engineering and technology. It’s the next generation Elise for a new generation of Lotus drivers.”

More pics, video and official press release are available after the break.

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