The Malaysian government is about to sell its 42.7% stake in Proton Holdings to car distributor and importer DRB-Hicom in a deal worth 410 million $. For those who don’t know it, Proton is a Malaysian automobile manufacturer specialized in economy sedans and hatchbacks, and also the owner of Lotus. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2012.

DRB-Hicom is a Malaysian car builder, distributor and importer that works primarily with Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen vehicles, and apparently they are more interested in Proton’s volume passenger car business rather than super light high-end sports cars, leaving the future of the British automaker uncertain. Proton never made a profit on Lotus during its 16-year ownership, and the brand remains well short of profitability targets.

Here is an official video released by Lotus showing Formula 1 driver Bruno Senna driving the new Lotus Exige S on an undisclosed track. The footage shows us what the car is capable of in the hands of a professional driver and features comments from Mr.Senna as well as Mr.Paul Flemming, one of the engineers responsible for the creation of the car.

The revamped model was presented at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show with new electronics and the supercharged 3.5-liter V6 engine previously seen on the Evora S. This new version also boasts updated aerodynamics, reduced CO2 emissions (at 199 g/km) of CO2 and a lower fuel consumption, rated at 8.5 l/100km on regular roads and at 6.5 l/100k on highways.

Lotus Exige R-GT, the Rally version of the new Exige S, has begun its testing stage in Turin, Italy. Apparently, Lotus Motorsport is happy with the results of this first shakedown, but testing will continue in the new year in view of the start of the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship season, where the Exige R-GT will compete in the FIA GT category, taking part in asphalt events such as Monte Carlo (in January), Tour de Corse and the San Remo Rally. The Exige R-GT is powered by the same 345 hp 3.5 liter supercharged V6 engine equipping both Exige S and Evora S, but the unit has been subjected to a few restrictions in order to meet the requirements of the FIA GT formula.

Director of Motorsport for the Lotus Group, Mr. Claudio Berro, commented: “When you consider that we’ve only began working on this car in July, I think what we’ve achieved in that time has been incredible. For me the Exige S makes the perfect GT rally car, it has an awesome 3.5-litre, supercharged engine, and we’ve managed to balance the weight perfectly to meet the minimum weight regulations. The shakedown today (23rd December) has only made us even more excited to show off the car in true race form early next year - I think we’re doing the Lotus motorsport pedigree proud.”

On a side note, Lotus also fired up the company’s IndyCar engine for the first time at Dallara headquarters in Parma, Italy. This test too has been a success, and the Lotus team will now move engine and car to the US, where full testing will begin in January. Click on the ‘Continue Reading ‘ link below to see the full Press Release.

View Lotus Exige R-GT Rally Car pictures

Lotus Motorsport Hit Major Milestones

Success in Italy with the first IndyCar engine fire-up and Exige R-GT Rally shakedown

Whilst most sensible people prepare to wind down for the festive period, the hard working Lotus Motorsport team are busy celebrating the fruits of their labour over the past 12 months following the first successful engine fire up in the Lotus IndyCar chassis AND the first proper Exige R-GT rally car shakedown all within the space of 24 hours.

The first official Lotus IndyCar engine fire up in new car took place on 22nd December at Dallara’s headquarters in Varano Melegari, Palma under the watchful eye of Group Lotus Director of Motorsport Claudio Berro and technicians from the team. Pleased with the overall results, the team have now prepared the engine and car for shipment to the US where full testing will begin in January.

Heading north to Turin, the Exige R-GT, the Rally version of the new Exige S, took centre stage with a quick track shakedown for the first time in full Rally specification. The car handled exactly as expected and the team were delighted with the results. Testing will continue in the new year ahead of the start of the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship season where the Exige will contend the FIA GT category on asphalt at events in Monte Carlo, Tour de Corse and San Remo.

Claudio Berro said: “The fire up in the car went really well, there were no nasty surprises and I think our partners are going to be very happy with the results. It was only October last year that we announced that we would become an IndyCar engine supplier and just 12 months on, we had an all new Lotus engine and three teams signed up - Bryan Herta Autosport, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing, and HVM Racing. We’ve still got a lot of work to do ahead of the start of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar season but so far I’m very encouraged by what I see.

“And as for the Rally car, when you consider that we’ve only began working on this car in July, I think what we’ve achieved in that time has been incredible. For me the Exige S makes the perfect GT rally car, it has an awesome 3.5-litre, supercharged engine, and we’ve managed to balance the weight perfectly to meet the minimum weight regulations. The shakedown today (23rd December) has only made us even more excited to show off the car in true race form early next year – I think we’re doing the Lotus motorsport pedigree proud.”

In a recent interview with British magazine Auto Express, Lotus Group Chief Executive Officer Dany Bahar provided some info about the Lotus City Car, stating that the model will boast better performance figures than its direct competitors from Audi, BMW and Mini. According to Bahar, “There’s no point in trying to fight the MINIs, and the small BMWs and Audis unless you have a special offering. Our car will be an EV or range extended EV and will offer performance of no other small car“. This statement doesn’t say much about the immediate future of the model, but makes it clear that the British manufacturer is firmly committed to this project.

The Lotus City Car was firstly introduced to the public at the 2010 Paris Auto Show as a concept car, weighing in at 1,400 kg and powered by a rear-mounted electric engine delivering an output of 220 hp with 240 Nm of maximum torque. The final production model should be pretty similar to that concept and is expected to make its debut on the market in 2015 with a price tag of about 35,000 € (45,000$ - 29,000£). Although the car will initially be introduced as a Proton model, Mr.Bahar confirmed that it will be easily switchable to its Lotus version, a conversion that will justify in full the inflated price tag over the Proton-badged model.

The City Car concept was equipped with lithium batteries providing it with 60 km of range, but Lotus also added a range extender in the form of a 1.2-litre 3-cylindre bioethanol engine delivering 34 kW (46 hp) which boosts the autonomy of the vehicle up to 500 km (310 mph). As for the performance, the carmaker claimed a 0-50 km/h (31 mph) sprint time of 4,5 seconds, a 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time of 9 seconds flat and a top speed of 170 km/h, with a CO2 emission level of 60 g/km. Click on the ‘Continue Reading’ link below to find out about the upcoming ‘Esprit’.

Mr.Bahar also confirmed that Lotus is on schedule with its ambitious five-year plan, carrying on the development of its sports range (namely Elan, Elite, Elise and Eterne models) and with a new Esprit set to make its debut in March 2013 at the Geneva Motor Show and enter into production four months after that. Bahar stated that the basic version of this car will use an hybrid powertrain, but it is quite likely that he most performance-oriented versions of the Esprit will ditch the hybrid technology in favour of lighter and more powerful traditional configurations.

On a side note, Bahar confirmed that he recently signed a contract that will have him staying at Lotus until 2015. Apparently, his deal was struck when Proton’s MD and HR Director visited Lotus for their staff Christmas party.

Lotus teamed up with hip hop artist and producer Swizz Beatz (a.k.a. the husband of world-famous R&B singer Alicia Keys) to make a special version of the Evora GTE, and the outcome of this collaboration has just been unveiled at the Alvin Ailey’s Opening Night Gala in New York. However, the only thing that makes it different from the standard Evora GTE - which is already a sort of special edition in its own right - is its chrome ruby red paint job with black accents. Everything else is the same: it has a 3.5-liter supercharged V6 delivering 444 hp, modified rear wing, enlarged air-intakes and uses the same ultra-light materials, which allows it to be 100 kg lighter than the Evora S it derives from.

Swizz Beats will continue to cooperate with the British brand in future promotional and commercial events, a partnership that resembles what Range Rover did when they chose Victoria Beckham as testimonial for the launch and customization of the Evoque. One thing though: no bling, no jumping suspension.. we just cannot see the hip-hop touch on this car. Not that we are missing it.

via | AutoEvolution

A few months ago legendary ‘The Who’ frontman and car-lover Roger Daltrey, CBE, teamed up with premium British sports car manufacturer Lotus to design a one-off Lotus Evora to be actiouned off for charity. The outcome of the project is the pictured Roger Daltrey Lotus Evora S 2+2 Coupe, which will be auctioned for Teenage Cancer Trust on Thursday 1 December.

The most distictive traits of the car are a thin red line the graces front lip, side sills and rear bumper, logos of The Who on the sides, Union Jack in shades of grey on the lower sides and rear spoiler and Mr.Daltrey’s autograph, elements that characterize the style of the interior as well. “It’s not every day you get asked to design for one of the legendary British car makers - said Roger Daltrey - As the car is being auctioned for Teenage Cancer Trust, I decided to get some advice from a teenager, Toby, who is 18 and the son of John Entwistle’s roadie. We came up with the ideas together.”

The model uses the same 3.5-litre V6 engine (delivering 350 hp and 400 Nm of peak torque) and IPS automatic gearbox as the stadard Lotus Evora S. The car is expected to fetch between 50,000£ and 70,000£ (about 60,000-80,000€ / 80,000-110,000$), and the sale will take place at a Bonhams auction house location in Surrey, England. Phone, online and absentee bids will be accepted, here’s the auction link.

Lotus confirmed to Autoblog.com that the new Esprit will be powered by a naturally aspirated 4.8-litre V8 engine. This unit will be entirely developed by its British engineers and will be used for the Elite and Eterne models as well, delivering about 570 hp in its basic version and up to 620 hp for the most performing variations.

The new Esprit will have a fully modular frame, a solution that allows the carmaker to swap front, middle and rear sections as needed and with very little effort. Moreover, Lotus confirmed that Elite and Eterne will share the same platform and, in the same fashion, the next Elan (or Evora) will grow out of the Esprit design, implying that it will be able to accommodate the new V8 engine as well.

The new Esprit is expected to make its debut on the market in late 2013.

More official info and pictures about the new Lotus Exige S have been released by the British manufacturer. This new spiced-up version of the Exige is going to be the most sporty offering from the historic brand, equipped with a mid-mounted, supercharged 3.5 litre DOHC V6 engine delivering 345 hp (borrowed from the Evora), high performance Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tyres and Lotus DPM (Dynamic Performance Management) system, which allows drivers to switch between three driving modes: Touring, Sport and DPM off. Two new interior package options are available: the stylish Premium and the more driver-focused Premium Sport.

For those who might fancy something more, Lotus will offer a dedicated Race Pack option for the Exige S consisting of a fourth driving mode (providing maximum possible traction out of corners), an optimized track suspension setting and Launch Control. The Exige S will not be available in all markets, but Lotus is being a little sketchy on the details concerning the countries that will eventually be supplied with their new flagship.

View the full Lotus Exige S: nuove foto ed info ufficiali photo gallery

Lotus isn’t exactly planning a repeat of the Paris show at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, but after a new Elise S and Evora GTE, apparently more will be announced. To start with the new Lotus Elise S will replace the SC model and will offer a new 1.8-litre supercharged engine with 220 hp. It’s aim is also to introduce reduced fuel consumption and emissions on the model.

A Lotus Evora GTE special edition model will also appear with more than 438 hp. New technology being presented includes the Lotus Serial Precision Shift transmission on the Elise and the Intelligent Precision Shift on the Evora S. After that we’ll get another two Lotus models at Frankfurt.

Details are utterly scarce right now (damn you Lotus), but the PR spin is that one will be one of the quickest roadgoing Lotus’ ever produced and the other will mark Lotus’ return to an adrenalin-filled motorsport discipline.

The Lotus board gets another feather in its cap as Gordon Murray joins the Lotus Advisory Council. That makes for quite a council over at Lotus as Murray will hook up with other names from the car industry like Bob Lutz, Burkhard Goschel (former BMW designer) and Frank Tuch (Volkswagen engineer).

Murray’s qualifications hardly need introducing after his career in Formula 1 racing as a designer and engineer behind models like the McLaren F1 supercar. Murray has apparently always admire Lotus, and supports CEO Dany Bahar’s vision for a new business model for Lotus.

Still it’s hard to know whether he’ll have a hands on role at all and just when exactly we’re going to start seeing some evidence of the new design work and business plan in real production models ready for the market. We’d be more than happy to see a pinch of Murray’s creativity in future Lotus models and can’t wait to see if his influence will be evident.

Here is the first image of a new supersports Lotus Evora to be released. The new top-end sports car will be anticipated by this Evora GTE Road Car Concept prototype to debut at the Pebble Beach Concours in the next few days. The British sports car will be equipped with a 3.5-litre V6 Toyota engine producing about 426 hp. The transmission will be a sequential racing gearbox and other racing features will include front and rear spoilers, and alloy wheels shod with Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tyres.

The new concept car takes its inspiration from the Lotus Evora GTE competition car and we understand will have a 2012 production debut. The model will appear alongside the final edition matte black Lotus Exige swansong for the US market. More images to come from the Pebble Beach event.

When you think of Italian police cars you might have in mind something like a very mean Alfa, or even a Ferrari. But after the state Polizia got their Lamborghini Gallardo police car, the Carabinieri have turned to Lotus instead for its highway vehicle. Hence we get a Lotus Evora S Carabinieri highway patrol car, decked out in full livery and complete with stuff like a fridge for transporting organs, emergency detection system and Enhanced Vehicle Automation (EVA) system for on-the-ground navigation and surveillance.

The Lotus Evora S are licenced to the Carabinieri for the next two years and will undergo maintenance checks at Lotus’ Italian network. Only specifically trained drivers will be able to use the vehicles, and the pics show Carabinieri track testing the Evora S at Hethel facilities. Will it be a boost to the Lotus image in Italy? The company already has a number of Italian executives in its echelons, and this is just another example of the Little Italy happening in Lotus right now as it gets some new product designs out there from former Ferrari employees.