Lotus Halts Development Of New Models

Lotus' parent company DRB-Hicom has confirmed that the UK sports car maker will ditch its new model plans, and instead focus on developing its three existing modes - the Elise, Exige and Evora.

In late 2010 Lotus revealed plans to bring six all-new models to market, with then-CEO Dany Bahar responsible for the development of these cars.

There would have been a new Elise, the revival of the iconic Esprit and Elan, the Eterne four-door, the Elite 2+2 grand tourer and a supermini based on the Lotus City Car Concept.

All bar the city car were scheduled to enter showrooms by 2015, but after Lotus' previous parent company Proton was bought out by Malasian conglomerate DRB-Hicom, funding dried up.

For a while it looked like the Esprit would survive the cut, but even that model has been shelved indefinitely.

With Dany Bahar fired for misconduct and Lotus Cars strapped for cash, there's no money in the kitty for new models. Speaking to Malaysian newspaper Business Times, DRB-Hicom managing director Tan Sri Mohd Khamil Jamil said that the Lotus will persist with its current model line up.

"We are coming out with the variants based on existing products - variants with improved technology, improved performance, improved quality as well as improved costing," he said.

He also said that Lotus had "cleaned up and [is] moving ahead," and that the company now had a three-year product plan in place rather than the overly-ambitious five-year plan of Lotus' previous management team.