Misplaced Pages

#246753

67-581: Manufactured from October 1992 to October 1994, the AZ-1 was noted for its gullwing doors . Power came from the same Suzuki -sourced 657 cc turbocharged engine used by the Suzuki Alto that produced 64 PS (47 kW) at 6,500 rpm and 85 N⋅m (63 lb⋅ft) at 4,000 rpm. Suzuki later produced its own badge engineered version named the Suzuki Cara (PG6SS). The proposal for

134-461: A stainless steel and ceramic muffler. It also came with its own brand of alloy wheels as opposed to the production's steel wheels. For 1994, There was also the M2 1015 by M2 Incorporated . The most distinguishing part of the car is the front fog lights incorporated into the bonnet, and the all-new front bumper and rear spoiler. The car came in three different colours: white, black and silver. Like

201-520: A 91% stake in Group Lotus for £22.7 million, which allowed GM to legally force the company buyout. On 27 August 1993, GM sold the company for £30 million, to A.C.B.N. Holdings S.A. of Luxembourg , a company controlled by Italian businessman Romano Artioli , who also owned Bugatti Automobili SpA . In 1996, a majority share in Lotus was sold to Malaysian car company Proton . Lotus Cars was awarded

268-594: A complete turnaround in the company's fortunes, for which he was dubbed "the saviour of Lotus." Despite having employed designer Peter Stevens to revamp the range and design two new concept cars, by 1985 the British investors recognised that they lacked the capital to fund production and sought to find a buyer. In January 1986, Wickins oversaw the majority sale of the Group Lotus companies and 100% of North American–based LPCI to General Motors . After four months, Toyota sold GM its stake. By October 1986, GM had acquired

335-400: A full-sized door, and then added a gas-pressurized (pneumatic) strut similar to those found in hatchback cars. The combination of the torsion spring and strut provided the correct torque variation necessary to offset the variable torque of the door, as it opened through a rotational angle of about 80 degrees. The torsion bar is most important in the first foot of movement from the bottom, where

402-699: A garage. The four letters in the middle of the logo represent Chapman's full name, Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman. When the logo was created, Chapman's original partners Michael and Nigel Allen were allegedly told that the letters stood for Colin Chapman and the Allen Brothers. The first factory was situated in old stables behind the Railway Hotel in Hornsey , North London. Team Lotus , which

469-648: A heart attack on 16 December 1982 at the age of 54. At the time, both Chapman and Lotus were linked to the DeLorean Motor Company scandal regarding the use of UK Government subsidies for the production of the DMC DeLorean , for which Lotus had designed the chassis. Chasing large sums of money that had disappeared from the DeLorean company, Lotus was besieged by Inland Revenue inspectors, who imposed an £84 million legal "protective assessment" on

536-409: A joint venture with Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance and its Alpine division to develop a range of electric performance cars sharing some of their future platforms. In April 2021, Lotus announced plans to produce only electric cars by 2028 and increase production numbers from around 1,500 per annum to tens of thousands. Geely and Etika Automotive provided two billion pounds (US$ 2.8 billion) to fund

603-645: A mere 383. This situation resulted from the worldwide economic recession combined with the virtual collapse of sales in the American market and limited development of the model range. In early 1982, Chapman forged an agreement with Toyota to exchange intellectual property and applied expertise. As a result, Lotus Engineering helped develop the Mk2 Toyota Supra , also known as the Toyota Celica XX . The partnership also allowed Lotus to launch

670-484: A personalised Lotus Turbo Esprit, the new American company, Lotus Performance Cars Inc. (LPCI), was able to provide fresh capital to Group Lotus in the United Kingdom. Former Ferrari North America general manager John Spiech was recruited to run LPCI, which imported the remarkable Giugiaro -designed Turbo Esprit for the first time. American sales began to quickly jump into six figures annually. Chapman died of

737-424: A production sports car in 1954. Opening upwards, the doors evoke the image of a seagull 's wings . In French, they are portes papillon (butterfly doors). The papillon door was designed by Jean Bugatti for the 1939 Type 64 , 14 years before Mercedes-Benz produced its similar, famous 300 SL gullwing door. The papillon door is a precursor to the gullwing door, and is slightly different in its architecture, but

SECTION 10

#1732786583247

804-509: A purpose-built factory at Cheshunt in 1959, and since 1966 it has occupied a modern factory and road test facility at Hethel , near Wymondham in Norfolk . The site is a former World War II airfield, RAF Hethel , and the test track uses sections of the old runway. In its early days, Lotus sold cars aimed at private racers and trialists. Its early road cars could be bought as kits in order to save on purchase tax . The kit car era ended in

871-518: A rearward sweep to the C-pillar . It had a racing car inspired interior, unlike Type A, it was aiming for the rough and spartan look and was the only model that had a more conventional forward door hinging. It featured a pair of bulging headlamps and incorporated dual mufflers . The Type C , has a more distinctive body design as it was inspired by Mazda's Group C sports prototype racers , incorporating its signature colour scheme of blue on white and

938-464: A total production of 4,392 over a year, plus 531 Suzuki Cara , compared to 28,010 Cappuccinos and 33,600 Beats (both with production reaching into the latter half of the 1990s). In a bid to shift unsold stock, Mazda made an effort to produce special versions. First to come was the Type L option, featuring an enhanced audio system including a sub-woofer in the boot. There were no exterior changes made to

1005-642: Is a British multinational automotive manufacturer of luxury sports cars and electric vehicles. Lotus Group is composed of three primary entities. Lotus Cars , a high-performance sports car company, is based in Hethel , Norfolk . Lotus Tech , an all-electric lifestyle vehicle company, headquartered in Wuhan , China, and operates regional facilities in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany. Additionally, Lotus Engineering , an engineering consultancy firm,

1072-791: Is currently majority-owned by Chinese multinational Geely . Lotus was previously involved in Formula One racing, via Team Lotus , winning the Formula One World Championship seven times. Notable Lotus cars include the Lotus Seven , the Elan , the Esprit and the Elise . The company was formed in 1952 as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by Colin Chapman but had earlier origins in 1948 when Chapman built his first trials car in

1139-548: Is headquartered at the Lotus Advanced Technology Centre (LATC) located at the University of Warwick's Wellesbourne Campus. Lotus was founded and owned for many years by Colin Chapman . After his death and a period of financial instability, it was bought by General Motors , then Romano Artioli and then DRB-HICOM through its subsidiary Proton , which owned Lotus from 1996 to 2017. Lotus

1206-529: Is often overlooked when discussing gull-wing design. Conventional car doors are typically hinged at the front-facing edge of the door, with the door swinging outward horizontally. Apart from the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL of the mid-1950s, Mercedes-Benz SLS and the experimental Mercedes-Benz C111 of the early 1970s, the best-known examples of road-cars with gull-wing doors are the Bricklin SV-1 from

1273-411: Is the holding company of Lotus Group Plc. Kimberley retired as CEO on 17 July 2009, replaced on 1 October 2009 by former Ferrari executive Dany Bahar . Bahar intended to drive the brand into the expanding global luxury-goods sector and away from the company's traditional lightweight simplicity and pure driving-experience focus. Bahar was suspended on 25 May 2012 while an investigation into his conduct

1340-622: The 1.8L VVTL-i I4 from Toyota's late Celica GT-S and the Matrix XRS . Michael Kimberley, who had been a guiding figure at Lotus in the 1970s, returned as acting chief executive officer in May 2006. He chaired the executive committee of Lotus Group International Limited (LGIL), established in February 2006 with Syed Zainal Abidin (managing director of Proton Holdings Berhad) and Badrul Feisal (non-executive director of Proton Holdings Berhad). LGIL

1407-727: The EMAS concept from its parent company Proton, and likely to be primarily built by Proton in Malaysia. This car has also been cancelled. Lotus CEO at the time Jean Marc Gales confirmed in 2017 that development of an SUV is currently under way, after the company was acquired by the Chinese automotive manufacturer, Geely. In July 2019 Lotus revealed the Evija, a 1,470 kW (2,000 PS; 1,970 hp) and 1,700 N⋅m (1,254 lb⋅ft) electric supercar . In January 2021, Lotus teased that

SECTION 20

#1732786583247

1474-652: The KV team in the IndyCar Series and the ART team in the GP2 and GP3 Series in 2011 and 2012. After fielding underpowered and uncompetitive engines in the 2012 Indianapolis 500 , in which drivers Jean Alesi and Simona de Silvestro were black-flagged after ten laps for failing to maintain a competitive pace, Lotus was released from its contract and did not participate in future seasons. Current Lotus models include: At

1541-758: The Lotus 900 series , and later a V8 , and turbocharged versions of the engines appeared in the Esprit. Variants of the 900-series engine were supplied for the Jensen Healey sports car and the Sunbeam Lotus "hot hatchback". In the 1980s, Lotus collaborated with Vauxhall Motors to produce the Lotus Carlton , the fastest roadgoing Vauxhall car. By 1980, Group Lotus was in serious financial trouble. Production had dropped from 1,200 units per year to

1608-527: The MX-5 , took over the design project, despite having a limited budget and capacity. The redesigned cars, constructed in tube frame with floors and bulkheads constructed from aluminium honeycomb , clad in three different body styles constructed in fiberglass. The cars were constructed around the Kei car regulations of the time (maximum length 126 inches (3,200 mm), maximum engine capacity 550 cc), until this

1675-534: The Queen's Award for Enterprise for contribution to international trade, one of 85 companies receiving the recognition in that category in 2002. Lotus cars wore the badge of the award for several years. On 24 May 2017, Chinese multinational Geely announced that it was taking a 51% controlling stake in Lotus. The remaining 49% was acquired by Etika Automotive , a holding company of Proton's major shareholder Syed Mokhtar Albukhary . In January 2021, Geely announced

1742-552: The 1960s with the Lotus Elan. This two-seater was later developed to two-plus-two form (Elan +2S). Lotus was notable for its use of fibreglass bodies, backbone chassis and overhead camshaft engines, initially supplied by Coventry Climax but later replaced by Lotus-Ford units ( Ford block, Lotus head and twin-cam valve gear). Lotus also worked with Ford on the Lotus Cortina , a successful sports saloon . Another Lotus of

1809-511: The 1970s, the DMC DeLorean from the 1980s, and the Tesla Model X of the 2010s. Gull-wing doors have also been used in aircraft designs, such as the four-seat single-engine Socata TB series built in France. The design is a very practical one in a tight urban parking space. When properly designed and counterbalanced, they require little side-clearance to open (about 27.5 cm or 11" in

1876-480: The 1987 Tokyo Motor Show. This version of the car retained many of its design features of the predecessor, but many of its design features were modified to meet Japanese safety regulations as well as for practicality. However, the project was abandoned in favor of the roadster project they had been working on, named later the Cappuccino . Mazda's design team, led by Toshihiko Hirai , who was also responsible for

1943-643: The 2010 Paris Motorshow, Lotus announced five new models to be introduced over the next five years: Their intention was to replace the Elise with an entirely different model, as well as to introduce two entirely new sports coupes, which would have been known as the Elite and the Elan, a new sports saloon, the Eterne, to rival the Aston Martin Rapide and Maserati Quattroporte , and a modern interpretation of

2010-654: The AZ-1 goes as far back as 1985 when Suzuki created the Suzuki RS/1 as a mid-engine sports car project for volume production. Suzuki's design for the Tokyo Motor Show was a fully functional car with a front/rear weight distribution of 45:55, powered by a modified 1.3-liter G13B engine borrowed from the Cultus GTi . This was followed up by the Tatsumi Fukunaga -designed RS/3, unveiled for

2077-413: The DeLorean ) and allow much better entrance/egress than conventional doors. The most obvious downside to having gull-wing doors is that, were the car to roll over and come to rest on its roof, exit by the doors would be impossible, requiring a large windscreen opening to escape. The Mercedes SLS solved this problem by fitting explosive bolts in the hinges, that would blow up if the car rolled over, causing

Autozam AZ-1 - Misplaced Pages Continue

2144-529: The Esprit supercar. It became apparent in July 2012 that the firm's financial difficulties had made this plan impossible to implement, and initially all but the Esprit project were cancelled. Subsequently, the Esprit project was also cancelled. Lotus also showed an unnamed city car concept using its 1.2L range-extender engine. In 2011, Lotus revealed this as the Lotus Ethos , a plug-in hybrid car based on

2211-659: The FIA Historic Formula One Championship . It also preserves the Team Lotus archive and Works Collection of cars, under the management of Colin Chapman's son Clive. Team Lotus's participation in Formula One ended after the 1994 season , when the team's cars were no longer competitive. Cars constructed by the team won a total of 79 Grand Prix races. Former racing driver David Hunt (brother of F1 world champion James Hunt ) purchased

2278-475: The Mazdaspeed version, the car was painted entirely in a single color. Originally, only fifty units were to be produced by M2, then sold through Autozam dealers. They were so popular, production continued and estimates of between 300-350 were ultimately sold. A genuine "M2 1015" can be identified by the rear emblem stating the version name. More details can be found in “M2 Voice” (linked below) The AZ-1

2345-599: The Mercedes and the Bricklin. The 300 SL needed the door design, as its tubular frame race car chassis design had a very high door sill, which in combination with a low roof would make a standard door opening very low and small. The Mercedes engineers solved the problem by also opening a part of the roof. The Bricklin was a more conventionally sized door but the actuation system was problematic in day-to-day use and led to unreliable operation until an aftermarket air-door upgrade

2412-449: The Team Lotus name, but Group Lotus had sole right to use the Lotus name. As a consequence, for 2012 Lotus Renault GP was rebranded as Lotus F1 Team and its entries were badged as Lotus cars, while Team Lotus was renamed Caterham F1 Team (after the sportscar manufacturer owned by team principal Tony Fernandes ) and its cars were badged as Caterhams. Group Lotus was also involved in several other categories of motorsport. It sponsored

2479-490: The business is divided into Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering. In addition to manufacturing sportscars, the company also acts as an engineering consultancy, providing engineering development—particularly of suspensions —for other car manufacturers. Lotus's powertrain department is responsible for the design and development of the four-cylinder Ecotec engine found in many of GM's Vauxhall , Opel , Saab , Chevrolet and Saturn cars. The American Elise and Exige models used

2546-468: The car against water leaks and snow intrusion more difficult because of the shape and movement path of the door itself. The following is a (partial) list of production and kit automobiles with gull-wing doors: Gullwing doors are common in kit cars and many were made that are not included on this list. Lotus Cars Lotus Group (also known as Lotus Cars , and trading as Lotus NYO in China )

2613-559: The car. Mazda also introduced the Mazdaspeed version to showcase the parts that were available for the car, the A-spec , the body kit features an enhanced hood , front spoiler and rear wing. Unlike the production version, the car came in an all-red or blue body color. It also came with a host of options including shock absorbers with sports spring sets, strut bars for the front and rear, mechanical LSD , enhanced air filter and

2680-430: The changes. Lotus Technology, the electric-vehicle division of Lotus. which has a different ownership structure (30% by Etika and the rest by Geely and Nio Capital), was listed on Nasdaq in February 2024, following the completion of a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company affiliated with L Catterton . After the listing, 10.3% of shares are held by the public. Currently organised as Group Lotus Limited,

2747-650: The company. At the trial of Lotus accountant Fred Bushell, the judge insisted that had Chapman lived, he would have received a sentence "of at least 10 years." With Group Lotus near bankruptcy in 1983, David Wickins , the founder of British Car Auctions , agreed to become the new company chairman through an introduction by his friend Mark Thatcher . Taking a combined 29% BCA/personal stake in Group Lotus, Wickins negotiated with Inland Revenue and recruited new investors: merchant bank Schroeder-Wagg (14%), Michael Ashcroft 's Bermudian operating company Benor (14%) and Sir Anthony Bamford of JCB (12%). Wickins oversaw

Autozam AZ-1 - Misplaced Pages Continue

2814-658: The creation of Lotus Renault GP, the successor to the Renault F1 team. This team contested the 2011 season having purchased a title sponsorship deal with the team, with the option to buy shares in the future. The team's car for that season, the R31 , was badged as a Renault, while Team Lotus's car, the T128 , was badged as a Lotus. In May 2011, the British High Court of Justice ruled that Team Lotus could continue to use

2881-481: The door to fall off altogether. The Volvo YCC , a concept car designed by and for women, had gull-wing doors as part of its design. Gull-wing doors make it easier to lift a bag to store it behind the driver's seat, increase visibility over the driver's shoulder, and make it easier to get in and out of the car. The Tesla Model X, introduced in 2015, has double-hinged gull-wing doors, called falcon-wing doors by Tesla. The Model X has several design considerations to make

2948-429: The doors more practical. Being double-hinged allows them to open with less clearance (horizontal and vertical) than would otherwise be required. The vehicle also has sensors to determine ceiling height and the presence of potential obstacles and to determine how the hinges will operate to open the doors and avoid obstacles, if possible. Gull-wing doors have a somewhat questionable reputation because of early examples like

3015-563: The drivers' title went to Jackie Stewart of Tyrrell . Chapman saw Lotus beat Ferrari as the first marque to achieve 50 Grand Prix victories, even though Ferrari had won its first nine years sooner. Until the late 1980s, Team Lotus continued to be a major player in Formula One. Ayrton Senna drove for the team from 1985 to 1987, winning twice in each year and achieving 17 pole positions. Team Lotus established Classic Team Lotus in 1992, which continues to maintain Lotus F1 cars and run them in

3082-627: The fact that the car was never intended for sale outside Japan. The car was made available to the buying public in January 1992, with two color options, Siberia blue and classic red. Both colors came with Venetian gray lower panels. Each car was sold through the Autozam dealer network in Japan. Unfortunately by the time car came into production, the recession in Japan had just come into force. Selling for 1,498 million ¥ (the equivalent of $ 12,400), it

3149-402: The geometry of the strut is pointed at the hinge and therefore at a mechanical disadvantage. As the spring relaxes through the door's rotation open, the strut gains a better moment arm and gradually takes over the effort. A correctly balanced door opens fully on its own by simply activating the door latch from the interior, exterior, or from an aftermarket wireless release. Other disadvantages of

3216-532: The late 1960s and early 1970s was the two-seater Lotus Europa , initially intended only for the European market, which paired a backbone chassis and lightweight body with a mid-mounted Renault engine, later upgraded to the Lotus-Ford twin-cam unit as used in the Elan. The Lotus Seven , originating in the 1950s as a simple, lightweight open two-seater. continued in production into the early 1970s. Lotus sold

3283-605: The late 1960s and early 1970s, with the Lotus Elan Plus Two as the first Lotus road car not offered in kit form, and the Lotus Eclat and Lotus Elite of the mid-1970s were offered only in factory-built versions. After the Lotus Elite of the 1950s, which featured a complete fibreglass monocoque fitted with built-in steel pickup points for mounting major components, Lotus found critical and sales success in

3350-423: The licence for future seasons as a result of what it called "flagrant and persistent breaches of the licence by the team." Lotus Racing then announced that it had acquired Team Lotus Ventures Ltd, the company led by David Hunt, and with it full ownership of the rights to the Team Lotus brand and heritage. The team confirmed that it would be known as Team Lotus from 2011 onward. In December 2010, Group Lotus announced

3417-510: The marque's first Grand Prix in 1960 at Monaco . Moss drove a Lotus 18 entered by privateer Rob Walker . Major success came in 1963 with the Lotus 25 , which, with Jim Clark driving, won Team Lotus its first F1 World Constructors' Championship . Clark was killed in April 1968 when the rear tyre of his Formula Two Lotus 48 failed while making a turn at a race in Hockenheim . His death

SECTION 50

#1732786583247

3484-506: The name Team Lotus and licensed it to the Formula One team Pacific Racing , which was rebranded Pacific Team Lotus. The Pacific Team folded at the end of the 1995 season. The Lotus name returned to Formula One for the 2010 season , when a new Malaysian team called Lotus Racing was awarded an entry. The new team used the Lotus name under licence from Group Lotus and was unrelated to the original Team Lotus. In September 2010 Group Lotus, with agreement from its parent company Proton, terminated

3551-597: The new Lotus Excel to replace the ageing Lotus Eclat . Using drivetrain and other components build by Toyota enabled Lotus to sell the Excel for £1,109 less than the outgoing Eclat. Looking to reenter the North American market, Chapman was approached by young law professor and investment banking consultant Joe Bianco, who proposed a new and separate American sales company for Lotus. By creating an unprecedented tax-incentivised mechanism by which each investor received

3618-459: The number it bore at the 24 hours of Le Mans . Featuring a bigger air intake than the former two, venting to the forward-positioned radiator and exits it along the front rim of the cowl. There are many design cues typical to an endurance racer such as the wing mirror and BBS style brake-cooling wheel discs . Compared to the Type B, this version is far more spartan. As the cars were well received by

3685-615: The rights to produce the Seven to Caterham , which has continued to produce the car since then. By the mid-1970s, Lotus sought to move upmarket with the launch of the Elite and Eclat models, four-seaters aimed at prosperous buyers, with features such as optional air conditioning and automatic transmissions. The mid-engine line continued with the Lotus Esprit , which became one of the company's longest-lived and most iconic models. Lotus developed its own series of four-cylinder DOHC engines,

3752-435: The system were not so easy to address. For example, the gull-wing design makes creating a convertible version of the car harder, as the hinges would be removed with the roof, and standard doors would be needed for the convertible. Mercedes did so when replacing the gullwing coupe altogether with the 300SL roadster in 1958. It was never a concern for DeLorean, since no convertible version was ever planned. It also makes sealing

3819-429: The undersurface of the car to create downforce . It invented active suspension and was the first to move radiators to the sides of the car to improve aerodynamic performance. Formula One Drivers' Championship winners for Lotus were Jim Clark in 1963 and 1965, Graham Hill in 1968, Jochen Rindt in 1970, Emerson Fittipaldi in 1972 and Mario Andretti in 1978. In 1973, Lotus won the constructors' championship only;

3886-486: The visiting public and the motoring press, Mazda executives decided on production of the car. Although Type C was the better received of the three, Type A was given the green light by executives as they believed that it would be the one most commercially accepted by the buying public. The Type A would only receive a minor design alteration prior to production, as the pop-up headlights were dropped in favour of fixed units, purely for structural rigidity reasons. The front air vent

3953-453: Was a severe blow to the team and to Formula One, as he had been the dominant driver of Lotus's early years. That year's championship was won by Clark's teammate Graham Hill . Team Lotus is credited with making the mid-engine layout popular for IndyCars , developing the first monocoque Formula One chassis and integrating the engine and transaxle as chassis components. Team Lotus was among the pioneers in Formula One in adding wings and shaping

4020-480: Was also sold by Suzuki as the Cara , with only minor detail changes including the addition of fog lamps. Gullwing door In the automotive industry, a gull-wing door , also known as a falcon-wing door or an up-door , is a car door that is hinged at the roof rather than the side, as pioneered by Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and was designed by a Maxwell James Harris, first as a race car in 1952 ( W194 ), and then as

4087-494: Was changed for the following March, hence its model name, AZ-550 Sports . First introduced at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show as the AZ-550 with three versions. The Type A is a red sports car with pop-up headlights , front air vent and gull-wing doors . The Type B , themed as "High-tuned pure sports", was inspired by the trends in the tuning industry and in current concept car design, featuring greenhouse pyramid roof without

SECTION 60

#1732786583247

4154-451: Was installed in all Bricklins. In addition, there was some concern that in making the doors as light as possible they wouldn't provide adequate protection in side-impact accidents. There was, however, no indication that this concern was justified. The DeLorean solved these problems by using a patented cryogenically set stainless steel torsion bar spring (manufactured by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation ) to partially counterbalance

4221-539: Was replaced by Feng Qingfeng from Lotus Group's parent company, Geely. October 2018 saw further senior personnel changes as Phil Popham was named CEO of Lotus Cars, with Qingfeng remaining in charge of Group Lotus. In January 2021, Matt Windle was appointed managing director of Lotus Cars after Phil Popham resigned. In its early days, the company encouraged its customers to race its cars, and it first entered Formula One through its sister company Team Lotus in 1958. A Lotus Formula One car driven by Stirling Moss won

4288-460: Was slightly less than a Eunos Roadster , but marginally higher than its competitor, the Honda Beat , selling at 1,388 million ¥ and the Suzuki Cappuccino at ¥1,458 million, the AZ-1 was considered to be both too expensive and too cramped for a kei car. The car failed to sell within its target of 800 per month, in the midst of an economic recession. Production of the car ended after the following year, but Mazda had plenty of stock to sell off. With

4355-460: Was split from Lotus Engineering in 1954, was active and competitive in Formula One racing from 1958 to 1994. The Lotus Group of Companies was formed in 1959. This was composed of Lotus Cars Limited and Lotus Components Limited, which focused on road cars and customer competition-car production, respectively. Lotus Components Limited became Lotus Racing Limited in 1971, but the newly renamed entity ceased operation that same year. The company moved to

4422-469: Was the other design alteration made to the car prior to production. Nonetheless, the car took three years to get into production as the engineering team changed the car's internal skeleton frame to steel to allow for further rigidity. The dashboard design was also changed, to a less futuristic but still sporting look. Much of the development work was carried out in the United Kingdom, undergoing extensive testing at Lotus' Millbrook Proving Ground , despite

4489-410: Was undertaken. On 7 June 2012, Lotus announced the termination of Bahar and the appointment of Aslam Farikullah as the new chief operating officer. The ambitious plans for several new models were cancelled following Bahar's departure. Jean Marc Gales became CEO in 2014, and in 2017, he enabled the company to achieve its first profit in decades. Gales left the company in June 2018 for personal reasons and

#246753