The new owner of Proton is known for its investments in power generation, transportation, and automotive services. It belongs to the portfolio of companies owned by Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, a Malaysian billionare.

The purchase which gives the new owner control over Proton follows a month after the approval of the bid of DRB-Hicom by former PM Mahathir Mohamad who is also the Proton founder.

DRB-Hicom is not at the helm of car factories which can produce around 350,000 vehicles annually. More significantly, DRB-HiCom also gains control of the sports car brand Lotus.

Fans of the British brand might be a bit wary with this buyout since it is not certain yet if the new owner will keep Lotus since it has not been bringing in money since its acquisition of Proton in 1996. Some experts are suggesting that the Lotus might be sold once Proton is controlled by a private company.

There are some parties though who have shown interest to the sports car brand. There is a loud buzz that Genii Capital wants to acquire Lotus after all the company is part owner of the grandprix team under the banner of Lotus Renault. Some Chinese companies have also expressed interest. Proton also did not bring in any profit since 2009.

Connected to this news, General Motors was also in negotiation with Proton last month for a possibility of a joint venture to be executed in Malaysia so it can tap the market of Southeast Asia. It is not yet clear if the latest purchase will have any effects on these talks.

This move makes Lotus the first carmaker to have a representative in the entry level automotive sport which is actually a good venue to discover fresh talents. Among the biggest names in the world of motorsport today traces their roots to kart racing. The best example perhaps will be Sebastian Vettel, the current World Champion in F1 Racing. Other names are F1 bigwigs Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

Lotus is not only after fresh racing talents but also make most of the opportunity to collaborate with young individuals who understands engineering and car designing.

The brand will be carrying the banner Lotus Racing Karts under the umbrella of the Motorsport Division of Lotus. Lotus will be collaborating with Jefra Racing to field the karting team to the racing circuit. Jefra Racing, headquartered in Treviso, Italy has about four decades of racing history under its belt.

The production of the racing karts will be relegated to the engineering specialist Wildkart who has been involved in aeronautics since 1996 and have been producing karts starting 2002. The company is regarded these days as an authority in producing kart components and chassis. Just like Lotus Wildkart has also high standards when it comes to technology, looking for innovations, new technology, and development.

The main man to impress from Lotus is Franc Jerancic who will be serving as the team manager of the Lotus Racing Karts. The spotted talent will have all the best hardware, technology, and Lotus manpower at proper disposal to be really competitive in the KF1 category of the World Karting Championship.

Lotus will unwrap their 2012 karts during the Autosport International by January next year in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

The paper documents the planned specifics of the sales pitch to other carmakers. The Evora platform being licensed for other manufacturers is a long shot though and may be a hurdle high enough to block the flood of affordable Evora-based vehicles.

The 2010 Evora of Lotus is actually depending on a V6 from the Toyota line of DNA that can squeeze out some 276 horsepower. The main lines of the vehicle are designed to cater for both style and performance unlike the more aggressive Exige and Elise models.

The architecture of the Evora follows the Versatile Vehicle principle of Lotus. This entails a modular design which can easily be manipulated to conform to certain purposes. The architecture also favors cheaper manufacturing compared to the riveted and bonded aluminum parts being used by the Elise cars. Replicating the Evora platform is also very easy and cheap.

We are pretty sure that there will be announcements soon if the platform of the Evora will really be licensed for consumption of other carmakers. It is a wait and see game.

The Club Racer grabs the best colors of the past like the Elite Yellow, Old English White, Sky Blue, and Carbon gray. It still has its great combination of looks and function inside and out.

The standard seats for the Elise get a microfiber treatment that installs comfort pads without making them heavier. The handbrake and the gear knob also get a racing touch with anthracite anodized materials used.

CR or Club Racer is featured on the headrest through an embroidery work while the flooring also gets the CR mark. The steering wheel was also designed with a small diameter and leather treatment for good grip and better control.

The lightweight alloy wheels which also makes use o f anthracite anodized material translates the intentions of the driver on the road.

The exterior color provides a smooth transition to whatever theme the buyer chooses. Lines of black and silver highlights the transmission tunnel and divides the cockpit on the middle.

The Club Racer derives its engine DNA from the Elise S and also outputs 134 horsepower. You might say that is just not enough, but considering the weight of the car it may just be right. The Club Racer can blaze from 0 to 60 in just 5.7 seconds.

The Club Racer will be unveiled during the Frankfurt Motor Show and will also go on sale the minute the spotlight hits its panels.

Brief History of Lotus

Lotus was originally formed by engineer Colin Chapman in 1952, as Lotus Engineering, Ltd. It’s first factory was in an old stable behind the Railway Hotel in Hornsey, England and in 1954 Team Lotus was split off from the original company to focus on Formula One racing, where it excelled from 1958 – 1994.

In 1959, Lotus Cars, Ltd. and Lotus Components, Ltd., which focused on road car and competition car production, respectively moved to a factory in Cheshunt. In 1966, the company moved into a more modern factory with a road test facility in Hethel, at the former RAF Hethel base, where it has remaind ever since.

In 1971, Lotus Components, Ltd. became Lotus Racing Limited, but it ceased operations the same year.

In 1986, Lotus Cars, Ltd. was purchased by General Motors which ran it until 1993, when it was sold for £30 million to A.C.B.N. Holdings S. A. of Luxembourg, a company controlled by the Italian businessman Romano Artioli, also the owner of Bugatti Automobili SpA. Three years later Lotus was sold again, this time to Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (aka Proton) a Malaysian car company operating on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.

In addition to manufacturing Lotus cars, the company also acts as an engineering consultancy providing engineering development, especially suspension systems, for other carmakers. It also has a lesser-known powertrain department which is responsible for the design and development of the same 4-cylinder engine used by GM’s Vauxhall, Opel, Saab and likely some Saturn cars, though the current models of the Lotus Elise and Exige use the 1.8-Liter VVTL-I I4 previously used in the Toyota Celica GT-S and the Matrix XRS.

Currently, the company is referred to as Group Lotus, and is divided into Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering, and though many rumors abound, there are no plans to re-enter Formula One racing with a company team.

Current Models

Current Lotus models include:

• Elise – This car incorporates several engineering innovations including an aluminum extrusion frame and a composite body shell, and has spawned many racing models, including the exotic limited-edition 340R. In the United States, the Elise is sold with a Toyota engine in order to pass stricter emissions laws and auto insurance standards, though it also has a Lotus ECU with its own fuel mapping.
• Eco Elise – A special Elise model that incorporates solar panels and a roof made from hemp.
• Exige and Exige-S – Elise models that have been redesigned to provide additional downforce and a hard top. The S-model is supercharged and has an engine that provides 220 hp, while the standard Exige tops out at 190 hp.
• Evora – Launched last July, and code-named Project Eagle while it was in development, this is a 2+2 sports car with a mid-mounted, transverse, 3.5-liter V6 engine. A new model is planned for 2010.

Lotus in America

While Lotus is not exactly a household name in the United States, it enjoys a small but fierce following. The largest North American owners club is Lotus, Ltd, which boasts more than 1500 members, hosts the annual Lotus Exige 260 Cup, and has member groups in sixteen states and Washington, DC. They also have an extensive website at www.lotuscarclub.org, and publish a regular newsletter called the Remarque.

Other Lotus clubs are smaller, and exist in twenty-one states and Washington, DC. Most are linked to the official American site for Lotus cars: www.lotuscars.com.

The engine from the renowned research division of Lotus is set to deliver the maximum work performance regardless of the kind of fuel. A lot of speculations and hypothesis are being raised because of the known variability of fuel characteristics.

Different fuels will have different octane ratings, burn rates, and combustion temperatures and these will make one wonder how an engine like Omnivore will remain efficient. The Omnivore concept engine is specifically engineered to optimally use different fuels and make use of the available electronic control technologies.

At its current stage, the engine is a single cylinder machine which allows Lotus experts to easily note effects and make revisions as needed. The concept machine also comes as a two stroke engine with direct fuel injection.

The engineering arm of Lotus foresees how Omnivore can influence the increase of efficiency and travel distance when green fuels are utilized.

The monoblock design eliminates the need for a cylinder head gasket by integrating the design of the cylinder head with the engine block. This feature adds to the durability of the design and decreases the total weight of the engine.

The Omnivore also permits asymmetric timing of the exhaust flow. A puck on top of the combustion chamber makes variable compression possible.

Omnivore, if successful, will paved the way for the development of multi fuel engines that can help in decreasing the dependency on fossil fuels.

Anyway another pro I hadn’t even thought of came from the Wheeltronix’ article:

“Blind and partially-sighted people use the noise of oncoming traffic as a cue for when it is safe to cross the road’ and this engine noise will help them a lot.” – wheeltronix

That makes so much sense. Way to go lotusguys!

I have to say the Evora looks a lot more feminine than any other Lotus I’ve ever laid my eyes on, which will make it a lot more marketable to a new market for Lotus: that of people with an interest to what their (future) wife/girlfriend likes.

Source is Wheeltronix – New Lotus Evora post.

Thank you goes out to lotusespritturbo.com!

Click here to view the embedded video.

3 Drawbacks:

- Expensive
- Noisy
- Can’t be fat

I’ll take it.