The History of Lotus
Lotus Cars has a very long and distinguished history starting as far back as 1948 when Colin Chapman created his first model, the Mark 1. He continued with the Mark 2, the car that was driven to win the Wrotham Cup in 1950, and he also created the Mark 3 model.
Then in 1952, the original UK company was called Lotus Engineering Ltd. and was owned by Colin Chapman. Over the course of the years, the company changed ownership structure but it still exists today in 2008. In the height of its heyday, the car was a Formula 1 racing vehicle and saw many successes. Today, it is still known as a sports/race car performer with its power and lightweight agility.
The names of the cars, Chapman designed were the Mark, the Lotus including the legendary Lotus Seven and Lotus Elite, as well as the Type cars which were Formula 1 and Formula 2 racing vehicles. Later models were to include the Lotus Elan, the Europa which was originally intended for export only as an Indy car, the John Player Special Mk1 and 2, the Lotus Esprit which was the James Bond car in 1977, JPS Mk IV, a Grand Prix car, the Wingless Wonder, and the Lotus Eclat.
During the Lotus early years, Ford and Chrysler both worked with the company to bolster their racing images, Ford with the Lotus Cortina and Chrysler with the Chrysler Sunbeam. Sadly, in 1982 Chapman died at the young age of fifty-four from a heart attack. In 1983, Toyota acquired twenty-one and half percent of Lotus. The company moved forward producing an upgraded Eclat, the Etna and the Excel. And in 1986, General Motors purchased one hundred percent of Group Lotus. Excellence continued, upgraded cars were built, and the cars continued to win both races and awards.
Another notable feat was the revolutionary bicycle produced by Lotus Sport in 1992. Chris Boardman rode the bike and won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics and then he beat the World 5000m Pursuit record by eight seconds. And they also designed the Sport 110 road bike first shown at the Tour de France. But in 1993, Lotus changed hands again with General Motors selling to Romano Artioli of Bugatti.
One of Lotus’ most important ties to racing, Team Lotus, ends in 1995 after forty-one years of prominence, due to unmanageable and insurmountable costs. Near the end of the same year, Lotus releases the Elise which wows crowds at the Frankfurt Auto Show with its advanced technology, incredible speed and lightweight features. More importantly, it was a performance car reasonably priced.
In 1995, the company changed hands again when the Malaysian company, Perusahaan Otomobil National Berhad (PROTON) buys eighty percent of the shares giving them controlling interest in Lotus Group International, Ltd. Facilities are set up in Michigan, USA and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Proton then buys the balance of the stock giving them one hundred percent ownership in 2002. An office in China was opened in 2004.
After all these years, the present day factory still produces in the same location as was chosen in 1966 when Lotus moved to the new factory in Norfolk on a World War II airstrip.