Lotus has always had a thing for unsuitable partners, but that could be set to change with what we?re told will be a serious chunk of investment from its new owner, Chinese automaker Geely, which has the ambition to turn the British sports-car maker into a rival to Ferrari and Porsche.
That might sound outlandish given Lotus?s current position?it sold less than 1600 cars globally last year?yet the brand?s history in motorsport is as prestigious as it gets, and the launch and success of McLaren Automotive has proved that there is a market for top-flight performance cars from brands with a racing pedigree.

Former CEO Dany Bahar had big plans for Lotus, but they came to naught.
Lotus, however, has lurched from crisis to crisis with depressing regularity throughout much of the last three decades. The latest came in 2012 with the collapse of former boss Dany Bahar?s plan to launch a range of five all-new sports cars. Since then the company has struggled to raise investment funds, and although Lotus has returned to positive cash flow, it has been unable to do more than tweak its existing Elise/Exige and Evora model ranges. The purchase by Geely was part of a bigger deal that saw the Chinese automaker take a 49 percent stake in Lotus?s former owner, Malaysian manufacturer Proton. Although the Lotus side of the deal was much smaller, Geely insiders say that the chance to take control of the iconic brand was a huge part of the appeal to company president An Cong Hui.
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