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For once in the car world, something claimed to be big news actually is big news. Somehow Lotus, despite making some of the best handling cars the world has ever seen, has been teetering on the brink of financial ruin since day one.
However, they are starting to turn big profits in what could be called a radical financial turnaround.
Coming Clean
Look, I make no claims about my biases. I freely admit my love for Colin Chapman and his cars. Even the ones he’s no longer around to make. If you were to ask me to list 10 or 20 of the world’s greatest cars, after a bunch of Italian ones, Colin Chapman’s Lotus cars would most likely take up the rest of the list. That guy could do more with less than almost any other designer I’ve seen. He could make four bangers stay with V8s, sixes fly past them, and when it comes to racing cars, you’d underestimate his designs at your own peril. One thing Chapman could not do, however, was figure out how to be profitable while making cars and racing them. When I said Lotus was in trouble since day one, that wasn’t an exaggeration. The Lotus 7, one of the most sublime and best handling sports cars ever, was sold by Chapman to keep his business afloat. And that was back in 1959. The company has, near as I could tell, been living hand to mouth ever since. It has gone through a number of owners since Chapman’s passing, some of them with very deep pocke...