Lotus
The United Kingdom is very much identified with luxury cars and sedans. However, there are several British car manufacturers that specialise in the assembly of racing and sports cars. Lotus cars are among the sports car brands that originated in the United Kingdom.
What makes Lotus cars so distinct? Aside from being featured several times in a number of James Bond films in the past couple of generations, Lotus cars are known for their significant light weight. Experts declare that the relatively light weight of each Lotus car makes the cars ideal for sports and racing purposes. Because of this lightweight, Lotus cars are also practical and efficient in that there is not much gasoline consumption required.
Lotus cars were designed and developed by Lotus Engineering Ltd. The company rolled out the first Lotus cars in 1952. After years of tumultuous economic crisis, the sports cars sector has been really put under a lot of pressure. Due to declining sales despite the car brand's reliability and efficiency, the company was sold to US-based General Motors in 1986.
Since then, management changed hands. From GM, Lotus' ownership was transferred to Luxembourg's ACBN Holdings SA, and then later, to Malaysian auto maker Proton, or Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd. Aside from being a car maker, Lotus is also acting as an engineering consultant, especially for other car makers. Thus, the name Lotus literally translates to expertise when it comes to sports cars.
Because Lotus is a sports and racing car brand, it would not be complete without owning badges in Formula One. Formula One is a global car racing tournament that has been setting trends and standards in the sports and car racing sector. Lotus had a competing team in Formula One for the longest time, from 1958 to the year 1994.
The presence of Lotus cars in the racing event only made Lotus a well-renowned sports car brand. As a matter of fact, many miniaturised car models are based and patterned on Lotus cars. Through the decades, the car brand has been establishing records and has been setting standards in the world of car racing. It adopted and introduced contemporary and sophisticated racing car designs that were followed and copied by other racing car assemblers.
From 1948, the total number of car models ever produced under the Lotus car brand is close to about a hundred. That only proves that sports and car racing vehicles are very much in demand in the market. Life also has not been too easy in the past decades due to economic predicaments, but sales figures show that people still managed to prioritise investing in racing and sports cars.
Now, another challenge is being faced by Lotus cars. The global car industry is facing a significant soft season. With the increasing prices of oil and rising production costs of cars, people would not practically invest in cars nowadays. If traditional and common cars are feeling the pressure, what more can sports and racing cars get into? However, Lotus cars are still expected to weather every storm and emerge triumphant just like in car races where the brand has won.
Original Authors: Manny
Edit Update Authors: RPN
Updated On: 21/06/2007
