| Lotus
Lotus Cars is a British manufacturer of sports and racing cars based at Hethel, Norfolk, England. The company designs and builds race and production automobiles of light weight and high handling characteristics. Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman founded Lotus Cars as Lotus Engineering Ltd. in 1952. Lutus Cars encouraged its customers to race their cars, eventually entering Formula One as a factory team in 1958 and was a primary competitor and supporter of the motorsport. Chapman died at only the age of 54 due to a heart attack in 1982. In 1994 Lotus permanently left the F1 racing due to the spiraling high financial and resource commitments it demands to be competitive, after having won 7 Formula One championships. In 1986 General Motors bought the company. On August 27, 1993, GM sold Lotus Group to Italian Romano Artioli's company, who also owned Bugatti Automobili SpA. In 1996 a majority share in Lotus was sold to Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (Proton), a Malaysian car company. The company is actually organized as Group Lotus, with Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering its principal divisions. Lotus Group International Limited ("LGIL") was established in February 2006 as the holding company of Lotus Group Plc. Lotus Cars produces exotic sports and racing oriented automobiles, while Lotus Engineering does engineering development and consultancy for other auto manufacturers. The lesser known Powertrain department is responsible for the design and development of the 4 cylinder engine found in many of GM's Vauxhall, Opel, Saab, and some Saturn cars.
http://lotuscars.com
|
