Lotus Expansion Slashed to One Model

Malaysia's DRB-Hicom Bhd, owner of Group Lotus, has scrapped the sports car brand's "Five-Year, Five-Car" program as unfeasible, according to Automotive News Europe.

The Web-based newspaper cites an unidentified source who says Lotus will build a production version of only one of the five new-car concepts it unveiled at the Paris auto show in 2010.

ANE says the company is likely to make the Esprit supercar in 2014. The two-seater would join the Lotus lineup of the Elise roadster and the Evora and Exige sports coupes.

The planned expansion was part of former CEO Dany Bahar's program to broaden the brand's appeal and quadruple annual sales to 8,000 units by mid-decade.

DRB gained control of Lotus when it acquired the parent of the British sports car maker, Proton Bhd, from the Malaysian government in January. On Monday Managing Director Mohd Khamil Jamil again refuted news reports that DRB intends to sell the marque.

Jamil tells reporters in London that the company already has injected half of a planned 200 million ($311 million) investment in Lotus. He says DRB must try to make the brand successful so it can repay its heavy debt. "We cannot allow Lotus to take us down," Jamil declares.