19 November 2008

Lotus wins Autocar’s “Editor’s Special Award for Excellence”

This prestigious award comes just a week after Lotus announced a £2 million profit for the last financial year, citing the growth of Lotus as a world leading high technology, ecological automotive engineering consultancy and the unveiling of the visually stunning Lotus Evora, the first new Lotus for 13 years, as amongst the key reasons for the accolade.

Mike Kimberley, Chief Executive Officer was delighted to receive the award on behalf of Group Lotus Plc, “It is an honour for me to be presented with this award, recognising the hard work of all our tremendously loyal and dedicated global staff over the last two years to execute the turnaround in the business fortunes of Lotus. Our ‘can do’ attitude has ensured the continued growth of Lotus into a much stronger and stable position consolidating our reputation as a global premium advanced automotive company”.

Chas Hallett Autocar editor explained further why Lotus won the Editor’s Special Award for Excellence, “The resilience of Lotus and its gathering engineering strength, culminating in the launch of the exciting new Evora, are the key reasons why it wins this year’s Excellence award.”

Mike Kimberley returned to Lotus in 2005 as a non-Executive Director, before being appointed Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus plc in 2006. Over the last 12 months Lotus Engineering, the company’s high technology engineering consultancy business, grew its global third party customer base and was awarded with new and valuable contracts worldwide – 340 projects with over 140 clients. Customer demand has lead to the creation of new departments within Engineering, especially focused on biofuels, electric and hybrid electric vehicles. The Lotus Evora, the first all new Lotus in 13 years is a 2+2 midengine V6 sportscar and first deliveries to customers are expected to commence in Spring 2009. The Lotus Evora will join the already successful stable of Elise, Exige, Europa and 2-Eleven high performance sportscars.