In its heyday, Lotus was\u00a0revered for lightweight racers favored by James Bond and Mario Andretti. The company\u2019s engineering talent alone was so well respected\u00a0it developed a successful consulting firm with clients that included General Motors,\u00a0Aston Martin, and Tesla. But consumer tastes changed.\u00a0When sports cars gave way to SUVs, Lotus suffered.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>Under an ambitious plan hatched in 2009 under the previous CEO, Lotus started building the new hall in anticipation of producing an expanded lineup of five new models. But the financial crisis and global recession got in the way, and Lotus\u2019s foreign bankroller didn\u2019t\u00a0want to plow any more cash into the project. No new cars appeared, and sales continued to plunge. Work on the hall stopped dead.<\/p>\n
In a sign of how bleak things had gotten, Lotus\u2019s British network of dealers sold an average of just 11 cars per month in 2012.<\/p>\n
Now there are signs that things are\u00a0turning around. Over the past three years, Lotus has been selling closer to 30 cars a month in its home market.\u00a0Revenue is up, thanks to a combination of cost cutting and sales of higher-priced, limited edition models. Last month, the company said it was on track to be profitable for back-to-back years for the first time since the late \u201990s. Chief Executive Officer Jean Marc Gales has nursed the company back into the black, if barely, and he has reason to be optimistic.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>Lotus is about to be rescued by the same Chinese billionaire who bought Volvo Cars, just in time to help it maneuver the challenge of trading after Brexit. A controlling stake in the company\u201451 percent\u2014has been sold for \u00a351 million ($65 million) to Li Shufu\u2019s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, giving Lotus a deep-pocketed parent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is fantastic, the best thing that could have happened to us,\u201d said Gales, who joined Lotus in 2014. The deal, announced in June<\/a>, is expected to close this month.<\/p>\n Founded in 1952 by a scrappy engineer, racer, and frenetic entrepreneur named Colin Chapman, Lotus has teetered on a knife\u2019s edge for much of its 65 years. Early on, Lotus turned out a string of successful racing cars, including Formula 1 and Indy winners, with such drivers as Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna, and Andretti. A procession of groundbreaking road cars followed, including the fiberglass-bodied Elite in the 1950s, the Elan roadster in the \u201960s, and the mid-engined Esprit in 1976.<\/p>\n In the British TV hit The Avengers,<\/em>\u00a0Emma Peel drove an Elan, an early product placement. In 1977, Roger Moore\u2019s James Bond roared through a tiny Italian seaside village in an Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me<\/em>.\u00a0The white Esprit outraced a motorcycle, car, and helicopter on a winding road\u00a0before launching off the end of a pier and transforming into a submarine ready for underwater battle.<\/p>\n See for yourself:<\/span><\/p>\n