Lotus Celebrates Diamond Anniversary

60 years of world class innovation from Britain's finest sports car manufacturer

March 20, 2008 -- In this its 60th year, Group Lotus plc is taking the ‘diamond’ element of their anniversary to heart and is celebrating in style. A variety of high profile events have been planned for 2008 that will pay homage to the heritage of the marque and look forward to the future of the international brand. The pinnacle of the campaign is a landmark event held at the Lotus Headquarters in Hethel, England on 14th September 2008 and will be opened by Hazel and Clive Chapman.

Lotus has a history of holding fantastic public events and the 60th Birthday Party will follow this vein. Over 15,000 visitors are expected and will be a fun-filled day that all the family can enjoy.

It was in 1948 that Colin Chapman built his first racecar. A pioneer, his breakthrough engineering firmly established him as one of the greatest automotive engineers of the 20th century. Chapman’s theory of “performance through lightweight” formed the foundation of one of the most successful racing teams to date and is imbedded in the Lotus philosophy.

Group Lotus Plc CEO Mike Kimberley speaks passionately about celebrating Lotus milestone, “This is a great opportunity to celebrate the past and look forward to both a very special year for Lotus and a fantastic future. It’s important to us to celebrate the spirit of Lotus and we invite everyone to our headquarters to meet our people, our staff and our fans, and see us moving forwards. In 2008 an all new car will be unveiled at the London Motorshow and an impressive global expansion programme is planned for our high tech Lotus Engineering Consultancy, so there’s an exciting energy at Lotus that we want to share with our wider communities.”

An invitation is extended to all to join Lotus on 14th September 2008 for a day’s celebrations and with it the chance to experience the majesty of the marque and be part of Lotus’ tomorrow.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

More details about the Lotus celebrations around the world will be available in the near future.

About Group Lotus plc:

The main operating subsidiary of Group Lotus plc is Lotus Cars Ltd, which has two operating divisions – Lotus Engineering and Lotus Cars. Lotus Engineering is an internationally recognised automotive engineering consultancy based in Norfolk, UK. Its global facilities include those in Michigan, USA and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and offices in Germany and China. Lotus Engineering provides comprehensive and versatile consultancy services to many of the world’s OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, offering a full engineering service from initial concept and project design through development and integration of the complete vehicle to meet all worldwide markets and customers to full production. This includes third party ‘niche vehicle’ engineering and manufacture worldwide. Lotus Cars builds and sells Lotus sports cars, Elise, Exige and Europa for global sale.

Source: Group Lotus plc