Lotus

Lotus Cars - British manufacturer of sports and racing cars, based in Hetele, Norfolk, England.

Founded in 1952, Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman as Lotus Engineering Ltd. Initially, production was located in a former stable in Hornsey. Since 1960, automobile production was moved to a modern factory near Hetel. Next to the plant was located an old military airfield, which was converted under the test track.

In 1982, aged 54 years, died of a heart attack, Colin Chapman. He went from second-hand car dealer before the ingenious design and multi-millionaire. His successful race cars have won seven titles in the series of races of Formula 1.

In 1986 the company was bought by General Motors, which sold its holding ACBN Holdings S.A. August 27, 1993 for 30 million U.S. dollars. In 1996 he bought a controlling stake in Malaysian group Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (Proton), which owns the Malaysian car company Proton.