Founded by Colin Chapman in 1948, Lotus Cars is currently owned by Chinese firm Geely automotive company

Known for building fancy sports cars and racing cars, British automotive company Lotus Cars is one of the best carmakers in the world. Therefore, it has millions of fans around the world. However, many of them may not be aware of some fun and lesser-known facts about the firm. Therefore, in this feature, we have listed a number of lesser-known facts about Lotus Cars. 

Colin Chapman founded Lotus Cars in 1948. However, after his death, the company suffered a financial crisis. To give stability, it was first purchased by General Motors but later sold to Proton. However, Proton too did not keep the ownership and finally, Lotus Cars was purchased by Chinese automotive firm Geely. 

Lotus Cars had a sister company named Team Lotus which used to take part in Formula One. Between 1958 and 1994, the team picked up seven constructors’ titles. Not to forget, it won six drivers’ titles from 1963 to 1978. The team returned to the Formula One grid in 2012 and competed till 2015. However, in 2015, the team was officially purchased by Groupe Renault. In 2016, Team Lotus was rebranded as the Renault factory team. 

Chapman officially founded the company after he modified his 1928 Steve Austin. He named the company Lotus Engineering Consultancy. 

In the very beginning, Lotus Cars company was not into road cars. Its first car was the Lotus 7, that was introduced in 1957. The company’s first road-legal car was named Elite, and it was introduced in 1959. 

One would be surprised to learn that all the Lotus road-legal cars bear the letter E at the beginning of their names. For example, Lotus Elan, Evija, Evora, Espirit, Exige, Europa and Elise.

For the present generation, Aston Martin is the brand of agent 007 James Bond. However, there was a time when agent 007 used to love Lotus Cars. Lotus Cars were regularly displayed in the older-gen Bond movies.

The cars of the famous British automotive company are built in a factory located in England’s Norfolk. The plot on which the factory is present used to be an airbase of the Royal Air Force. 

Last but not least, apart from the LOTUS writing, there are four letters in the company's logo. The four letters are A, C, B, C which stands for Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman.