After kicking Dany Bahar out of the company, Lotus owner the Malaysian DRB-Hicom is trying to inject some common sense into the British car maker’s vein. They have put one of their own, Aslam Farikullah, a the top of Lotus and are working on a ‘more realistic’ business plan than what Bahar had put together.

What that means in plain English is that they’ve ditched plans to launch five awesome new cars.

So there will no new Elan, no new Exige, no Eterne, no city car, and no new Esprit… well, actually, the Esprit still has a chance. By cancelling all the other project Lotus will focus on making the Esprit, which is already in development.

Even if the Esprit survives the ongoing storm at Lotus, it won’t be just as wonderful as Bahar’s proposition. To reduce cost it will probably get an engine and gearbox from another manufacturer and not Lotus’ own. Well, as long as it looks like Bahar’s car, that’ fine by us.

Lotus has also laid off 50 contractors who have been reportedly working on new projects rather than existing cars. So Lotus will continue to remain a small car maker in Norfolk. Maybe some other time they try again to become a global player.

via Autocar