There's no question that Lotus hasn't exactly had the best few years in terms of its finances. After last year's sacking of now former CEO Dany Bahar, which was followed by an ownership change, Lotus's future wasn't looking so bright. Fortunately, things have now been worked out, but there's a catch: the reborn Lotus Esprit, as well as four other all-new cars, is not going to happen. In fact, the entire five-year plan developed under Bahar's watch has officially been sacked by the sports car maker's new owner, Malaysian-based DRB-Hicom.

What will continue to happen, however, are new and better variants of existing models with "improved technology, improved performance, improved quality as well as improved costing," according to DRB managing director Tan Sri Mohd Khamil Jamil. We've already been seeing examples of this with the new Exige S and Exige S Roadster. Future variants of the Evora and Elise are also reportedly on the way. This is all possible thanks to a new three-year program to revitalize the brand with funding already having been secured. Sales of existing models have also gone up, which helped to convince DRB that Lotus was worth saving.