Evora 400

Make
Lotus
Segment
Coupe

According to a recent report from Inside Line, Lotus CEO Dany Bahar believes his company needs to join forces with a larger automaker in order to help it move forward. Currently, Bahar is working to reposition Lotus as a premium competitor to the likes of Porsche by launching a major expansion of their product lineup. His vision for the struggling automaker is to have an annual sales volume of 6,000 to 8,000 cars by the middle of the decade.

One third of those sales are specifically targeted for the U.S. Even more interesting, Bahar stated that he thinks it's time to separate from Malaysian parent company Proton. Having been owned by them since 1996, Bahar told journalists that a company as small as Lotus cannot develop cars that meet increasingly important emissions and crash regulations without help. Instead, Lotus should be linked with a large automaker such as Toyota through either an alliance or an outright sale. When you think about it, all of this makes sense.

Lotus is currently hoping to launch six new or redesigned models over the next five years and that takes added help Proton may not be able to provide. Fortunately, Lotus is working an all-new aluminum tub that weighs just 300 pounds, instead of the 520 pound tub currently found in the Evora. Additionally, Lotus still provides Toyota with dynamic development of some new models. In the end, it all matters whether a partner can be found. Photos displayed are of the 2011 Lotus Evora S.