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Lotus to invest £500 million to build Esprit, Eterne, Elite & Elan. 1900 new jobs

The new Lotus Esprit Dany Bahar – Lotus boss – revealed plans at last year’s Paris Motor Show to turn Lotus in to an East Anglian Aston Martin. Those plans included one car we knew about – the new Lotus Esprit – and a number we didn’t – the Lotus Eterne, Lotus Elite, Lotus Elan and a new Lotus Elite. But the plans seemed to be nothing more than a wish list, and although it was intimated that Lotus owners Proton were going to provide a war chest of £770 million to fund the development, that later appeared to be an intent to provide Lotus with funds to develop a new range of cars, rather than an actual commitment.

Freelander 2 hits 200,000

Land Rover Freelander 2 - 200,000 built The original Freelander was, for a car that was pretty much cobbled together from the Rover parts bin, a remarkable success. Sadly, it wasn’t a remarkable car, particularly with the K Series engine many Freelanders had succumbing to head gasket failures. It could have been so different.

Corvette icon Duntov added to Bloomington Gold hall

Zora-Arkus Duntov, the first chief engineer for the Chevrolet Corvette, is among 10 people who will be added to the Bloomington Gold Corvettes USA's Great Hall next summer. The Great Hall is a form of hall of fame started by Bloomington Gold, an annual Corvette restoration and car show event that rewards cars for being maintained in original or factory-correct condition. The event is held in late June.