Lotus pulls all-star cast

Action hero Mickey Rourke, supermodel Naomi Campbell, former Queen guitarist Brian May and actor Stephen Baldwin all turn up to help generate excitement around five stunning new models.

Lotus is heading into a new era, targeting a direct confrontation with Ferrari, and it dazzles with a giant event that positions the company as Britain's new supercar maker. But things could change quickly if former Ferrari boss Dany Bahar does not get the money he wants. He already says Lotus will move its manufacturing base to Magna in Austria, taking 1200 jobs from the UK, if he does not get around $100 million in government loans.

The total investment in the Lotus plan is more likely to be $800 million, with Proton of Malaysia - owners of Proton - promising to underwrite any losses over the next three years. That's the time it will take to get the Elite, Esprit, Elan, Elise and Eterne into production.

All five are shown at Paris - against a preview of the Elite alone in the run-up to the event - but none is a full production car and estimates for on-sale dates range from three to five years.

The born-again Esprit supercar was rumoured to be first into action but has been overtaken by the Elite as Lotus positions itself for the future.

Still, the question of how a tiny company that currently has only a handful of models and a small budget will now be able to develop so many high performance models is not answered in Paris. It is also odd for Lotus to uncover so many proposed models, revealing so much of its future line-up, so far out from production.

The most enticing of the cars presented is the Esprit, which is also the most likely to make it into a showroom near you and is due in 2013. A remake of the former wedge-shaped classic, the new Esprit will take on Ferrari with a mouth-watering and mid-mounted 5.0-litre V8, which is ‘pressure charged’ and even has an optional KERS hybrid assistance system. The combined power output is 456kW.

The engine will be linked to a seven-speed dual clutch automatic transmission for super fast shifts. Lotus says the car weighs just 1295kg which means a power-to-weight ratio that allows it to make the dash from 0-100km/h in just 3.4 seconds.

All the other models presented share the Esprit’s sharp front-end styling and wedge body design, including the Elan, another remake of a Lotus classic. It is a two-seater with a pressure-charged 4.0-litre V6 that makes 331kW and weighs the same as the Esprit. It’s due at the end of 2013.

The Elite is a grand tourer and has the same engine as the Esprit, but it is front-mounted and the car is due in 2014. It has a retractable hard-top and weighs 1650kg.

Lotus also presents a new lightweight Elise, which is not due for another five years, which takes up the same styling cues as the other new concepts.

It also rolled out the Eterne, a four-door model aimed at the growing four-seat grand tourer market. Lotus says this model, also five years away, runs the same V8 as the Esprit and Elite, but is also available with an optional all-wheel-drive system.

But that's not all. Tucked away at the back of the Lotus stand is a tiny City Car Concept. It's a little like the Aston Martin Cygnet, which means it will be used to offset the heavy CO2 emissions of the supercars and also give buys a little fun for city runs.

Meanwhile, Lotus is headed in a new direction in Australia. It is expected to become part of the Ateco empire at the start of 2011 in a major shake-up of sales across the Asia-Pacific region.

Ateco boss Neville Crichton is on the Lotus stand at the Paris Show for a champagne celebration, although he refuses to confirm any deal.

"We talk to everyone. I talked to a lot of people at the show," Crichton tells Carsguide. Ateco is already the Australian importer for Ferrari and Maserati.

The new Lotus family

Elite: Set for sales in 2014 at the start of the new Lotus generation. A 2+2 grand tourer to rival the Ferrari F599.

Eterne: The first true four-door sedan with a Lotus badge, but also gets a supercharged V8 and F1-style KERS hybrid pack.

Elise 2015: The lightweight sports car continues into a new generation with a sexy new look.

Elan: Claimed to be the heart of the new Lotus lineup, taking over from today's Evora as both a two and four-seater in 2013.

E sprit: Originally intended to be the first of the new-age Lotus models but now pushed back to 2013 with a supercharged V6.