Lotus profit surge

bosses at Lotus are laughing all the way to the bank. They have shrugged off the financial crisis to report a £2million profit – after losing £4.9m the previous year.

The Norfolk sports car firm said its success was due to its work as an engineering consultant. One of its projects involved teaming up with a hospital in Norwich last year. This produced a machine to test knee patients’ ability to hit a pedal hard enough to do an emergency stop when they return to driving.

The news comes as Lotus took the wraps off a 261bhp race version of its 2-Eleven. A total of 10 cars will be built at first, priced £78,255 each.