GALLERY/NEWS

Lotus Cars USA, Inc. Announces Title Sponsorship

Duluth, GA, June 25, 2009 – Lotus Cars USA, Inc. is pleased to announce that Lotus will be the Title Sponsor of the growing Lotus Challenge Series.

The Lotus Challenge Series was begun in 2008 by long-time Lotus enthusiast Jim Navarro along with critical support from other Lotus aficionados Jack Fried and Robb Bonanno. To help expand the Lotus Challenge Series to the east and continually improve the series, Jim recently took on a fellow racer as a partner in the series – Tom Hughes.

“When the Series 2 Elise came to the United States market for the first time in 2004, I immediately bought one and drove it straight to the track,” said Lotus Challenge Series founder and President Jim Navarro. “I decided it would be great to have a time trial and club race series where like-minded Lotus enthusiasts could enjoy their cars and improve their driving skills together, so Jack, Robb and I worked hard to build up the series last year. I'm proud of what we've built thus far in the Lotus Challenge Series and I particularly appreciate that all of our participants understand our series emphasizes safety and intelligence on the race track and they all drive accordingly.”

The inaugural year of the Lotus Challenge Series in 2008 was comprised of eight events with six at various California tracks and two events at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada. The first year of the series was a great success with full grids and a lot of fun and camaraderie enjoyed by all the Lotus racing participants.

With a good, solid first full year of learning and experience under their belt, the Lotus Challenge Series has been expanded for the 2009 season to 10 western US events (see included schedule), initially, and is now in the process of expanding further with an additional 4 events being planned for Lotus owners to enjoy in Texas. As the race schedule is expanding for the series, the variety of the venues is as well with upcoming events scheduled at the revered Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey and famous Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.

“The Lotus Challenge Series is a very well run organization that's expanding through providing Lotus owners a fun, safe and positive environment in which to enjoy their Lotus vehicles and improve their driving skills,” said Lotus Cars USA, Inc. Director of Operations Arnie Johnson. “What Jim Navarro, Tom Hughes, Jack Fried, Robb Bonanno and all of the participants in the Lotus Challenge Series are doing is fostering tremendous enthusiasm and goodwill for our treasured Lotus marque. We're extremely proud to support the expansion of the Lotus Challenge Series as the title sponsor and show some of our most devoted Lotus owners how much we appreciate them.”

The full array of Lotus' current North American product offering competes in the Lotus Challenge Series including various Elise and Exige models and the track-only Exige Cup Car 255 and the current ultimate track-only Lotus 2-Eleven.

Lotus Challenge Series 2009 Competition Schedule:
January 23 Streets of Willow, Willow Springs
February 21 – 22 Streets of Willow, (SCCA School)
March 28 – 29 Spring Mountain Motor Sports Ranch
April 23 Willow Springs International Raceway
May 30 – 31 Buttonwillow Raceway Park
July 16 – 17 Laguna Seca Raceway
August 8 Streets of Willow, Willow Springs
September 3 Buttonwillow Raceway Park
October 8 – 9 Infineon Raceway
November 8 – 9 Spring Mountain Motor Sports Ranch

As the Lotus Challenge Series continues to grow in participation and expand into other parts of the country, the dates and details for new events in the south and on the east coast for 2010 will be announced in August 2009.

About Group Lotus plc and Lotus Cars USA, Inc.
The main operating subsidiary of Group Lotus plc is Lotus Cars Ltd, which has two operating divisions - Lotus Engineering and Lotus Cars. Lotus Engineering is an internationally recognized automotive engineering consultancy based in Norfolk, UK. Global facilities include those in Michigan (USA), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), China and offices in Germany and Japan, with rapid expansion in new territories such as Southeast Asia.

Lotus Cars builds world class, prestigious, high performance sports cars for sale in 37 countries. These include the iconic Lotus Elise, Exige and Europa. Lotus' latest model, the Lotus Evora, goes on sale in most global markets in the Summer of 2009 and in the US and Canada in early 2010. Lotus is a global high-tech company, expanding and committed to driving forward technology for both Lotus Cars and its Engineering clients, spearheading research into such areas as hybrids, electric vehicles and renewable fuels. Together, these two enterprises are a powerful team, committed to changing the rules that define automotive excellence.