New Lotus CEO details his plans for how to save the brand

Newly appointed Lotus Cars CEO Jean-Marc Gales is well aware that things have been tough for the British automaker recently, but he says that there are a few things in pipeline that he hopes will change that, things such as a dramatically revised Lotus Evora for 2016 and what he claims will be the fastest track cars around.

That’s the gist of an admittedly optimistic interview with Gales on Car and Driver. He’s been saddled with the unfortunate task of bringing the famous sports car company back from the brink of destruction. Considering the automaker’s heavy layoffs and having to drop the Evora from the United States market, he has his work cut out from him.

“We are staying with the existing Evora but making it better,” Gales said. “We made it better by making it faster; secondly, there were practical things that were on the list of improvements, like making it easier to get in and out of the car. Thirdly, we have an interior that looks different to the current interior, that has been changed in most parts.”

“The major trends in car design are aluminum, lightweight, and efficiency,” Gales continued. “The Evora has a lot of life left in it, and we are actively thinking about getting derivatives from that platform—body derivatives, variants that we can do, models that will come to the market in the next two to three years.”

Gales stated his firm belief that future Lotus models will be able to match brawnier rivals and that “there will be nothing faster on-track than these cars, and nothing more fun.” Bold clams to say the least, and it’s essential to the future of Lotus that the cars live up to them.

Read more about the story at Car and Driver.