Six broken promises: When Lotus went mad at the Paris motor show

At the Paris motor show 16 years ago, the automotive world was stunned as a reborn Audi Quattro, a Jaguar supercar, a new-generation Bentley GT and Renault’s seminal EV were upstaged by little Lotus uncloaking no fewer than six new cars at once.

We had been told to expect a “radical overhaul of the business as it aims to move upmarket and produce cars costing in excess of £100k to compete with the likes of Porsche and Ferrari”, plus a rival to the bizarre Aston Martin Cygnet city car, but still, this was totally unprecedented – and very dubious.