Lotus CEO Says Concept City Car will Enter Production in "October 2013"

It appears that Aston Martin won't be the only British sports car maker to have a controversial small city car in its range. Lotus chief executive Dany Bahar told Car magazine that the Concept City Car, which was previewed at the recent Paris Motor Show alongside five sports car studies, has been approved for production. The comapny's CEO said the car will be manufactured in cooperation with Lotus parent company Proton and an undisclosed third party.

"Our city car has been confirmed and will be launched in October 2013," Mr. Bahar told the British magazine. "We are doing this together with Proton and another OEM [original equipment manufacturer, or car maker]. We will build three versions: one for the Asian market, one for Europe and a sportier one."

The Lotus flavored Concept City Car is based on one of the three Giugiaro-penned Proton EMAS design studies, which were first shown in Geneva earlier this year.

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Proton Rebadges Lotus Europa to Create Lekir Sports Concept

Taking center stage at Proton's 2010 Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show booth alongside the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO-esque Jebat study, is yet one more concept model based on another manufacturer's vehicle, the Lekir. This time, Proton looked into its own car bin and in particular, Lotus, which it acquired back in 1994, as the Lekir is essentially a rebagded Europa coupe. Mind you, it's not the first time we've seen the Europa wearing different logos as Dodge displayed an EV concept of the model at the 2009 Detroit Show.

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