To say that Lotus->ke49 has had a very prosperous year is akin to saying that the economies in Spain and Greek are both doing fine.

It wasn't that long ago when Lotus had ambitious plans to become a player in the supercar market, having unveiled a total of six new concepts that would inevitably give run to a fleet of production vehicles.

So it's with a dash of irony that this year, Lotus has announced that they would be skipping the 2012 Paris Motor Show->ke227, only two years removed from bringing those six concepts at the 2010 Paris Motor Show.

From the optimism of those days, the company has been in dire straits recently, no more evident than the messy firing of former CEO Dany Bahar, who incidentally was the driving force behind the company's ambitious plans two years ago. The company today is also in financial disarray; sales have been extremely low and there's even word that the company will go back to its roots as a factory for lightweight sports cars.

Despite the messy year the company has had, there are still some signs of optimism, particularly with the increased interest in their two new vehicles, the Exige V6 S and V6 Roadster. Whether they can jump start the company's fledgling business remains to be seen, but one thing we do know is that it won't come at a fast enough time to save Lotus from heading to the same auto show were only two years ago, they set out on an ambitious plan that ended up with nothing more than lost promises.

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