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"Colin Chapman might turn in his grave if he knew that the company he founded, Lotus Cars, held a star-studded party in the Hollywood Hills last Friday evening. Of course the real stars were the &amp;quot;New Era&amp;quot; Lotus Esprit, Elan, Elite, Elise and Eterne sports cars that will be introduced by the famous British company in the next five years. They were first seen at the recent Paris Auto Show where Lotus made a big splash with their surprise appearance. These are not kit cars or small lightweight sports cars, but then again it has really been many years since small sports cars were big sellers. Generally speaking, young drivers who used to own these cars buy sporty sedans nowadays. So just what is a company like Lotus supposed to do if it wants to survive? Move up market and compete with the exotic sports-car manufacturers? And that is just what Lotus has embarked on under the direction of Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar, who was a marketing director at Ferrari before he joined Lotus. Prior to his stint at Ferrari he made his name as one of the people responsible for Red Bull&amp;#039;s rise in Formula 1. Drive around Hollywood and Beverly Hills and you&amp;#039;ll see plenty of exotic cars\u2014it&amp;#039;s a haven for them so it was a natural place for Lotus to show off its new cars a week before the Los Angeles Auto Show. If you read the gossip columns over the past weekend you&amp;#039;d have been forgiven if you though coconut water was the flavor of the Lotus event. That&amp;#039;s because Demi Moore celebrated her 48th birthday last Thursday and the paparazzi snapped her with the drink just before the Lotus party. Whether true-blooded car enthusiasts like it or not, having pictures of Demi Moore splashed across tabloids on the red carpet with the Lotus logo clearly displayed is good publicity. Officially the event was to hand over the keys to a Lotus Evora that was donated to the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund. Besides Demi Moore, other attendees included Alec Baldwin, Billy Baldwin (Parenthood), Chord Overstreet (Glee), Colleen Bell, Dani Janssen, Daniel Baldwin, Grey Damon (True Blood), Ione Skye (Say Anything), Kyle Richards (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar), Nicollette Sheridan (Desperate Housewives), Olivia Munn (Ironman 2), Perry Farrell (Musician), Peter Gallagher (Burlesque), Stephen Baldwin, Taryn Manning (Hawaii Five-0), Vanna White (Wheel of Fortune) and plenty of artists and other VIPs. Lotus will be showing off the concepts of its New Era cars at the Los Angeles Auto Show that opens to the public on Friday. With prices ranging up to an expected $180,000 for the 4-door Eterne\u2014placing it head-to-head against the Aston Martin Rapide\u2014Lotus needs to sway influencers to own the cars if it is to succeed against formidable competitors such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and others. If you can&amp;#039;t see the Esprit, Elan, Elite, Elise and Eterne in person at the Los Angeles Auto Show, you can check out details on the new Lotus website: http://www.lotusnewera.com. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-shows/los-angeles-auto-show/news/a16676/la-auto-show-lotus-gives-its-cars-star-billing/>