The cars will be supplied on contract hire by British Car Contracts over five years with Lotus operating a 140-strong fleet that will be changed three times in that period.

A fifth of the contract will cover Land Rover and BMW products for higher management. The rest of the vehicles will be Rover 200, 400, 600 and 800 models with the greatest number being diesel engined Rover 400 saloons. Rover already has an arrangement to supply Lotus with 1.8 litre K Series engines which are to be installed in the new Lotus Elise sports car.