AUGUST 1983 – TOYOTA ANNOUNCES THAT IT has bought Lotus. The two companies have been co-operating for over a year, with Lotus getting Toyota parts for the Excel and Toyota getting Lotus engineering know-how for the Supra, but few expected this buy-out. Pundits are intrigued, purists are aghast, the entire car industry has just entered a new era. Over the next two decades every other car company will wither and die in the face of a partnership that can provide two simple yet desirable things: Toyotas
