Spyker and Lotus talking

Lotus, has been touting its aluminum Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) around the world\'s motor industry. It will be used for its own replacement for the Esprit supercar in 2010 and may also form the basis of the next model from the Dutch Spyker company.

Spyker had an ill-fated foray in Formula 1 and has recently bee re-structured. In mid-May, Spyker and Lotus made a series of agreements on parts and platform commonality and design and engineering for all future Spyker models.

Lotus has worked in the background with Spyker for four years. Now the expanded co-operation makes them directly involved with the development of the exclusive luxury Spyker C9 Aileron and D8 Peking-to-Paris SUV. The cars from both Spyker and Lotus feature aluminum construction.

Spyker will start to produce 24 limited units of the Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85. Only two units of the limited Skyper LM85. The LM85 is a premium mid-engine, 25 million Baht ($743,065), two-seat sports car. Named the Spyker C8 Laviolette LM85, the Dutch supercar features Audi\'s 4.2-liter V8 engine producing 400 horsepower, a 6-speed manual transmission, paint scheme from the GT2R race car, and an interior covered in black leather and alcantara.

Malaysian national car maker Proton and its key shareholder Yahaya Ahmad controlling an 80 percent stake in the British sports car maker Lotus.