Struggling Lotus To Get £10.4 Million From British Government

Lotus Cars, the beleaguered manufacturer of sports cars whom we are extremely worried about, just got a nice little ray of sunshine from its rainy, overcast motherland. The British government will inject them with a small amount of cash for 300 new jobs and hopefully new models.

The BBC reports that Lotus will get a grant of £10.4 million, or about $16.8 in American money, from the country's Regional Growth Fund to help develop their Hethel plant.

The plan has been in the works since 2011, but it was delayed in part due to to last year's departure of former CEO and great idea-haver Dany Bahar. Here's what the Beeb got from UK Business Secretary Vince Cable:

"Lotus is part of the very successful British car industry and the investment has government support but is private enterprise essentially," Mr Cable said.

"The car industry, and that includes Lotus, has risen from the ashes and is now exporting across the world.," Mr Cable said.

As far as government grants to automakers go, it's no huge amount of cash, and it pales in comparison to what the U.S. loaned companies like Fisker and Tesla. Hopefully, the plan will succeed in letting Lotus add hundreds of new jobs to their workforce and contribute to a global turnaround.

They could certainly use the help...

Hat tip to Speedmonkey!