British success in the car industry is usually worth celebrating and when the subject is the much-loved sports car maker Lotus, there’s even more reason to be proud.

Having undergone difficult management squabbles in the past, the stable ownership of Proton has allowed the Norfolk firm to push forward with ambitious plans for the future.

The clearest example of this was the show-stealing array of production concepts presented at the 2010 Paris motor show. The five concepts came with a promise of production reality within five years, an ambitious plan for any size of manufacturer.

Almost a year on, and once again Lotus is talking about its future plans but with the emphasis on facilities, starting with the new multimillion-pound test track.

The old Lotus track at Hethel was a challenge for car and driver, mainly due to the mixed and crumbling surfaces, but the new facility is a spectacular high-speed challenge.

To demonstrate the new circuit and to highlight Lotus’s multi-formula assault on motorsport, it rolled out a collection of historic and modern day racers that any manufacturer would love to have.

F1 World Champion and Indy Car Champion Nigel Mansell was reunited with his first Lotus F1 racer, while the current Lotus Renault F1 machines blitzed the new circuit driven by current driver Vitaly Petrov and test driver Bruno Senna.

Yet there was equal emphasis on its future road car programme, as chief engineer Wolf Zimmermann revealed that the next Esprit supercar will use a new V8 engine developed in-house, giving it the performance to challenge the established benchmarks from Ferrari and McLaren.

At the other end of the scale, it confirmed production of a city car called Ethos to appear in 2014, a re-engineered version of which will also be sold by parent company Proton.

Such a comprehensive assault on a number of fronts may sound like a step too far, but Lotus is keen to point out that a company of its size can make quick decisions and rapid progress.

The first step in the programme will be the new Esprit in 2013, and if that hits the mark, it will signal a complete transformation of this iconic British brand.