LOTUS CARLTON

AFTER THE NEXT FEW DAYS, K984 XGS WILL HEAD into retirement, its active life on Vauxhall’s heritage press fleet reduced to an ambassadorial role, to be dusted off for special occasions and the odd anniversary. Yet it’s hard to see when those special occasions will materialise. With Vauxhall now part of the vast Stellantis group – the fast-growing European-American conglomerate that will build everything from a £6000 electrified Citroën Ami to an 800bhp Dodge Hellcat – its future looks secure. But while the Hellcat might have a certain synergy with a 377bhp supersaloon that factions of the British press wanted banning 30 years ago, I’m not holding out much hope that Vauxhall is working on a 21st century remake of the Lotus Carlton. I doubt many are.

The supersaloon genre was nothing new by the time GM started transferring money from its Vauxhall bank account in Luton to Lotus’s account in Norwich. BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes had all offered examples of fairly ordinary-looking executive saloons with larger-than-life motors installed behind their corporate faces. But generally speaking they didn’t shout about their credentials, which was just the way most customers liked them. The Lotus