Things are looking up for Lotus, under new management the permanently in the red company is expecting to be in the black by 2017. That means by 2017 it will return a profit for the first time in 20 years.  The positive outlook is finally good news for Lotus and the company’s boss has revealed to Autocar that a replacement for the current Elise will be ready by 2020. What we know is the next generation Elise will follow on from the lightweight attributes that has been at the very heart of the Elise DNA since it was first launched in 1996. That means the same lightweight extruded aluminium chassis will be used for the 2017, possibly modified to meet current safety regulations and to make sure it can be sold in the USA. The 2017 Elise will bear little resemblance to the current year model but it’s difficult to say if it will be evolutionary or not. Lotus CEO, Jean Marc Gales confirmed he expected the Toyota engine supply to continue and that the company’s core philosophy of “light-weight” will continue to advance. With many car makers shifting to electronic steering systems to meet emissions legislation Gales didn’t confirm if Lotus would follow this trend. However he did say “We have steering that nobody else has matched. That is part of our company and we will never do anything that disrupts that. It is a core part of Lotus.” Lotus expect to achieve a record 2,000 sales for the period of April 2016 and March 2017. The aim is to reach 3,000 unit sales by 2020. Britain, Germany and Japan make up Lotus’s key sales territories. Lotus are currently engaged in the launch of the revised Lotus 400 in the US which is expected to become the main growth area for the company.