Actually, the OFFICIAL announcement came at the LA Auto show in Jan. 2002. Although it was pretty much a done deal in late 01. As I recall I put my first deposit down late Dec 01 or early Jan 02. I remember calling a couple dealers (including Spruell Lotus in Atlanta) they weren't interested in starting a list, finally did hook up with star, tho I shifted over to LOA when they became a dealer as closer to home
Several things caused a year's delay in the car coming here. First and foremost, Proton wanted R. Artioli out of the picture, he was the owner of then Bugatti and bought Lotus, sold most of Lotus off but kept a share of it. He had to be out of the pic before this proceeded.
Because of the delay they more/less Re-announced in Jan 03 around the time of the LA auto show.
Chris