The Lotus Group has appointed a new chief executive, Terry Playle, to replace Chris Knight, who is retiring after four years in the post.

Mr Playle has also worked with Lotus for four years as a consultant and for the past two years he has been a non-executive director advising on business planning, corporate strategy and company structure.

He takes over a time of uncertainty at the sports car company, which is 80% owned by Proton. It is cutting 300 jobs and the introduction of the new Elise has been delayed. Altthough Lotus said deliveries to dealers of new Elise models - due to have started at the end of last year - had begun and that customers would start receiving them next week.