British sports car brand Lotus had its official debut in China on 16th June, with the marque making Beijing its base market in China.

A ceremony commemorating the brand's official entrance into China was held in Beijing. CEO Dany Bahar personally attended the event, a media source reported.

During the event, Mr. Bahar bestowed Zhang Lichen, chosen to lead Lotus China, with a plaque certifying the new company's official role as Lotus' supplier in China.

Due to China's Youngman already using the Lotus name in Chinese (which is Lianhua), Lotus have had to call themselves Lu Te Si which is a phonetic translation of the Lotus name into Chinese.

Also, to make it really clear that Lotus are not connected with Youngman's economy car selling project Lotus have added NYO to the end of their name, which according to media reports is to make them sound like 'New Lotus'.

Lotus are going to bring in three models to China - the Elise, Evora and Exige - which are expected to hit the market in September to October later this year. Prices are expected to start at RMB 800,000 (US$ 123,839) and rise to RMB 200,000.

Lotus are only planning to bring in less than 200 cars per year to get around local homologation issues for the Chinese market. Lotus are aiming to set up 4 dealers in China 2011 in key car buying markets, but this expected to expand to 8 markets in early 2012.