Lotus Engineering, Lotus’ automotive consultancy division, has won two contracts as part of a project consortium, which has been allocated part of a total £23 million for 16 low-carbon vehicle development programmes by UK Government Technology Strategy Board.

The first project, Zero Emission London Taxi Commercialisation, will introduce commercial fleets of zero-emission fuel cell hybrid taxis primarily for London by 2012, and other cities by 2014.

The second project, Limo-Green, uses a Jaguar as a base for the developing a large luxury hybrid executive saloon concept, utilising an advanced drive motor, small battery pack and a small Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) for sustained cruising.

Mike Kimberley, Group Lotus chief executive officer said: "We are committed to driving forward with high technology advances into areas such as hybrid and electric vehicles, and we are delighted to be major contributors to two of the low carbon vehicle development projects."