Performance sports-car manufacturers Lotus are looking to expand their ranks, with the announcement they are scouring the globe for 45 new engineers to design a new suite of cars for the once-British brand.

Malaysian manufacturing group DRB-Hicom bought car-markers Lotus and Proton last year, announcing it would spend $166 million in the next three years to keep them alive. Part of that investment is the call for up to 100 new employees; including 45 engineers, 40 manufacturing operatives and 18 graduates. Reports say they will likely be working on derivatives to the existing Elise, Exige and Evora lines.

In an official statement Lotus said the increased engineering workforce will be necessary to meet both the increased global demand for its products and the forecast greater use of its engineering consultancy services.

After quite a difficult period for Lotus under previous management, the new chief operating officer Aslam Farikullah said, “It’s been a period of substantial change at Lotus and we are now in a strong position to expand our work on future products and to increase production in our manufacturing facilities... we want Lotus to be at the forefront of the global automotive industry and for us to remain competitive, we will introduce more exciting products – there has never been a better time to be part of the future of Lotus.”