The Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, was as it’s name suggests, based on the much maligned Talbot Sunbeam. Which to be honest wasn’t that good but after Talbot commissioned Lotus to develop a Rally Car (which won the 1981 WRC Championship) and the subsequent road going version.
So Lotus threw in a 2.2 litre engine, stiffer sports suspension and a few other bits ‘n’ bobs from their parts bin and delivered this. The road version had 150BHP, for which in 1979 was rather plentiful.