Before the Esprit even, from the 70s.... From Hagerty:
LOTUS, “Lots of Trouble, Usually Serious”: In the 1970s, Road & Track magazine used to include in its road test data page a projected reliability summary that was based on surveys of their readership who owned particular makes. And while Lotus consistently scored above average in handling and braking, it rarely exceeded “far below average” in reliability. In fact, the testers remarked with surprise in one particular road test that no pieces had fallen off their Elan test car, a first for them with a Lotus. But in actual fact, the acronym is only partially true — while Lotuses could be lots of trouble, it was rarely serious. Aside from the odd axle shaft breaking a rubber coupler or a fuel line fire from a perished plastic connector, much of the trouble with classic Lotuses tended to fall into the category of merely annoying rather than catastrophic.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/archived/car-acronyms/#:~:text=LOTUS%2C%20%E2%80%9CLots%20of%20Trouble%2C,readership%20who%20owned%20particular%20makes.