RE: Dany Bahar suspended

[greggy50]

chieflief said:

Details?

Mates dad is very high up at lotus rang his son other day and told him about it just heard test driver cocked up driving the new esprit on the testrack and crashed the prototype and could be loosing his job over it dont know more than that I am afraid and cant really reveal who I got the info from as mate said they obviously dont want the press knowing believe incident took place around 5 days ago now.

[Sprint Rich]

mrclav said:

No longer were posters on your bedroom wall? Frankly, if you were a grown man with pictures of cars on your bedroom wall, I'd be worried for you...

And lots of very sensible stuff about Lotus

Edited by mrclav on Saturday 26th May 18:42

Living room wall is ok though? Right? Guys?!

[V8 FOU]

Passion. That is what there is for TVR, Ginetta, and Lotus. Passion is what Bahar is/was lacking. A brand like Lotus is all about passion, passion for the product and what it represents.
Talk to anyone deeply involved with Lotus from owners upwards and they will show passion. Bahar? His only passion is for power, prestige (for him), and money.
Install a CEO who has some real passion for Lotus, the rest wlll follow.

[McClure]

V8 FOU said:

Passion. That is what there is for TVR, Ginetta, and Lotus. Passion is what Bahar is/was lacking. A brand like Lotus is all about passion, passion for the product and what it represents.
Talk to anyone deeply involved with Lotus from owners upwards and they will show passion. Bahar? His only passion is for power, prestige (for him), and money.
Install a CEO who has some real passion for Lotus, the rest wlll follow.

It appears from the outside that Bahar is trying to fit Lotus to his mold (mould? ), rather than his mold to Lotus.

[V8 FOU]

Too right. Chapman must be spinning in his grave. Passion brand needs to be headed by someone who understands the brand.....
Not Bahar.

[r11co]

Tydeides said:

Feel sorry for Bahar and Lotus

Don't feel sorry for him. He's a borderline fraudster along the same lines as Craig Whyte.....

[Wills2]

greggy50 said:

chieflief said:

Details?

Mates dad is very high up at lotus rang his son other day and told him about it just heard test driver cocked up driving the new esprit on the testrack and crashed the prototype and could be loosing his job over it dont know more than that I am afraid and cant really reveal who I got the info from as mate said they obviously dont want the press knowing believe incident took place around 5 days ago now.

But you've posted it on a public forum?

[61GT]

big_rob_sydney said:

........... I have ZERO interest in Lotus, and would not consider it.

Hope you don't take this the wrong way - but if you have zero interest in Lotus, why bother to take time to post on this thread?

[suffolk009]

Just read the EDP article quoted in the PH header. Shocking numbers coming out of Hethel - most notably Bahar being on £1.2m salary.

[rubystone]

Andyroo. You talk a lot of sense. Lotus will never appeal to the Asian market as it stands at the moment. Perhaps in 20 years when the market has moved, but now..no way...

Nice to hear that hip hop is still a major global influencer too. I'm off to sell the idea of a 'Herc Merc' to Zetsche....

In summary..Bahar is a marketeer extraordinaire, but Lotus is the wrong company for him to strut his stuff.

[andyroo]

rubystone said:

Andyroo. You talk a lot of sense.

Do I win a ride in your R500?

[Donkey62]

Dany Bahar walked out the front door with his swag bag of cash and nobody noticed... typical Lotus find a scapegoat and run away crying "it's not my fault"

Lotus have to tackle the fact outside Europe they have very undesirable reputation stemming long before Bahar entered the company.

(for record i dislike Bahar too)

[Lawrence5]

chieflief said:

greggy50 said:

In other news the Lotus Esprit prototype got binned about 5/6 days ago at the testrack by one of the drivers who is apparntly in deep st not looking good for them at the moment

Details?

I heard this a few weeks back too - just before the new owners were visiting. Development cars are normally £1m plus..... be insured but a massive set back. Driving an evora development hack with a v8 in the back but no interior and covered in tape won't be as impressive....

[rubystone]

andyroo said:

rubystone said:

Andyroo. You talk a lot of sense.

Do I win a ride in your R500?

Would be my pleasure...

[peter450]

johnpeat said:

The biggest problem is - as someone already said - that they're selling substantially the same cars they've been selling for years (a decade?) and no matter how 'hardcore' a driver you are, you should realise that a few-years-old one will do everything a new one will, for a FRACTION of the cost (or if you've already owned one - why buy another 'samey' car??)

I was extremely critical of the 1.6 when it came out, for this reason, it seemed to epitomise the lack of progress for the Base Model Elise (Once a huge seller)

Back in the 118hp S1 days a entry level Boxter had 200hp and a Entry level BMW Z3 Roadster had around 135, A MX 5 was also around 135, the S1 was a quick car, neither then BMW or Mazda would see one for dust and it gave the Porsche a run for it's money, it's performance was certainly more towards the Boxters league than the Mx5's league

All those cars have been outright replaced or evolved, todays base Boxter is around 260hp, the base BMW Z4 is 170hp and the MX5 165 or so, and the 1.6 is 134.....and heavier, with less torque, not only has it failed to take the same relative leaps forward as rivals who are all much better built and faster, but it has failed to take much of a leap over it's own forbears, Every base car since the S1 to date, has got better built, thats it, no faster

Today the performance is far more in Mx5 teritory, and no wear near the boxster

The other issue is it's own in house competion, since performance has more or less been the same since launch, and the last yota 1.8 had the same build quality and performance why buy a new one?

Lotus should have not wasted the money on a pointless restyle of the S2, it already looked great and did not need it, instead they should have got to work on bringing the base cars performance bang up to date for 2012, a new interior and Supercharged 1.6 of around 170hp should have been the order of the day, with the old S/C replaced by a 250hp version, thats were the money should have gone IMO

Not on a dubious restyle and puny 1.6 powerplant offering less performance than a 1996 Elise, the New Elise's of today offer nothing over the old S/C and base cars of 3 or 4 years ago, in build or performance, in fact the old 1.8 in the S/C is also arguably the superior engine, lotus needed a lot more grunt from the base car in 2012 and also from the new S/C too, they really did need to offer real performance improvement not just to make up lost ground against rivals but also to give the new range something extra over the old range

[limpsfield]

Wills2 said:

greggy50 said:

chieflief said:

Details?

Mates dad is very high up at lotus rang his son other day and told him about it just heard test driver cocked up driving the new esprit on the testrack and crashed the prototype and could be loosing his job over it dont know more than that I am afraid and cant really reveal who I got the info from as mate said they obviously dont want the press knowing believe incident took place around 5 days ago now.

But you've posted it on a public forum?

And you also have an awful lot of personal info in your profile so I don't think your mate's dad would need to be Columbo to figure out who you are.

[PascalBuyens]

I never had a good feeling about ex-Ferrari people trying to run Lotus...

And seems the more time passes, the more it looks like I'm right... that 5 model line will never make it into reality.

[DanB7290]

Hmm, 'a complaint about his conduct'. Could this be anything to do with THAT Facebook post?

[Pommygranite]

What is he alleged to have done?

[fatboy69]

DanB7290 said:

Hmm, 'a complaint about his conduct'. Could this be anything to do with THAT Facebook post?

What Facebook post would that be?