New Lotus design boss announced

Back with the old guard as Bahar-hired Donato Coco leaves and Russell Carr takes his place

Lotus will reinstate its former styling boss Russell Carr as Head of Design from November 1. He replaces Donato Coco, who started at Lotus under Dany Bahar in 2010.

Carr has been with Lotus for 23 years

Coco's previous work was varied to say the least. Prior to Lotus he had worked on the Ferrari California, 458 Italia, 599 XX and the, er, Citroen C3 Pluriel. Plus the ZX Paris Dakar. Coco said of his departure, "My five years at Lotus have been one of the strongest experiences in my career so far and I will look back with great fondness and affection for this iconic company." Coco will perhaps be known most famously for the six Paris 2010 concepts. It seems like there aren't any hard feelings anyway, but the Italian's departure appears further proof of Lotus doing everything possible to remove evidence of the Bahar years.

Russell Carr has been with Lotus since 1990 and so has been involved with 'many of the designs produced by Lotus'. His most recent work was the Evora, still a pretty design five years after its launch. He's understandably very pleased at taking the top job again. "It is an honour to take on the role of Head of Design," he says. "Design is extremely important to Lotus as it conveys the pure, competitive and unconventional values of Lotus."

So what would be first objective for Carr back in his old role? Well given the Evora was his last big job and is probably due a facelift (plus a roadster too in fact), that would seem like the ideal place to start.

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crofty1984

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