Tuesday 26th November 2013

Lotus receives £10m Government grant

Regional Growth Fund cash will support R&D as well as creating new jobs

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Despite excellent news from the car-building side of Lotus recently with the Exige S Roadster and Elise S Cup R announced, there remained a little uncertainty about the company's future stability.

RGF money will create around 300 new jobs

Today some of those fears can be allayed thanks to a £10.44 million Government grant through the Regional Growth Fund. The money is expected to create over 300 jobs, a further boost from the 130 new roles confirmed in August, supporting research and development of future Lotus models.

The Regional Growth Fund (RGF) saga has been running with Lotus since 2011 when the Government declined the original application, then said yes to a reduced bid, then deactivated the grant following Dany Bahar's suspension. The RGF is a £3.2 billion fund operating across England until 2017 supporting private projects that are creating economic growth and sustainable employment. Let's hope Lotus can deliver on its promises now the Government has paid up.

Aslam Farikullah is Chief Operating Officer at Lotus and said: "We have very exciting plans for our sports cars and it's a very positive move for Lotus." Business Secretary Vince Cable made the journey up to Hethel and added: "Lotus is an iconic British car maker, with some of the most innovative engineers in the business... I am pleased to announce the RGF is awarding Lotus a grant which will help them develop their next generation of cars."

Some positive news from Lotus then, and not before time. We look forward to the company's progress with interest.

[rtz62]

Am I really going to be the first to ask why Morgan haven't been the recipient of a Government £10m grant....?

[arkenphel]

Do all businesses receive this grant, or just the struggling ones?

[marshalla]

rtz62 said:

Am I really going to be the first to ask why Morgan haven't been the recipient of a Government £10m grant....?

Probably. And the answer will start with "because they haven't applied for one".

[Axel350Z]

German brands don't need the diapers

[saaby93]

Like the way the thread title is secret

[unpc]

In before the title. I hope this is good news for them. They need it.

[Fetchez la vache]

So what *did* happen with the slew of (5?) new models promised from Lotus and shown at various motor shows a few years back?
Anything?

[Engineer1]

arkenphel said:

Do all businesses receive this grant, or just the struggling ones?

Stupid question would a thriving business be helped as much by a grant?

[shoestring7]

I take it the 'Government' is the Malaysian government?

SS7

[Engineer1]

Because they don't want or need one and they aren't based in the Norfolk where there is very little else.

[Stu R]

Hope it helps them do something positive and get firmly into the black with an exciting line-up and a secure future.

The miserable cynic in me, however, suspects it's probably going straight down the drain and they'll soon need substantially more or risk going pop, but I hope that's not the case.

[j90gta]

Engineer1 said:

Because they don't want or need one and they aren't based in the Norfolk where there is very little else.

The chassis are built at Lotus Lightweight Structures in Worcester, so hope some of this money will end up there too.

[Richard-G]

rtz62 said:

Am I really going to be the first to ask why Morgan haven't been the recipient of a Government £10m grant....?

if you give lotus money they will come up with something great, they do a lot more than make great plastic cars on aluminum chassis.

Lotus engineering are go to guys for everything ranging from suspension dynamics* all the way to hybrid drive**.

http://www.gtrlife.com/forums/topic/23558-role-lot... *

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/dissected-lot... **

[365daytonafan]

It makes a nice headline for Lotus (and the government) but £10m doesn't sound like a lot of money in car company terms.

[CraigyMc]

Fetchez la vache said:

So what *did* happen with the slew of (5?) new models promised from Lotus and shown at various motor shows a few years back?
Anything?

All binned when Bahar was shown the door, save the new Esprit which has had a lot of development effort spent. I've no idea if/when that'll see the light of day.

[CraigyMc]

marshalla said:

rtz62 said:

Am I really going to be the first to ask why Morgan haven't been the recipient of a Government £10m grant....?

Probably. And the answer will start with "because they haven't applied for one".

Another question is this:
If McLaren can develop the F1 start to finish with £8m, what's happening to this money?

[TobyLaRohne]

I think alot of people like myself discount a new lotus as a non starter because we dont want to buy a new car for the company to fold a year later and be stuck with a car with no factory support.

[williamp]

Axel350Z said:

German brands don't need the diapers

Wanna bet..

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-13/bmw-volks...

And check out Porsche in the mid 90s...

[wooooody]

CraigyMc said:

Another question is this:
If McLaren can develop the F1 start to finish with £8m, what's happening to this money?

Really? How long ago was that and how much have times and regulations changed?

The original Elise cost circa £5 - 6M to develop, next to nothing at the time. Federalizing the S2 Elise cost £21M 10 years ago.

The 5 cars were dropped, but there's at a rather large cost to what was Proton.

[anonymous-user]

....Now please build that new Elan that was shown in Paris a few years ago, what a beautiful car it was looking then.