Geely To Take Control of Lotus

[Wayoftheflower]

simonrockman said:

Gales will want something more traditional and has a model of hiking power out puts a bit, prices a lot and margins incredibly. The 500bhp Evora at £100k must be in the plans.

Post sale JMG will put the final touches to his golden parachute and swiftly exit stage left. Good riddance too.

Lets hope Geely can make a real change at Lotus.

[tridave]

Interesting - with this and the ownership on The London Taxi Company ( Also Emerald Automotive)- the new taxi shares a lot of similarities and also old Lotus personnel.

[Oilchange]

I thought Gales time at Lotus was a success, lots of hate for the guy here...

[suffolk009]

Oilchange said:

I thought Gales time at Lotus was a success, lots of hate for the guy here...

I don't understand why. Can someone explain?

[Tuna]

suffolk009 said:

Oilchange said:

I thought Gales time at Lotus was a success, lots of hate for the guy here...

I don't understand why. Can someone explain?

I don't understand this either, though there have been some hints at managerial style problems.

From an outsider's point of view, Gales has done a lot with minimal investment or support from DRBHicom. It looks like they committed to no more than keeping the business afloat - which meant that whilst Lotus has survived post-Bahar, it has been unable to invest in product development.

After the Bahar debacle, no news has been good news (we've at least moved on from the constant threads asking if they'd go bankrupt next week), but perhaps the strain was showing internally?

[The Wookie]

The worst part of the business has been the Malaysian oversight for a long period of time, previously it was just dysfunctional and crass but it sounds like it's deteriorated even further

[mikEsprit]

Tuna said:

suffolk009 said:

Oilchange said:

I thought Gales time at Lotus was a success, lots of hate for the guy here...

I don't understand why. Can someone explain?

I don't understand this either, though there have been some hints at managerial style problems.

From an outsider's point of view, Gales has done a lot with minimal investment or support from DRBHicom. It looks like they committed to no more than keeping the business afloat - which meant that whilst Lotus has survived post-Bahar, it has been unable to invest in product development.

After the Bahar debacle, no news has been good news (we've at least moved on from the constant threads asking if they'd go bankrupt next week), but perhaps the strain was showing internally?

I was thinking they could hire Bahar back and start working on those new models.

[Tuna]

mikEsprit said:

I was thinking they could hire Bahar back and start working on those new models.

That boat has long since sailed. McLaren, Porsche and all the others have moved the game on. They'll have to start from scratch.

Not that I'd say no to a new Esprit, but even at the time the proposed model wasn't exactly setting the world on fire.

[Wayoftheflower]

suffolk009 said:

I don't understand why. Can someone explain?

The mass redundancies of 2014 were carried out in a particularly nasty way, some employees basically held to ransom for their pensions.

[928Elan]

So, we can look forward to a Lotus badged SUV with a Peter Stevens styled body, but based on the Volvo XC90, to rival Jaguar's F-Pace or, price-wise, Bentley's Bentayga? If it makes profit as per the Cayenne and enables Lotus to continue making Boxster, Cayman and 911 type cars then why not?

[mybrainhurts]

Vroom101 said:

Could we eventually see a Volvo engined Elise? Stranger things have happened...

They're Chinese, so we're more likely to see fake Boxsters with tractor engines.

[suffolk009]

928Elan said:

So, we can look forward to a Lotus badged SUV with a Peter Stevens styled body, but based on the Volvo XC90, to rival Jaguar's F-Pace or, price-wise, Bentley's Bentayga? If it makes profit as per the Cayenne and enables Lotus to continue making Boxster, Cayman and 911 type cars then why not?

I know a lot of people would disagree with me, but I'm all for that. I don't want one myself but think of the kerching.

And something penned by Peter Stevens would be good - again I'm not with the mainstream on this but I think the Evora is ghastly looking thing.

[kambites]

So is this Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering? Or just the car division?

[Targarama]

I think this is great news. Hopefully Lotus will gain the investment needed and become a force to be reckoned with in the automotive technology and sports car markets. Similar to McLaren who also have foreign investment behind them. Still British brains and boffins doing magic.

[anonymous-user]

suffolk009 said:

I'm not with the mainstream on this but I think the Evora is ghastly looking thing.

You're not alone.

Pretty much everything that's being said about "a brighter future with new investment" is exactly the same as was said every time Lotus changed hands during the past 30 years,

• GM
• Bugatti
• Proton

The Chinese aren't exactly famous for their long heritage of excellent sportscars.....

[Monkey boy 1]

Targarama said:

I think this is great news. Hopefully Lotus will gain the investment needed and become a force to be reckoned with in the automotive technology and sports car markets. Similar to McLaren who also have foreign investment behind them. Still British brains and boffins doing magic.

Hardly anything left of the engineering dept. Too many of the decent people have gone.
I just hope that it all works out for all of my friends left at Hethel, Too much enphasis has been put on the cars division (the bit that the public see and that loses money, while the Engineering dept. had been bled dry of investment and people, but some how still manages to turn a good income.
JMG only ever thought of the cars side, along with the Malaysian counterparts.

[HeMightBeBanned]

rockin said:

You're not alone.

Pretty much everything that's being said about "a brighter future with new investment" is exactly the same as was said every time Lotus changed hands during the past 30 years,

• GM
• Bugatti
• Proton

The Chinese aren't exactly famous for their long heritage of excellent sportscars.....

[CrgT16]

I think Volvo are going in the right direction if they can take Lotus in a sustained growth that's good news.

Saying that for me it always leaves a bitter aftertaste...

Why can't we keep British companies in full British ownership? Why foreign capital has to "save" poor performing companies. How is it appealing to a foreign investor and not a British one? Never understood that...

Edited by CrgT16 on Thursday 25th May 17:08

[Cold]

The potential for a Lotus/Volvo venture is interesting. Wouldn't be the first time a Volvo has been fiddled with by Lotus, of course.

[RobDickinson]

[quote=928Elan]So, we can look forward to a Lotus badged SUV /quote]

What like the isuzu trooper