RE: Dany Bahar: terminated
Discussion
What an utter mess this whole reshaping of lotus has been.
Trying to move up market is fine, but the negative press generated is not going to give customers much confidence in the future.
If bahar has been taking the piss with travel expenses and doing up his house with company money then clearly they had grounds for him to go.
I just want lotus to work out, and maybe return to their products when they are credible against porsche in all areas, not just on handling.
I loved my elise, and did it whilst young but i'm not sure i'd go back to one despite knowing just how good they are to drive. I seek a bit more of a package now.
Trying to move up market is fine, but the negative press generated is not going to give customers much confidence in the future.
If bahar has been taking the piss with travel expenses and doing up his house with company money then clearly they had grounds for him to go.
I just want lotus to work out, and maybe return to their products when they are credible against porsche in all areas, not just on handling.
I loved my elise, and did it whilst young but i'm not sure i'd go back to one despite knowing just how good they are to drive. I seek a bit more of a package now.
ignoring the dodgy business plan, the pissing £millions up various walls would seem to be the immediate problem, leaving Lotus's suppliers high and dry...
let;s face it, the reason the Exige V6 is not out there yet is down to lack of money cause he blew it on sponsoring everything on the planet.
let;s face it, the reason the Exige V6 is not out there yet is down to lack of money cause he blew it on sponsoring everything on the planet.
Please stop slagging Dany off he was trying to make LOTUS work. It was made clear it could not survive as is; and he was given a contract to change that. He did his best and he has tried to revive an important brand and got sacked for (what I can see) the new owners not liking his original contract. I know people do not like it but a contract is a contract. Employers and employees should stick to them and not expect them to change just becuase new owners do not like whst the previous owners signed up to.
A real shame. More negative press and another false start for a brand that needs to be completely reborn to survive in the modern age.
Let's hope this engineer bloke has a plan as ambitious and radical as Danny's because one thing's for certain, if lotus just carry on making highly expensive to produce niche enthusiasts cars like the exige and evora which major on 'ride and handling' at the expense of aspirational status, cars that are as costly as their tried and tested peers but with poorer percieved quality and reliability, they will be discarded, dumped, dead and buried within weeks.
Let's hope this engineer bloke has a plan as ambitious and radical as Danny's because one thing's for certain, if lotus just carry on making highly expensive to produce niche enthusiasts cars like the exige and evora which major on 'ride and handling' at the expense of aspirational status, cars that are as costly as their tried and tested peers but with poorer percieved quality and reliability, they will be discarded, dumped, dead and buried within weeks.
Lawrence5 said:
Engineer is a bad move - Lotus has had lots of engineers in charge before
Worked OK for Chapman. Works OK for Microsoft. Works OK for Apple. Works OK for Google. Works OK for the company I work for, Qualcomm, where every member of top management (even the CFO) is capable of talking one-to-one technically with any member of staff - in sharp contrast to the typical British company where top management thinks engineering or science is beneath them and as far as they know (or care) "an engineer" is someone who connects their telephone.MrTappets said:
I can see this working. As far as I can see it was really the spin and weird-ups that made people nervous. We shouldn't forget that the Evora S and GTE and the new Exige S are really fantastic cars by most accounts. I think they'll get back on track with strong products.
I agree. Less Rizzle Kicks or Swizzle Beats or whatever, less pie in the sky plans, more cars that people want to buy and that are achievable to make. The Exige S made a very credible showing in this month's EVO against some very stiff competition.
Apart from a careful leak to the Mail's 'This is Money' site DRB Hicom have been coy about the reasons for the suspension and subsequent dismissal of Dany Bahar. The leak to 'This is Money' hinted at Mr Bahar's love of ferociously expensive charter helicopter and business jet hire to attend all manner of motorsport events all over the world. Usually on the pretext that a Lotus sponsored/branded car was competing.
DRB Hicom hinted that they found this behaviour totally unacceptable when Group Lotus required a Proton-negotiated loan of £270m in early 2011 in order to survive. Bahar's profligate spending included the payment of £300k upfront for 'exclusive helicopter hire of an Agusta 109 or equivalent for 3 years'. Paid in full by Lotus against stiff opposition from within the company in July 2011. This is just one example of Bahar's attitude to spending money. £30k on motorsport books for his office another minor example. £7k on a single trip to Lausanne in August 2011 - last minute hire of a Bandeirante bizjet via Saxon Air when he missed a scheduled flight. DRB Hicom's auditors may have taken a dislike to a request by Bahar's chief crony Gino Rosato for Marlboro Gold cigarettes to be purchased at Lotus's expense. Add to these handful of examples the embarrassment (a huge issue in Far East corporate culture) the High Court law suit against Lotus and Bahar for £90k of building renovation charges on a rented house and it's no surprise that he's bitten the dust. In fact the only surprise is that it has taken so long for his charade to be exposed.
I have not even mentioned the £1m plus spent on leases and legal bills on the white elephant 'Lotus Originals' Knightsbridge store that was supposed to be open in November last year.
I suspect there will be further developments as Lotus's CFO Rusman Zaihan is a Proton man who is based at Hethel and whose job is ostensibly to approve every pound note spent by Lotus. He's been there for most of Bahar's time and will have known exactly what was being spent.
DRB Hicom hinted that they found this behaviour totally unacceptable when Group Lotus required a Proton-negotiated loan of £270m in early 2011 in order to survive. Bahar's profligate spending included the payment of £300k upfront for 'exclusive helicopter hire of an Agusta 109 or equivalent for 3 years'. Paid in full by Lotus against stiff opposition from within the company in July 2011. This is just one example of Bahar's attitude to spending money. £30k on motorsport books for his office another minor example. £7k on a single trip to Lausanne in August 2011 - last minute hire of a Bandeirante bizjet via Saxon Air when he missed a scheduled flight. DRB Hicom's auditors may have taken a dislike to a request by Bahar's chief crony Gino Rosato for Marlboro Gold cigarettes to be purchased at Lotus's expense. Add to these handful of examples the embarrassment (a huge issue in Far East corporate culture) the High Court law suit against Lotus and Bahar for £90k of building renovation charges on a rented house and it's no surprise that he's bitten the dust. In fact the only surprise is that it has taken so long for his charade to be exposed.
I have not even mentioned the £1m plus spent on leases and legal bills on the white elephant 'Lotus Originals' Knightsbridge store that was supposed to be open in November last year.
I suspect there will be further developments as Lotus's CFO Rusman Zaihan is a Proton man who is based at Hethel and whose job is ostensibly to approve every pound note spent by Lotus. He's been there for most of Bahar's time and will have known exactly what was being spent.
Edited by marco46 on Thursday 7th June 21:42
Edited by marco46 on Thursday 7th June 21:53
Edited by marco46 on Thursday 7th June 22:41
marco46 said:
Apart from a careful leak to the Mail's 'This is Money' site DRB Hicom have been coy about the reasons for the suspension and subsequent dismissal of Dany Bahar. The leak to 'This is Money' hinted at Mr Bahar's love of ferociously expensive charter helicopter and business jet hire to attend all manner of motorsport events all over the world. Usually on the pretext that a Lotus sponsored/branded car was competing.
DRB Hicom hinted that they found this behaviour totally unacceptable when Group Lotus required a Proton-negotiated loan of £270m in early 2011 in order to survive. Bahar's profligate spending included the payment of £300k upfront for 'exclusive helicopter hire of an Agusta 109 or equivalent for 3 years'. Paid in full by Lotus against stiff opposition from within the company in July 2011. This is just one example of Bahar's attitude to spending money. £30k on motorsport books for his office another minor example. £7k on a single trip to Lausanne in August 2012 - last minute hire of a Bandeirante bizjet via Saxon Air when he missed a scheduled flight. DRB Hicom's auditors may have taken a dislike to a request by Bahar's chief crony Gino Rosato for Marlboro Gold cigarettes to be purchased at Lotus's expense. Add to these handful of examples the embarrassment (a huge issue in Far East corporate culture) the High Court law suit against Lotus and Bahar for £90k of building renovation charges on a rented house and it's no surprise that he's bitten the dust. In fact the only surprise is that it has taken so long for his charade to be exposed.
I have not even mentioned the £1m plus spent on leases and legal bills on the white elephant 'Lotus Originals' store that was supposed to be open in November last year.
I can on very good authority confirm that these are what DRB HICOM are using as reasons to sack him. He frequently, if not regularly, used the helicopter to travel from home to Lotus and had Lotus cars placed around europe for his personal use.DRB Hicom hinted that they found this behaviour totally unacceptable when Group Lotus required a Proton-negotiated loan of £270m in early 2011 in order to survive. Bahar's profligate spending included the payment of £300k upfront for 'exclusive helicopter hire of an Agusta 109 or equivalent for 3 years'. Paid in full by Lotus against stiff opposition from within the company in July 2011. This is just one example of Bahar's attitude to spending money. £30k on motorsport books for his office another minor example. £7k on a single trip to Lausanne in August 2012 - last minute hire of a Bandeirante bizjet via Saxon Air when he missed a scheduled flight. DRB Hicom's auditors may have taken a dislike to a request by Bahar's chief crony Gino Rosato for Marlboro Gold cigarettes to be purchased at Lotus's expense. Add to these handful of examples the embarrassment (a huge issue in Far East corporate culture) the High Court law suit against Lotus and Bahar for £90k of building renovation charges on a rented house and it's no surprise that he's bitten the dust. In fact the only surprise is that it has taken so long for his charade to be exposed.
I have not even mentioned the £1m plus spent on leases and legal bills on the white elephant 'Lotus Originals' store that was supposed to be open in November last year.
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