RE: Ares previews the future of coachbuilding
Discussion
Danny was right...Lotus were wrong..he got caught out when the company was sold to new ultra conservative investors who simply did not like his flamboyancy and wanted him out. The same fate could have hit Jaguar and Range Rover when Tata took over but Tata knew what to back and when.
Lotus has not really gone anywhere and I fully expect that its new Chinese owner will dust off a lot of the Bahar plans or at least his desire for change which will lead to the resurrection of a a super strong brand. Thank god no nore special edition Evoras and Elises ..what a relief.
Lotus has not really gone anywhere and I fully expect that its new Chinese owner will dust off a lot of the Bahar plans or at least his desire for change which will lead to the resurrection of a a super strong brand. Thank god no nore special edition Evoras and Elises ..what a relief.
Traditional coach building flourished in the era of body on frame cars - long since replaced by unibody construction. That leaves much less scope for innovation especially as he is altering a donor car provided by the customer. Nevertheless it is clear that such a market exists for those ready to pay a lot more for something a bit different.
Someone as charismatic & flamboyant as Mr Bahar is far more suited to this role than that of MD at a "pukka" car company like Lotus. He can really let-loose here. I actually really admire the fella - what he did at the Paris Salon in 2010 launching FIVE new Lotus's, all of them absolutely stunning, was breathtaking. Total madness as it turns out ..... but petrolheads like us desperately need moments like that & people like him to do it. Franco Sbarro, Peter Monteverdi, Luigi Collani ...... he's in the same mould showing us amazing cars.
And whilst I hate all those ridiculous Defender, Mulsanne, Rolls etc conversions they make for tasteless millionaires, it bank-rolls Ares so they can (hopefully) launch stunning cars like the new Pantera & gorgeous-looking Ferrari 412 / GTC4 conversion. Bring 'em on!
And whilst I hate all those ridiculous Defender, Mulsanne, Rolls etc conversions they make for tasteless millionaires, it bank-rolls Ares so they can (hopefully) launch stunning cars like the new Pantera & gorgeous-looking Ferrari 412 / GTC4 conversion. Bring 'em on!
As Grand Tour mentioned a couple weeks ago, there are just way too many supercar brands out there and way too many niche customisers / wrappers / coachbuilders. It's getting to the point where there is a new £200k bit of slightly tweaked chintz launched every few days. Massive oversupply. Something's gotta give soon, even accounting for the rise of China and India.
Paracetamol said:
Danny was right...Lotus were wrong..he got caught out when the company was sold to new ultra conservative investors who simply did not like his flamboyancy and wanted him out. The same fate could have hit Jaguar and Range Rover when Tata took over but Tata knew what to back and when.
Lotus has not really gone anywhere and I fully expect that its new Chinese owner will dust off a lot of the Bahar plans or at least his desire for change which will lead to the resurrection of a a super strong brand. Thank god no nore special edition Evoras and Elises ..what a relief.
The cars he promised worked on fairy dust. 300 hp 1.6 4 cylinder with 90g/km?Lotus has not really gone anywhere and I fully expect that its new Chinese owner will dust off a lot of the Bahar plans or at least his desire for change which will lead to the resurrection of a a super strong brand. Thank god no nore special edition Evoras and Elises ..what a relief.
The issue was he ran the place as if he had a bottomless pit of cash. Private jets everywhere, massive estates rented (and expensed).
He burnt through what? In excess of 100 million and delivered nothing. Doesn’t take a genius to do that.
However in a role where money is no object then he probably will do well. He was just totally the wrong person for lotus
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