Lotus no longer sponsored by Group Lotus ?

[ravon]

It appears, according to Adam Cooper on Speed TV http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/cooper-seas... that Group Lotus are no longer the "Title Sponsors" of the F1 Team.

[ravon]

The more I think about this, it was Bahar from Group Lotus who went to court against Fernandes in the "Lotus naming debacle", so does this mean that with Group Lotus ( Bahar ) no longer sponsoring the Lotus F1 Team, that the name ( subject of the court case ) has now been surreptitiously been passed to Genii/Renault ?

[andyps]

The page you have linked to is not valid, has it been pulled?

[rdjohn]

Perhaps it got pulled just because it was not true?

[maffski]

Or because the page url had developed an extra comma at the end, try this: http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/cooper-seas...

Basically it says Lotus don't pay Genii to display the brand, rather it's cross promotion - Lotus get free advertising, Genii get a brand name they can trade on - it's easier for them to gain paying sponsers for Lotus (an historic sports car brand), than for Genii (an investment bank).

I wonder how long this cosy deal will last - if Genii do well this season they may find there are sponsors willing to pay to stick their name over the back wing.

[Forbes82]

Wow, i can see the advantage to both, but that is a really great deal for Lotus.

[harryowl]

There are rumors on SELOC that Genii mat be buying Lotus, which would explain it... http://www.seloc.org/2012/03/lotus-no-longer-payin...

[RichB]

Is this the Renault you are talking about rather than the Caterham?

[davepoth]

The Ferrari doesn't have "Ferrari" written across it in massive letters, does it? There's little point in a team owned by a company (and therefore not going to get any advertising income from that company) plastering it's own logo across the car when they can sell that space to someone else.

[r11co]

RichB said:

Is this the Renault you are talking about rather than the Caterham?

Hah! Brilliant - the power of branding!

Funny thing is that there are people working for 'Lotus' (formerly Renault, formerly Benetton, formerly Toleman) who can remember when Lotus the first time round were a rival team....

[andyps]

Did Group Lotus not have any money left to sponsor the team when they paid off Fernades for the right to use the name

If they neither own the team nor sponsor it Lotus do have a good deal in terms of free publicity> Presumably the name also makes it easier for the team to gain sponsorship.