Lotus Is Broke, Suspends Work On All New Models

A surprise to no one on this board who understood what Bahar's nonsense would ultimately bring. These cars were always a complete fantasy, and many of us said so from day one:

 

New Lotus Models Temporarily On Hold

Lotus suspends much of its new model development - including the new Esprit - as owner Proton enters a 'lockdown' period

By Harry Metcalfe

07th March 2012

 

Lotus boss Dany Bahar has admitted to evo that much of the company’s development of new models has been suspended following the Malaysian government’s decision to sell its majority stake in Proton.

 

It’s only three months since evo spent a day with the Lotus CEO at Hethel, where rumours of Proton’s desire to get rid of the British sportscar brand seemed to be effectively disproved by the fact that Bahar had just signed a new four-year contract.

 

But only a few weeks later, Lotus’s future was thrown into turmoil when the Malaysian 
Government sold its 42.7 per cent stake in Proton to a large Malaysian industrial
 conglomerate (DRB-Hicom), which then bought a further seven per cent of Proton’s shares on
 the open market.

 

During our exclusive interview in Geneva, Bahar told evo that he was ‘completely taken aback’ when he heard the news, especially when it became clear that, under Malaysian takeover regulations, the whole Proton Group would enter a three month ‘lockdown’ where only normal trading activities could be continued, and anything outside normal business would have to be suspended.

 

The result at Lotus is that while car production has continued (at a reduced level), much of the company’s R&D work on new models has had to be delayed. This has led to a pushed back launch date for the new Exige S (for which there are already 400 orders in the bag) and the Evora GTE – plus a possible six month delay in the launch of the Esprit, now not expected until early 2014.

 

And Lotus’s future plans also depend on DRB-Hicom wanting to retain Lotus at the end of this ‘due diligence’ window. To try and ensure it does, Bahar is currently flying to Kuala Lumpur every Monday to talk company representatives through Lotus’ plans and the five-year programme it had agreed with Proton two years ago.

 

‘This difficult period for Lotus finishes at the end of March and that’s 
when we will know then whether DRB-Hicom will want to continue with our 
business plan,’ Bahar admits, ‘I really hope they will but I cannot call it at the moment, it’s still 50:50.’

 

Whatever happens, Lotus continues to push on with all of its motorsport activities, the opening of its Regent Street Lotus Store in June and will be the featured marque at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year. With so much work already put into the reinvention of Lotus, many of the brand’s fans will be hoping the company gets the green light from DRB-Hocom soon.

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Here is my surprised face

 

Here is my surprised face

 

 

 

Yes, it is very surprising that the equity firm that bought majority control of Proton from the government would not want to fund Bahar's Billion-dollar pipe dreams and rediculous Ferrari-fantasies...

Someone please put a bullet in this lame horse.

Lotus registered 2 new cars in Feburary and 10 in January.

 

Last month SAAB sold more cars!

Lotus registered 2 new cars in Feburary and 10 in January.

 

Last month SAAB sold more cars!

 

Good god. With numbers like that NO ONE is going to take this off DRB-Hicom/Proton's hands, and it's going to wink right out of existance.

 

Probably should become an "engineering-only" consulting group to leverage their branded talent, which is what they might have been smart to have done a while ago.

 

What a fcuking shame, damn.

 

Bahar's head on a pike, round up the villagers and grab some torches over there capt.

The only saving grace is if Toyota takes over this turd.

The only saving grace is if Toyota takes over this turd.

 

 

Except Toyota has no reason too. I'd say the only ones who'd dare try with this mess would be one of the Chinese manufacturers.

Except Toyota has no reason too. I'd say the only ones who'd dare try with this mess would be one of the Chinese manufacturers.

 

Or someone cash-rich like India's Tata, but they're already up to their asses in nonsense with Land Rover/Jaguar (union busting, strikes, fire at the plant, etc) so I'm not sure they're ready for another British "boutique" brand...

Lotus registered 2 new cars in Feburary and 10 in January.

 

Last month SAAB sold more cars!

tesla may have them beat

Good god. With numbers like that NO ONE is going to take this off DRB-Hicom/Proton's hands, and it's going to wink right out of existance.

 

Probably should become an "engineering-only" consulting group to leverage their branded talent, which is what they might have been smart to have done a while ago.

 

What a fcuking shame, damn.

 

Bahar's head on a pike, round up the villagers and grab some torches over there capt.

 

They have an engineering consultation division. That is scratching for work too.

 

It is dead. Bahar's career should be dead too but BS scam and manure spreaders find a way of getting back even when their history lower than a rat's rat.

I recall the people at Lotus were bitching when the government did not step in with extra funding for them but Lotus failed on lots of criteria for funding and went bitching to the press over it trying to ride on a popular anti government bandwagon. Classless and clueless.

 

Want more proof, the F1 car. Want even more proof? The tie in with Swizzbeatz.

 

It is indicative of the mindset some people have in the UK engineering world. Static and antiquated.

When you look at McLaren, it found resources, it cherry picked components not just from the British elite but those companies willing to invest and move forward and they have created a quality product. Lotus, yeah lets bring in a rap producer to buy our Toyota engined car made from chicken wire.

 

Even at a £1 the company is overvalued. It sacked off all its dealers worldwide and the tooling is ancient and out of date with nothing viable in place for future production. Qatar investment firms like that that took over Aston Martin are going to be running from it not to it.

 

Ronin didn't help matters either.

Or someone cash-rich like India's Tata, but they're already up to their asses in nonsense with Land Rover/Jaguar (union busting, strikes, fire at the plant, etc) so I'm not sure they're ready for another British "boutique" brand...

 

If memory serves me correctly, the owner of Spyker bailed out SAAB at the last minute so there might be some hope there.

The Indian or Chinese will come to save this brand. Or it'll die. Which ever happens, it'll be the best news I've heard from this brand since the early 90's

Ronin didn't help matters either.

 

Lotus registered 2 new cars in Feburary and 10 in January.

 

now that's a shocker!

Lotus announce link with Mansory.

 

Oh my days.

Lotus announce link with Mansory.

 

Oh my days.

 

I kind of like the Mansory Evora...

 

Two very senior exec's left today.

 

Two very senior exec's left today.

 

Which ones? Did Bahar leave?

Which ones? Did Bahar leave?

A captain always goes down with the ship!

 

Unless he's Italian.

It seems they were execs at Proton nut had significant control over Lotus but details are sketchy and I cannot contact my engineering friends.

A lot seems to be said and misinterpreted so getting precise information is difficult.

 

However, this was issued today

 

Lotus has released the following statement:

 

“The new Proton owners DRB-HICOM are currently in the middle of their due diligence of Group Lotus. There have been and continue to be positive discussions between Group Lotus senior management and senior management at DRB-HICOM both here in Hethel and in Malaysia. Despite various rumours in the media to the contrary, at no point has DRB-HICOM indicated to Group Lotus that they intend to put the company into administration and we welcome the opportunity to put that rumour along with incorrect speculation that production has stopped , that Dany Bahar is no longer CEO and that we are no longer involved in F1 to bed.

 

“It’s no secret that we are going through a very difficult time at the moment due to the change in ownership but we’re doing everything we can to get through this period and come out the other side stronger than before. We’re very grateful for the continued support we receive from the people of Norfolk and all over the world.”

 

No one can confirm or deny Dany Bahar is "on leave" this week. A busy period whereby ownership is being changed and lots of legal wriggling is being conducted and the CEO is away?

 

 

You know the PR department of a company have been sent home when they issue a statement on Facebook which starts with a pisstake of said company

 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1146...135849009792886

 

 

Lotus Cars

 

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story….

 

Take a little look at what we found online. Don’t you think it’s funny? We do. We had a good old giggle. After all, we love a bit of self irony, just as well really. Although it’s funny, this one’s not accurate but then again, why let the facts get in the way of a good story? The inconvenient truth is – surprise, surprise – we have never said that there are no problems at Lotus.

 

So whilst lots of people obviously feel the need to comment on Lotus’ current situation in the absence of proper facts or evidence, we can’t ignore these particular mistruths any longer even if we would like to, so we have decided to turn a negative into a positive and use this hilarious piece of ‘art’ to set the record straight regarding the status quo at Group Lotus and try to return a little stability to a fast changing situation.

 

False rumour #1: Dany Bahar is no longer CEO of Group Lotus.

Fact: Rubbish – Dany Bahar still is.

 

False rumour #2: Dato’ Sri Syed is no longer Managing Director of Proton.

Fact: Again rubbish. He still is.

 

You can thank good old Tony Fernandes for these two. Don’t take everything he tweets too seriously – perhaps he’s still frustrated about owning Caterham instead of Lotus and the fact that he fights HRT and Marussia instead of Mercedes and Ferrari in F1.

 

And whilst we’re on the subject of jokes - do you know the latest F1 joke? Mike Gascoyne, Caterham Group’s Chief Technical Officer, has gone missing. Why? He’s looking for the 30 to 40 points he predicted for the last F1 season. Funny.

 

Speaking of F1: It seems that one special so called ‘independent’ source is at the root of the lion’s share of damaging rumours and misleading stories. The delightful Joe Saward which leads us nicely to….

 

False rumour #3: Joe Saward is JUST an independent journalist.

Fact: He is an active Director on the Caterham Group Board.

 

And unlike some, we don’t want to get too personal, so we’ll leave it to you to judge how ‘independent’ his stories about Lotus are.

 

False rumour #4: Group Lotus is no longer involved in F1.

Fact: Lotus F1 Team and Group Lotus have reshaped their commercial relationship earlier this year. The new governance agreement signifies the continued commitment of Group Lotus to the team and the sport.

 

Group Lotus’ branding and marketing rights and subsequent activities remain unaffected by the new agreement until at least 2017. Alongside continued branding and title partnership status, Group Lotus is also the exclusive master licensee for all Lotus F1 Team merchandise.

 

The new agreement was reached following Group Lotus owners Proton providing team owners Genii with a £30m loan which is repayable within three years. In order to secure the loan Genii used 100% of the F1 team’s assets as collateral meaning that under the conditions of the loan agreement Proton have been given full title guarantee to all plant, machinery, show cars, computers, office and the Lotus F1 Team headquarters.

 

In addition Proton retains the rights to purchase 10% of the F1 team. Another 10% share option will be activated if the team default on their loan obligations with Proton.

 

Again we leave it to your judgement how ‘bad’ Lotus’ current situation in F1 is. And speaking of bad situations…..

 

False rumour #5: Group Lotus is going into administration.

Fact: Rubbish. The takeover of our parent company Proton by DRB-HICOM couldn’t have come at a worse time, but up until that point Proton was (and still remains) fully committed to our five year business plan to create jobs and to expand the factory and business. With the takeover process the funding has been restricted and DRB-HICOM is taking time to understand what to do with the business. DRB-HICOM is currently in the middle of due diligence of Group Lotus and there have been and continue to be positive discussions between Group Lotus senior management and senior management at DRB-HICOM both here in Hethel and in Malaysia. At no point has DRB-HICOM indicated to Group Lotus that it intends to put the company into administration. The over-active rumour mill is seriously damaging our business reputation, image and credibility but it is what it is.

 

The simple fact is, and we haven’t denied this - Lotus is going through a very difficult phase at the moment but we are showing true fighting spirit every day in trying to keep this vision alive. This is also a fact – no matter what people outside of Lotus may say or tweet or blog.

You know the PR department of a company have been sent home when they issue a statement on Facebook which starts with a pisstake of said company

 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1146...135849009792886

 

 

Wow! Unbelievable, what kind of drunk clown is handling their PR?

I am still in shock from that press release but I wonder if they will respond to this.

 

http://sniffpetrol.com/2012/04/11/lotusfirstdraft/