Lotus CEO Danny Bahar signs new four year contract with Lotus

The word is out that Dany Bahar, CEO of Group Lotus, has signed a fresh four-year contract following a meeting with parent company Proton last week. His original contract was due to expire next year. “The Proton dedication to our plans has always been solid, and the decision to extend my contract a year early is a signal of that commitment,” Bahar said.

The ex-Ferrari man came into Lotus back in October 2009. He then formulated an ambitious five-year business plan that was unveiled for the world to see at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. At the French capital, Lotus brought out a full range of sports cars that it will use to challenge the likes of Porsche.

Besides the fantastic five, which ranged from the next Elise to a Aston Rapide style four-door, Lotus also has plans for a small city car called Ethos. Of the lot, the first on the scene will be the new Esprit in 2013. Lotus is also planning to develop its own V6 and V8 engines for its future range.

To support the road car grand plans, Group Lotus is putting motorsports and racing heritage as a main pillar. This has seen it got into Formula 1 as a sponsor to Renault. The team will race next year as Lotus after a long battle with Tony Fernandes’ Team Lotus. The company also returned to Le Mans and is involved in IndyCar in America.

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Lotus happy for Raikkonen to take risks

  

Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus team have ruled out reining in the 2007 Formula One world champion after the Finn crashed and hurt his wrist while competing in a snowmobile race at the weekend. Memories of Robert Kubica's near-fatal rally accident last February are still raw at the former Renault outfit, with the Pole yet to get back in the cockpit after missing the entire 2011 season.

However Lotus Group CEO Dany Bahar, whose Malaysian-owned sportscar company are now the renamed team's title sponsors, made clear today that racing drivers could never be wrapped in cotton wool."It is part of our job to do things that are risky, we do it commercially and corporately, Kimi does it in his own life," he told reporters at a lunch.

"I like these characters. It's unfortunate if he hurts himself but it's part of life. "Kimi is Kimi and it will be difficult to change the way he lives," added Bahar. "It's not something we are focused on from a group perspective, saying: 'This is Kimi now you have to do everything to protect him from going out of his own house'. It doesn't work."

Lotus said at the weekend that Raikkonen, a champion with Ferrari and now making his F1 comeback after two seasons in rallying, had a sore wrist after the spill in Austria but it was "nothing to worry about".Kubica would have been the team leader on the track this year but may never drive for them again.In any case, his role has now transferred to Raikkonen whose services have not come cheap.

The team have signed France's Romain Grosjean as their second driver, dropping Russian Vitaly Petrov in a move that spoke volumes for their ambitions over the next three years. Petrov was a competent driver, good enough to get on the podium in Australia this year, but the funding he brought with him was also important. "The decision we took was that we need to bring the team to the next level," said Bahar, who was embroiled for much of the year with rivals Team Lotus over the use of the iconic brand in Formula One.

That dispute has now been resolved, with Malaysian-owned Team Lotus renamed Caterham.
"Now we have one issue solved, we have a clear identity and a clear brand. "Now it's the next step, to restructure the team, to bring in new talent, technical talent, an experienced driver, maybe not to go after 'pay drivers' any more, not to look to the highest bidder any more," said Bahar.

 "It's really to get more and more competitive." Petrov's departure will have financial consequences but Bahar hailed it as a bold move, just as Raikkonen's arrival was a gamble. "It's a brave decision to say: 'We're not after the money, we try to go the hard way...we try to succeed through performance, with the best people coming in, best driver coming in, and make the team better'," he said.

"We have to fight even harder to get the money, even harder to race and to get sponsorships, but we believe we have a nice offer especially now with the two brands combined."Bahar said Raikkonen, 32, had matured a lot and knew what he was letting himself in for."It's a different time and he has to deliver, and I think he realises that," he said."If we get the car right then the sky is the limit for us."

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Lotus hope new line-up heralds return to top in F1

Lotus aim to be back at the top in Formula One within three years, team principal Eric Boullier said today after announcing France's Romain Grosjean would partner Kimi Raikkonen next season.The team were constructors champions as Renault in 2005 and 2006, with Fernando Alonso also winning the drivers' crowns, but have not won a race since 2008 and finished a distant fifth overall this year.

Both their 2012 drivers will be making comebacks, with 2007 world champion Raikkonen returning after two years in world rallying. Grosjean, the 2011 champion in the GP2 support series, started seven races with Renault in 2009 without scoring a point.

"We've changed our two drivers, which is not fashionable but corresponds to owners Genii's desire to become a 'Top Team' again," Boullier told reporters."The plan is to be world champions in two or three years' time." Grosjean could not resist a smile at that idea. "World champion in two or three years, that's fine by me," grinned the Swiss-born driver. "It's hard to describe how I feel.

"I've had a rather unusual journey with a first stint in Formula One which ended in 2009 in a not very glorious fashion but which was necessary for my maturity.It all makes me believe that perseverance pays off."

Grosjean, who worked in a Swiss private bank while racing his way up to Formula One, will not be over-awed by Raikkonen after previously being with Alonso in a team built around the Spaniard, now with Ferrari.  starting to get used to racing alongside a world champion," he said.

"I will have to try and match his pace. He has stopped for two years but is a great champion capable of doing good things." Grosjean will be one of at least two French drivers on the starting grid, with Charles Pic lining up for Russian-backed Marussia, the renamed Virgin Racing who have yet to score a point."We are both there now and even if the aim is to be the best on a sporting level, there's no rivalry."

Boullier said the team's relationship with Robert Kubica, the Pole who would have been their number one this year but ruled himself out for the season with a near-fatal rally accident, was at 'point zero'."I don't know if there will be a future between Lotus Renault and Robert," he said.

"We have two race drivers, we'll see who is the third (reserve)." Belgian Jerome d'Ambrosio, who lost his seat at Virgin/Marussia after a rookie 2011 season, could be in the frame as one of the drivers in Genii's Gravity Sport Management stable run by Boullier.

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Lotus goes hybrid

Buy a base model, new-era Lotus and it’ll be a hybrid. Go for the hardcore version and it’ll strip out the electric motor and plenty more besides to offer a lightweight, utterly focused sports machine.

That was the message from boss Dany Bahar yesterday as he revealed more about the future line up, which starts in 2013 with the launch of the V8 Esprit at the Geneva Motor Show.

“There is one powertrain, with two configurations. One is hybrid and the sporting variants are non-hybrid. That is the same approach for every car,” Bahar said. He admitted the sporting variant might actually put out less horsepower once you’d taken away the 74KW (100hp) electric motor, despite a hike in power of the V8 (he mentioned a figure of 640bhp), but he promised the difference would be made up by shedding kilograms, achieved partly by extensive use of carbon.

“They’ll be pure driver’s cars, nothing unnecessary, no leather, and even the seats in carbon fibre. Whereas the base version is more mainstream,” he told us. Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale.He suggested the hotter versions could be dubbed R, with another, even more focused model above that. Talking about the Esprit he said “there will a second derivative of the R which is even more hardcore, which is even lighter. It’s pure nothing. We call it [internally] GT3.”


Way down the other end of the scale, he revealed the Ethos supermini, developed as a range-extended hybrid or pure EV, will cost around £29-30,000 when it goes on sale after the cooking Proton version is launched in 2014.

Bahar also talked about the future for the current range of cars. The cost of the carbon-fibre bodied Evora GTE, which will go on sale in March, will be between £110,000-£120.000. Powered by a 444hp supercharged version of the 3.5 V6, it loses around 120kg compared to the standard car.

Traditionalists rejoice - there's life in the Elise til 2015

He also confirmed a “heavy programme” of improvement for the current Elise, continuing to 2015, and the Exige, which goes beyond that. Lotus already has 270 orders for the 3.5-litre V6 Exige S.

And finally we had to ask him about the Lotus partnership with Swizz Beatz. Sorry, but we just don’t get it…. “It’s because it’s not meant for this part of the world, it’s meant for the US,” Bahar said unapologetically.

“What our tie-up with him has done in three to four months is incredible. Our products are in many music videos, we have designed five really, really very good looking chrome-coloured cars and we’ve sold five of them for a silly price, and all through him. It’s a different world.”

V6 Exige S has already got 270 orders

V6 Exige S has already got 270 orders

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Factory-Approved Mansory Lotus Evora Due At Geneva

"Is it always wise to customise?" said the Lotus press release that landed in the PH virtual in-tray the other day. Well, um, probably not if you choose to do it with Mansory. But that's exactly what Lotus has done.

This is the Mansory-tweaked Evora, Lotus having teamed up with the German tuner to create a rather special concept for the Geneva show.

The strange thing is, considering Mansory's epic reputation for creating automotive monstrosities (you can see some of our 'favourites' at the bottom of this article), Mansory seems to have been impressively restrained. Dare we say we quite like it. Lotus is keeping quiet on the exact details of its Geneva show 'star', but it is most definite that this is not a freshened-up version of the Evora.

"Let's be clear on this: contrary to media reports, what you'll see in Geneva is NOT an Evora facelift," says Lotus. "It's a taste of the future of Lotus product customisation. Merely the first toe in the water and a showcase of the potential future."

We reckon Lotus and Mansory have missed a bit of a trick, though - if they're going to make Lotuses more expensive and heavier (as the Mansory additions almost certainly will), why not do it more extravagantly in the traditional Mansory mould? How about a bright-purple paint job on the Evora, or a gold-plated Elise?

In fact, this sounds like a call to arms for all the PH Photoshop-istas out there to create your own Mansory-ised Lotuses. So come on, show us (and Lotus) what you can do. You never know, Hethel might commission you to actually make it...

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Lotus Finally Gets Government Cash

£10m from Regional Growth Fund helps to safeguard Hethel's future

Lotus has finally managed to secure a cash injection from the government's Regional Growth Fund (RGF), having previously failed to convince the government that it was worthy of support. Originally Lotus was looking for £27.5 million, but Proton, the firm's Malaysian parent company, has since reduced that figure to £10 million. That's also expected to be backed up by an estimated £200m of its own money over the next decade that will help Lotus realise its ambitious product plans.

Crucially, the RGF money will also help to ensure that the manufacture of Lotus products remain in the UK for the foreseeable future. "This is great news for all those concerned about Group Lotus moving production overseas, to say that we're pleased with the result would be an understatement," says Group Lotus CEO, Dany Bahar.

"We are an authentic British automotive manufacturer with an incredible heritage and an exciting future ahead, this funding will play a role in assisting with the realisation of our business plan to produce a new range of sports cars with best in class performance and emissions."

"We would like to thank everyone for their support during the bid process. The local authorities, MPs and the local enterprise partnership have all played a role in helping us secure this funding - we're very grateful, it's nice to know people feel strongly enough to act on our behalf."

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Sweeter for Lotus Renault to win in Sepang – Proton

The Formula 1 World Championship kicked off with much fanfare last weekend and now the eyes are switched towards our shores when the Petronas Malaysia F1 GP kicks . As expected, it will be surely an interesting contest with 3 teams expected to fly the Malaysian flag.

Deemed as the veteran is Petronas who will be racing under the Petronas Mercedes team label with 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher in the team.

And then there is the rookie team last year under the stewardship of Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, the 1Malaysia Racing Team who had previously raced under Lotus Racing and has since changed its name to Team Lotus after the withdrawal of sponsorship from Proton who will be up on the track under Lotus Renault Racing.

Of all the 3 teams, it was Lotus Renault that caught the limelight in Melbourne when its driver Vitaly Petrov finished third and Proton Holdings Berhad, the parent company of Lotus Group is looking to build on that success and do better when the circus comes to town.

Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, the Group Managing Director of Proton said that they are confident that Petrov would be able to continue his good run from Australia into Sepang.




Set for the weekend of April 8 – 10, Syed Zainal said that a victory for Lotus Renault would be more meaningful in Malaysia as compared to Australia because it is considered as the ‘home race’ for Proton. In Australia, Petrov finished behind Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing, who is also the reigning world champion and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.




The podium finish for Petrov was made sweeter after he successfully fend off the attacks and overtaking manouvers by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso for most of the race. This surely marks a good start for Lotus who only acquired Renault Racing at the end of last season after the bitter feud with 1Malaysia Racing Team over the use of the Lotus brand in their participation.

The issue is still on-going and the court decision has yet to be made and while that is not yet finalized, both teams are still using the ‘Lotus’ banner in their team names.

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