Lotus looking at Indy Car, GT and Le Mans Racing

Source: PistonHeads

Lotus has issued a press release detailing an intriguing first meeting between Dany Bahar - the exec who jumped ship at Ferrari to lead the Hethel firm - and his Lotus workforce.

According to the new broom, the company’s motorsport ambitions extend well beyond the F1 arena, to include Indy Cars, GT racing and Le Mans. We weren’t there to hear this exciting message for ourselves, so here’s the press release ‘verbatim’.

PS. Call us cynics, but we can’t help thinking the ‘employee’ quoted in the press release might just have been the same one who wrote it...


Official Lotus release:

Just 2 weeks into the job, new Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar made his first address to Lotus staff to introduce himself and commence regular staff communications, the next of which will be in December when he will formally share his plans for the next 7 years with Lotus employees.

Mr Bahar’s address was an inspirational invitation to join Lotus as it goes through the inevitable change that new leadership brings, “My vision is simple; Lotus will be profitable by producing beautiful, environmentally relevant, credible sportscars that are honest and authentic. By doing this, we will return the brand to where it was in the past, and where it rightfully belongs.”

The detailed plans for the product line-up will not be revealed to staff until Christmas, but what was clear was the commitment to investment, growth and realignment of the business. “Our future lies in aligning ourselves to what the market wants, rather than what we think the market wants; we must concentrate on our customers.” he said.

When asked about Lotus’ return to motorsport, Mr Bahar replied; “Lotus will return to motorsport. I believe that this is the perfect platform to showcase our capabilities; racing is part of our heritage and even today the technology in our road cars is derived from racing. We will investigate participation in Indy car series, GT and Le Mans racing amongst other series around the globe to demonstrate the shared technology. F1 is of course another motorsport strand that the Lotus name will again be associated with.”

The ownership of the 1Malaysia F1 Team is through a Malaysian-led consortium and therefore Group Lotus has no direct equity stake in the venture. Operationally, Lotus F1 Racing will be run separately from Group Lotus and the two parties will liaise.

Commenting on his plans for Lotus Engineering, Mr Bahar relayed his ambitions for the engineering consultancy, “I have strong commitment to both growing and strengthening the Engineering sector of our business and part of that lies in making it more commercial and client centric.”

It seems Mr Bahar has made a strong first impression amongst staff and reaction to his address has been positive. “There was a lot of common sense in what he said.” commented one employee, “He has delivered clarity of purpose which is welcome at this early stage. I think he has rallied support well, and I have no doubt staff will give him the support he needs to realise his plans for the company. We’re all very excited!”