Lotus could be
sold or at least declared insolvent,
according to a report from the UK. The British brand which has been owned by Malaysian mass market car maker Proton since 1996, doesn’t seem to be able to get its act together. It is run by
a 41 year-old named Dany Bahar who worked for Ferrari before joining Lotus. He’s
previously said Lotus can and will compete
with the likes of Porsche and Ferrari.
Bahar still insists that Lotus has a bright future as a sports car maker, and all it needs is the right kind of investment. This is to help facilitate the launch of five new
models over the next five years, including a new Esprit and Elan (both pictured above). These two
cars would be pitched against such machinery as the Porsche 911 and Ferrari 458
Italia. Last year Ferrari sold over 7
000 cars worldwide, while Porsche moved 118 867 units. The Germans expect to increase this to about 240 000 by 2018.
Our automotive investment guru estimates that in order to
make this dream come true, Lotus needs an injection
of around R8.3 billion over the next
five years. Bahar has reportedly asked for R6.3
billion. Proton was recently bought by a Malaysian automotive giant called DRB-Hicom, and the company says it is
yet to decide on whether to grant the requested
amount or simply just sell the loss-making Lotus.
2 comments:
My brother lives in the UK and he says okes over there are quite miffed at Lotus for all these issues. They reckon Proton has let their home brand down in a big way and they should just sell it to someone who cares
I used to love the Esprit
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