Jean-Marc Gales has left the British sports car maker for "personal reasons."
Lotus CEO Jean-Marc Gales has left the British sports car maker to join classic car specialist JD Classics. The 55-year-old Frenchman has been replaced as Lotus boss by Feng Qingfeng, who is the chief technical officer of parent company Geely.
The company was bought by the Chinese firm last year in a deal that saw it buy shares in former Lotus parent company Proton.
Gales has been at the helm of Lotus since May 2014, and previously sat on the board of Peugeot. His move has come as a surprise to the industry, with Gales telling Autocar that he was leaving for personal reasons. A JD Classics press statement was timed for release at the same time as the Lotus announcement.
Feng Qingfeng said: "I am honored to have been appointed to lead this iconic British sports car group. With Geely’s global synergies and total support I am confident that Lotus has an exciting opportunity to achieve its full potential as a luxury sports brand, based around its engineering legacy and its future product pipeline."
Donghui Li said: "Jean-Marc has stabilized and turned Lotus to profitability for the first time in the iconic brand’s history with new industry leading products and unique business models since joining the company in 2014."
"Lotus is poised for the next phase of growth under Feng Qingfeng’s leadership, where its expertise in lightweight materials and sport cars-engineering will form part of the wider expansion of Geely’s automotive portfolio."
Lotus has quietly ambitious plans under its new ownership – the next major model for Lotus is an all-new version of the Elise, which has been left on the boil for years now with an array of special editions.
The car is expected around 2020 on the company's new aluminium platform, which will also underpin the next-generation Exige. A new SUV with underpinnings from sister company Volvo is expected by 2021.
GEELY HOLDING ANNOUNCES MANAGEMENT CHANGE AT GROUP LOTUS
- Feng Qingfeng to succeed Jean-Marc Gales as Lotus Global Chief Executive Officer
- Jean-Marc Gales to become Chief Strategic Advisor to Lotus Chairman
June 4th 2018, Hangzhou, China. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding), China’s leading privately-owned automotive group, announced today that Mr. Feng Qingfeng, vice president and chief technical officer of Geely Auto Group, has been appointed to succeed Jean-Marc Gales as chief executive officer of Group Lotus effective immediately. Mr. Jean-Marc Gales has chosen to leave for personal reasons and will become Chief Strategic Advisor to Lotus Chairman, Daniel Donghui Li.
Geely Holding, which acquired a controlling stake in Group Lotus in 2017, thanked Mr Gales for his contribution to the company over the past four years.
Daniel Donghui Li, chief financial officer of Geely Holding and Lotus Cars Chairman, said: “Jean-Marc has stabilised and turned Lotus to profitability for the first time in the iconic brands history with new industry leading products and unique business models since joining the company in 2014. Lotus is poised for the next phase of growth under Feng Qingfeng’s leadership, where its expertise in lightweight materials and sport cars-engineering will form part of the wider expansion of Geely ‘s automotive portfolio. At the same time I will welcome Jean-Marc‘s Council as Chief Strategic Advisor to myself and the Board of Directors.”
Geely acquired a majority holding in UK-based Lotus – a world leader in high-performance lightweight sports cars – as part of its agreement last year to acquire 49.9 percent of the shares of PROTON from HICOM Bhd (DRB) of Malaysia, Lotus’s former parent.
Feng Qingfeng (Mr. Feng) said: “I am honoured to have been appointed to lead this iconic British sports car group. With Geely’s global synergies and total support I am confident that Lotus has an exciting opportunity to achieve its full potential as a luxury sports brand, based around its engineering legacy and its future product pipeline.”
In 2017 Group Lotus sold 1600 sports vehicles, an increase of 10% versus 2016, produced at its plant in Norfolk, England. In 2017 the company showed a profit for the first time in history.