Good news out of Lotus, of the kind that I suspect we should get used to in the short term: a new hiring.
It takes less time to put people in place than it does cars into production, even under the stewardship of a company like Lotus’s Geely parent, which has recently transformed Volvo.
Geely has just appointed Phil Popham (formerly of Jaguar Land Rover and latterly of Sunseeker) as CEO of Lotus Sports Cars and senior vice president for commercial operations of Group Lotus.
If Geely’s plan with Lotus goes anything like it did with Volvo, which it took over in 2010, things will go a bit quiet barring announcements like this one. And then – boom – the model introduction will start. Volvo’s XC90 only went into production late in 2014 but, when a new V40 arrives next year, it’ll be the oldest car in a nine-model line-up.
Popham’s appointment prompted some discussion among my colleagues: do people, aside from people like us, know what a Lotus actually is these days? It has been so long since it won an F1 world title or James Bond drove an Esprit that you wonder whether in the wider world people know what Lotus, which has been turning out brilliant-handling lightweight sports cars but for not enough money and in not enough quantities, actually stands for?
Join the debate
Peter Cavellini
Simple question.....?
Where’s Lotus’s EV Sports Car....?
Peter Cavellini.
5wheels
How they do it
Do you actually have Geely products in the UK?? I mean ones that are moving on the road and not rotted or broken down on the roadside? In Russia they are the next step up from a Lada Samara !! Except that the Lada will still be going when the Geely is stuck somewhere in the forgotten undergrowth. You see, Geely products with the name Geely on them, are total utter rubbish, using the cheapest crap materials, the minimalistic safety measures and the performance of snails shagging. They sell them strictly on price, because God they are ugly. They clearly sell them in China with sufficient profit margins to trot off and buy other manufacturers whose management has fallen to pieces and digraced their good names. Oh dear, Volvo, sorry your quality will go down along with your reliability once the engines will be made outside Sweden
what's life without imagination
LP in Brighton
Lotus is effectively starting from scratch
Let's face it, I don't think there is much brand equity in the Lotus name (lots of trouble, usually serious), and £1.5 billion isn't a whole lot of investment for a range of cars let alone a single model.
Sadly I think the future lies with a Lotus-branded Volvo underpinned SUV, together with Lotus tuned Volvo saloons.
Mclaren with its high end sports cars have effectively taken over where Lotus gave up, and the more affordable sports segment is fast contracting and dominated by the Germans and Japanese.
Deputy
In metal?
289
Lotus......still causing trouble after all these years
Phil Popham did a great job at Sunseeker which was a fantastic company that had turned into (if you will excuse the pun) a sinking ship! He turned the company around and it is doing well now.
Lotus will be an even bigger challenge for him, and if he succeeds- will do his c.v. no harm at all.
The world has moved on in Automotive terms, while Lotus have been treading water for god knows how many years....trotting out new amazing (and unfounded), plans for rejuvenation one after the other. Now I find it difficult to see where the demand is for Lotus to return.
The obvious answer is for a stripped down back to basics fun weekender....but then Chunky Chapman sold the crown jewels to Caterham a long while ago, so that wont work.....Lotus always aspires to go up market - supercar status, but the name just wont carry them (especially with Chinese ownership and possibly mechanicals). So that leaves the middle market ...sort of GT86 to Boxter/Cayman...... not the biggest market in terms of units and a puddle already arguably overcrowded.
They could of course sell their soul to the devil and produce an SUV! Chunky would turn in his grave.
Add your comment