Lotus: Keep calm and carry on

Lotus boss Dany Bahar has been told he can continue the five-year plan to revitalise Lotus by the company’s new Malaysian owners DRB Hicom, Autocar reports.

There will be a small two month hurdle to overcome thanks to Malaysian change of ownership laws, during which time Lotus will not have access to previously agreed funds from Proton’s former ownership regime.

Already two years into the company’s ambitious plans Bahar has sold the idea to his new bosses. “We have explained our plans to the new owner and have been told to keep going as we are. The immediate problem is to manage the cash in the business carefully during the 60-day pause, but I am confident that this is a temporary technical issue,” Bahar told Autocar.

Despite this rumours still exist suggesting Proton will offload the iconic sports car maker. Genii Capital, owners of the Lotus F1 Team, are believed to be one of the more likely candidates, but Bahar maintains it’s business as usual for the Norfolk-based manufacturer.

“To the best of my knowledge, no one is about to buy the company,” said Bahar. “You’d have to consider the market implications before deciding to sell. Right now we have crazy demand for the latest Exige—383 orders already. The Evora GTE [pictured above] will be homologated by May, and we have 200 orders for that. Things are looking really promising.”

Indeed, Lotus this morning issued a brief press release titled “Maximum Exposure” which stated, “Lotus’ philosophy has always been ‘less is more’. Now, with a display of true fighting spirit, we’ll take this one step further in Geneva.” Other clues indicate they’ll be bringing an open-top creation of some sort—an Evora convertible perhaps?

[Source: Autocar]