Future of Lotus

[NedaSay]

12 hours ago, ramjet said:

And I think that the glowing bit is the Flux Capacitor.

Wasn't the 414E all electric or was it going to have that tiny engine in it as well? I can't remember.

it had a 1.0l 3 cylinder for range extension and power generation purpose.

[Stuart Monument]

The engine isnt connected  to the drive train at all, it really acts as a generator. Under a large load I.e flooring it,  the engine automatically starts to create power or under low battery charge. The battery charges very quickly from it. 

[TBD]

Just thinking today that its high time for a bit of praise for JMG.

He has successfully managed to restructure a failing company losing a fortune every year into a company now earing cash, producing new models at a crazy rate (albeit they are still variants of the "old" models) and with a bright (Chinese/Swedish) future ahead.

 

[tim_marra]

7 hours ago, TBD said:

Just thinking today that its high time for a bit of praise for JMG.

He has successfully managed to restructure a failing company losing a fortune every year into a company now earing cash, producing new models at a crazy rate (albeit they are still variants of the "old" models) and with a bright (Chinese/Swedish) future ahead.

 

Yep, he is the Brigadier General  Frank Savage of today

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_O'Clock_High

 

[NedaSay]

Ok I don't know how much credit we should confer to this but it appears that things we've been speculating about are already happening backstage...

Quote

source: agentdr8  on Lotustalk.com  http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f170/what-did-you-do-your-evora-today-166185/index187.html#post5504497
We talked with the sales guys a bit about the Geely acquisition, and more importantly, they mentioned the new leasing program they're working on w/ Volvo FS. They indicated it should be ready sometime mid-October, and it'll likely be close to $799+tax w/ $5k down, depending on trim, packs, etc. 

So Lotus would be getting it's own financial arm courtesy of Volvo Financial Services at least in the US. If that poster is correct and the dealer is to be believed, that would be much earlier than I would have predicted by around 6 months. A lease option would go a long way to facilitate Lotus progression in North America. I think this development was a foregone conclusion but I would have expected them to take a bit longer. This could be a prelude to Lotus stores popping all over the place at Select Volvo dealerships, Lotus has about 50 dealers on this side of the pond but with a bit of integration that number could easily double and the number of service centre could also increase significantly. 

Evidently the fact that Lotus doesn't have any leasing and financial affiliation makes it probably easier to integrate into Volvo over here. The situation may require a bit more diplomacy in Europe where Lotus currently have deals in place in the UK and Germany I think. But with a bit of negotiation these could be terminated in due course and not only could Volvo again step into the picture but Saxo Bank is now also affiliated to the Geely group and could therefore also provide Lotus with Leasing and financing solutions in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

 

[TLF News]

Lotus Delivers Radical Financial Turnaround

[NedaSay]

Still on message it seems and finally some acknowledgement of their new ownership if mild to say the least. 

[silverfrost]

Good news,  Massive step forward in the Europe market,  56 percents a massive leap forward.    

[Bruss]

All good news and a step forward, but the company is not in profit. 11.2 million loss is recorded for the financial period down from 222 million loss for previous period.  More needs to be done.

 

 

 

 

 

[Cypriot]

Yes, but crucially the company is on track to be in profit in 2017/2018.  That turn around was done without help from Geely, which makes this even more impressive!

 

 

 

 

[NedaSay]

Lotus is set for a more balanced approach to their finance under the custody of JMG and hopefully Geely injecting a steady and significant amount of cash into the business. Lotus and its new owner do have their job cut out nicely but JMG has managed to show that the company could develop arguably better product on a shoestring budget.  Some will object that the products are getting to expensive which JMG himself preempted that from the very beginning, or that some products do not make sense Sport380 and Cup 380 may not be different enough for... Some products have also been delayed for too long, like the Evora....

But all in all JMG managed to reach the objective if only partially. Now getting access to new tech, fresh cash and more brains cannot hurt the company going forward. Over than the roadster and some minor mods to the Evora line up I don't expect much to change in the line up before 2020. But if Geely is true to their words we may see an Elise unveil - in prototype form - in 2019, and the rest of the range  to be replaced at quite high a tempo after that.

[Bibs]

A couple of interesting article in the Malaysian Star.

Firstly, Geely have doubled their profit this year which is nice - http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/08/17/geelys-record-profits-spur-optimism-for-proton/

Also, the Proton/Lotus sale to Geely is going to the shareholders of Proton on the 30th August, who have been advised to approve it so it's still not actually happened yet, or even been agreed by Proton -  http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/08/16/vote-in-favour-of-stake-sale-investors-advised/

[theelanman]

Geely Boyue......see range rover evoque.......

altho they still claim that their one and only designer from Volvo did it........

I think he'd got a new pad full of tracing paper......

 

I do hope they dont just copy stuff......otherwise Lotus will be dead in the water....

[silverfrost]

Hopefully the funds made from all those other knock of cars will go into the design of future brands   Lets hope they work the same as Enzo Ferrari , he used the sales of his cars to fund his passion which was motor racing,  Lets hope these lot do it to fund a passion of unique designs that Lotus come up with and actually get them to the market place this time....   Cheers Danny Bahar 

[Andyww]

I have had products I designed copied by the Chinese. The most annoying part is they dont appear to think there is anything wrong with doing it.

[silverfrost]

Andy a lot of firms accept that they will be copied when sending stuff to China to be made,  They even cost in a percentage of lost revenue to calculate for that,  sadly even with the loss included for copied product it still works out been better off money wise having it made in China sadly compaired to manufacturing it in the UK 

[NedaSay]

3 hours ago, theelanman said:

Geely Boyue......see range rover evoque.......

altho they still claim that their one and only designer from Volvo did it........

I think he'd got a new pad full of tracing paper......

 

I do hope they dont just copy stuff......otherwise Lotus will be dead in the water....

Well here's a look at the Boyue 

Now here is the real Range Rover Evoque

And now the Land Wind X7

Uh I think I know who Range Rover Lawyers are going after... One company obviously decided to inspire its design from the company which is arguably the best in the business, like everybody does to some extent, while the other company decided to shamelessly copy their design and add insult to injury by choosing the company name.

Yes Geely has been copying "western designs", just like Kia and Hyundai did not that long ago, Recently  Geely's been trying to make their cars distinct enough in my view, so I will cut them some slack for that, their days of shamelessly copying  designs are behind them not ahead of them. When it comes to the Bo Yue yes I can see some lines that are pretty akin to the Evoque, but I can also see details and main concepts that do make the SUV significantly different on the outside while the inside is pretty standard interior cabin design with a lot of Volvo bits in it.

Going back to Lotus why would Geely copy the design of cars they own. That is not a copy anymore that is now a technology transfer which is fair game, so very possibly the Elite and Eterne from the Bahar era could make their way to market under another brand if Geely sees fit to do it. By the way for their new Small size SUV Lynk and Co 01 Geely could have just rebranded the upcoming XC40, the cars do share a platform (CMA) and yet the designs can only be deemed as distinct enough.

Edited August 22, 2017 by NedaSay

[theelanman]

I dont mind as Im not a fan of the Evoque....or the new drop top version.......OMG 

and yes theyre not exactly the same....just very similar......

hope the Lotus SUV is going to be a darn sight better looking ('coz I will no doubt want one....lol)

[silverfrost]

Yes they really rub it in the face with the land wind lol,  However when your goverment will not let any other country enforce anything on you then why not 

Plus JLR still do extremely well out of China with 60 percent of all range rover sports been produced go direct to china ! 

[NedaSay]

http://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/chinas-geely-plots-rescue-of-specialist-british-car-maker-lotus

Deal should close this month other than that nothing really new.

 

Edited September 1, 2017 by NedaSay

[NedaSay]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-08-31/chinese-billionaire-backed-geely-rescues-british-sports-car-lotus

is exactly the same piece as the one published by Singapore Times

Edited September 1, 2017 by NedaSay

[KAS-118]

This is different http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/14022/with-future-secure-lotus-speculates-about-new-road-cars but not much new 

[Frickin_idiot]

Has the deal been finalised and completed as yet?

[Bibs]

I believe the deal was approved by the shareholders at the end of last month and we're in the '3 months hiatus' the Malaysian stock exchange insist on. 

[Bibs]

http://www.autonews.com/article/20170925/OEM04/170929904/under-geely-lotus-could-expand-range

More SUV talk. I believe Mr Foster may have spent some time at Lotus over the last few months, he's got a very impressive background in the industry.