Future of Lotus

[C8RKH]

So the team that makes Taxis is going to give the engineering excellence of Lotus support.

Cough bullshit. Mr. Gales meet the man who wants your job.

[Frickin_idiot]

Gales has done a fantastic job with both his hands tied behind his back. Would love to see him at the helm for years to come.

[NedaSay]

This is how I  choose read this, Lotus is set to use the taxis underpinnings and hack the heck out of it in order to get the base for the SUV. The LEVC taxi is reported to have an extremely light and versatile chassis not too unlike VVA.  The goal is to fast forward that thing and bring it up to market ASAP, in this case it is logical to have Lotus start picking up necessary parts around the group, LEVC for the aluminium bonded chassis and possibly vehicle assembling in the UK , Volvo for powertrain and electronic readily available and manufactured in either Europe or China,  Geely for the production facility in China. Lotus would add their own suspension, body work, overall design which should be already good to go by now as it was reported to be already be in a frozen spec just awaiting the go ahead. I think they just got it by reading between the lines. And it seems they are in a bit of a hurry to get it done.

I don't know what's the uptake on the new taxi, but the production facility has a 20000 vehicles per year capacity,  so they could eventually produce the SUV for Europe while a Chinese factory produces the vehicle for the rest of the world .  

Now I do wonder if Carl Peter Foster will step in as new Chairman for Lotus all the while remaining chairman for LEVC... Keeping JMG in the CEO chair and bringing a new COO makes sense. I also hope they will finish the work on skeleton building at Hethel and start rearming the Engineering department. Lotus should become one of the R&D excellence centre for the group in my humble opinion. 

[Bibs]

Quote

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Completes Group Lotus plc Transaction

 

            - Geely Holding and Etika Automotive Announce Joint Board

            - Mr. Daniel Donghui Li appointed Chairman of Lotus Board

            - Mr. Jean-Marc Gales to continue in his role as CEO

 September 29^th, Kuala Lumpur. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding) today completed the transaction to purchase a majority stake in the British luxury sports brand Lotus. 

 Geely Holding now owns a majority stake of 51% in Lotus Advance Technologies Sdn Bhd (Lotus) with a minority 49% being held by Etika Automotive (Etika), a Malaysian automotive group.

 Company Structure

With the transaction completed, the Board of Directors for Lotus has been formally established, consisting of five seats of which three are appointed by Geely Holding and two are appointed by Etika.

 Under this structure, Geely Holding has appointed Geely Holding’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Daniel Donghui Li as Chairman of the Lotus Board. Mr. Feng Qing Feng, Geely Auto Vice President and Chief Technology Officer and also Mr. Nathan Yu Ning, whom is the Vice President of International Business and Executive Advisor to the President at Geely Holding will also join the board.

 Etika have appointed Dato’ Sharil Tarmizi, a corporate consultant and a long term supporter of technology companies to the Lotus board and will announce a further addition to the board in due course.

 Mr. Jean-Marc Gales will continue in his role at Lotus as the Chief Executive Officer since joining the company in 2014.

 In the first half of 2017, Lotus has already entered into a positive cash flow situation with sales rising by 10% in the first half in year on year comparison. With the introduction of new models over the course of this year, including the introduction of the fastest Lotus ever made – the Evora GT430 and with further expansion into the US and Chinese markets, Geely Holdings are confident that Lotus will continue to excel.

Mr. Daniel Donghui Li commented: “With the transaction completion we now look forward to working with our partners to develop the Lotus brand into a globally competitive brand and a well recognised leader in the sports car market. We are extremely confident that Lotus will go above and beyond the expectations of the automotive industry and consumer base in the near future.”

Mr. Jean-Marc Gales emphasised Mr. Daniel Donghui Li’s comments by saying: “Following a successful business turnaround, the Lotus brand has never been in a stronger position and we are now perfectly positioned for growth. We are producing the best cars in the company’s history and are currently developing next generation of sports luxury vehicles which will continue to demonstrate the Lotus brand values of class-leading vehicle dynamics, light weighting, styling and aerodynamics by leveraging Geely Holding’s global strengths and resources.”

[NedaSay]

Things should start happening at quite a frantic pace now.... I look forward to Geneva 2018, we should get some form of a first statement of intent by then.

The Geely board members will also keep tabs on Proton's progress so i'm expecting them to be quite hands off, but it is interesting to see that they are sending a CFO and a CTO in a way both things Lotus need, money and tech and as anticipated JMG remains in charge cause he's been getting the job done.  Now lets hope the chairman agrees to sign the check for the new Elige platform and the crossover while the CTO gives unrestricted access to Geely and Volvo tech that could benefit the evora on its next refresh. 

Edited September 29, 2017 by NedaSay

[Frickin_idiot]

So far so good. I am liking what I hear.

Proof will be in the pudding.

 

[Snoopy1969]

"Forster, a former CEO of General Motors Europe, said Lotus could easily expand to produce "any size of car and any number of cars" without straying from its brand focus on compact, lightweight and agile cars, citing Porsche's rapid growth after launching the Cayenne crossover in 2002. "If you look at a pretty famous southern German sports car manufacturer, they were able to very successfully expand the brand without diluting it," he said."

I doubt that - also he forgot to mention that their first SUV had been a derivative of the VW Touareg (ia a time when Porsche did not belong to the VW Group) and the developing costs had been covered by VW more or less.

I would like to hear / read that Lotus goes his "own" way, not just copying a 20 year old strategy of another (former ) sports car maker 

 

[NedaSay]

Uh! But what if that strategy works... Mind you the strategy has proved not so straightforward as the Maserati case proves it. But then again the F-Pace from Jaguar is selling like hot cakes after a school day at a Parisian bakery... 

Should Lotus get the go ahead - and I think they already go it at this point - they know they will have the full support of the upper management of the group which means Volvo and LEVC will line up all the tech. Road and Track published an article in which they hinted at the idea that nothing was off the table at this point.  

http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/a12631904/lotus-is-about-to-enter-a-golden-age-with-geely-its-new-chinese-owners/

Lotus needs to sell more cars in order to be profitable, sure they can just expand the dealer network and hope to generate more sales from doing just that, and the upcoming Elise should/could prop Lotus in the 5000 units per year quite easily. However I think the Geely's goals for Lotus are lofty... I think they will try and implement the full 'JMG plan' at the beginning it included a SUV and a Sedan.

So yes it is indeed a redux of the Porsche (Cayenne-Panamera) plan. That plan worked 20 years ago to make Porsche into a massive powerhouse which is almost to big for its own good, considering they have to accommodate the other ogre of the VW group, Audi. But I don't think anybody will question the ability of Porsche to survive a carpocalypse considering their margins per car are almost indecent. 

Should Lotus decide to emulate that strategy which is the only strategy that seems to work, if you are not going into the upper echelon of ultraniche and ultrarare boutique hypercars, I wish them the very best. Should they use Volvo's CMA they could probably come up with something quite sporty, compact and light. Using their own aluminium or using LEVC's platform and tweak it till they get something they like as a Lotus because of group strategy. At the end of the day they will need a design that works but first and foremost the execution and support will need to be bulletproof.

If they decide to unshelf some of the DB era ideas like lets say a sedan (Eterne) and a luxury coupe (Elite) they know other entities in the group could be willing to go into bed with them. Actually I'm very curious to see how Lotus will be positioned in regard to Polestar. Polestar is set to become Geely's equivalent to  AMG, Jaguar, Maserati... Which is a space not quite occupied by Volvo. Volvo is hunting the Germans. Lotus colorful life had them produce some chimaeras in the past Sunbeam, Omega... So i sort of undersgtand what Forster was saying.

Still, today Lotus natural "archnemesis" seems to be Porsche but when I was a kid the Esprit V8 was going head to head against the F355 not a 911. Lotus going back to that market bracket could generate some numbers. Lotus could be the only sportcar maker to go from access exotic with the Elise to full on supercar should they give a shot to a new take on the Esprit.  the Evora GT430 is already gunning at that part of market. It may not quite be there but it is pretty close.  

     

[ramjet]

What ever happened to the Chinese Youngman thing?

[NedaSay]

They are back at making buses and other industrial stuff... I'm expecting Geely to bring an end to the awkward chinese branding issue. 

I personnally wonder how the Goldstar Heavy Industries tie up will be jettisoned?

[NedaSay]

Saxo Bank is now also a Geely subsidiary http://www.marketwatch.com/story/geely-becomes-controlling-shareholder-in-saxo-bank-2017-10-02.

Along with Volvo already quite potent Financial Services arm, this should facilitate Volvo, Lynk and possibly Lotus financing, especially if you think of the new "Volvo Care" service  and Lynk ownership sharing.  

 

[NedaSay]

The Autocar interview of JMG, dated October 16th 2017:

 https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/lotus-ceo-sports-car-production-stays-norfolk-suv-could-go-elsewhere

Not much is really new, it is more a confirmation that the plan JMG devised is going to see the light of day albeit things are going to be delayed by at least a year with a new 2021 target for the sport car platform. The good news is that Lotus is set to go on a big hiring spree, Engineering needs rearming and I think the Design team will also be bolstered with fresh blood.  The not so good is that they seem unable to increase sales to their 2014 anticipated target as of now, with a target now at 1500  units sold in 2017 which is disappointing considering all cars have had a refresh and the dealer network is wider than in the past. I'd really like to see a break down of Lotus global car sales. If the margins are growing the profit will remain small  for another few years if they cannot increase sales overall.

[DarrylV8]

Maybe it's time you bought a new Lotus Nico?

[NedaSay]

working on it... Stay tuned... But don't hold your breath...

[Arregueti]

I wonder where does this leave Lotus? The EV independent mainly-sports-car manufacturer that shares (not only) a Chinese factory with Polestar?

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/general-pistonheads/polestar-launches-as-independent-ev-manufacturer/36916

 

[NedaSay]

It leaves Lotus in a pretty good place I would say, or at least a much better place than it was las year at the same time. The positioning of Polestar as a pure electric carmaker, if you look beyond the Polestar 1 halo car, is a good indication of how much room Lotus can play with... By the look of it Geely is bullish on making Lotus a true Porsche premium/luxury sportcar competitor. I think Geely will give Lotus the time it needs to come up with the next generation of products pretty much like the did with Volvo just a few years ago. The main difference is that Lotus has a "specialist assembler" doesn't have to develop every piece they need, they can pick and choose from a very good parts bin and focus on the  development of the components that matter and need to be tailored to the specific purpose. 

[hedgerley]

Top Gear interview with JMG. A few gaps filled.....

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/insider/new-suv-new-elise-whats-going-lotus

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Sounds like we're going to have a long wait before we see a whole new car.

[hedgerley]

Probably but in Lotus terms it should be quicker than would otherwise be the case. I see the next phase as largely an integration job of existing components - HVAC, electronics, hybrid power train etc - from the larger group with Lotus fairy dust on the things that matter - styling, suspension, steering, aero. So they won't be spending chunks of development time on the under skin bread and butter stuff. 

[C8RKH]

I better enjoy my naturally aspirated Evora whilst I can then.  If they do go down the hybrid/electric route I'll likely be off looking for something else.  I have no interest in having a small petrol engine, with turbo and a hybrid engine. Just does nothing for me. For me, as well as pure dynamics and feel you get out of the box with a Lotus, it is as much about the rawness and the noise of a great exhaust note.  I get that Tesla and others have proven hybrid / electric can be fast, but I just want the noise too to complete the experience and fire all the senses. To me it's not just about the speed....

Quite glad I am getting older as in a few years, a nice used 410 or 430 could well be the last sports car I ever buy if they all go hybrid.

[NedaSay]

So if the next Elise is being reviewed and revamped before it comes to market, this may delay its intro by about 2 years.

Does this mean the current Elise could get the Volvo tech? I mean JMG mentioned the 1.5l 3 cyl turbo of the upcoming XC40 that thing is good for 180 bhp base - that would be a nice replacement for the  Elise Sport 1.6l -  but should they add the supercharger then you'd get more, a whole lot more. And considering the engine bay of the current Elise can easyly welcome a 4 cyl transversal layout, it could welcome the 2l turbo and its 250 bhp. If they were to add the supercharger the Elise would be hunting the Exige Sport 350.

Now, If no new cars is introduced before 2022, that means Elise and Exige have to soldier on for another 4 years minimum... Will they receive cabin tech upgrade? If they keep them around four more years isn't it worth it to give them both a thorough do over and revamp the cabin enough to crashtest a few cars and federalize them so they can sell them over to North America.

However if the Elise replacement comes and is not something bigger, better and different to the point that they don't want to call it an Elise...  Where could the go? Putting the engine back to the front and bring to market a new Elan?  

[C8RKH]

We don't want a bigger Elise do we?  Surely not.......

[NedaSay]

Well

 

A bit of elbow room would not be a bad thing.

If the car was a bit wider, we could have our side airbags so the NHTSA would let Lotis roam in peace. 

[clivef38]

What about a nice new mid engine Europa. 

[Frickin_idiot]

I cannot see existing range lasting if extending by another two years.