JMG gone!

[Bibs]

JMG gone! 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/exclusive-lotus-boss-jean-marc-gales-departs-car-maker

Quote

His replacement at Lotus is Quingfeng Feng, who joined Lotus’s board at the time of the Geely acquisition. 

On Feng, Gales said: “He is a good guy and a good choice. He can unlock the synergies which exist between Volvo, Lynk & Co, Polestar  and Lotus.”

 

Quote

Gales will move to the Essex-based classic car dealer and restorer, JD Classics, recently in the news for its £9m dispute with a customer over “fixed” classic car prices. 

 

[Frimley111R]

Quite a shock. Management fall out I imagine if he has gone so quickly. Shame as he seemed to be good head for the business.

[Barrykearley]

Gosh - and here comes the new broom

[Bibs]

Probably exactly the opposite of what is going to happen Barry. 

[Barrykearley]

Broom was not a car related reference 

[Bravo73]

Au revoir, JMG. 

[mayevora]

Why oh why cannot Lotus have any long term consistency at its helm? It’s starting to remind me of a Football team where the board becomes unhappy with their Manager every so many months 

[CocoPops]

Sad thing is, that is long term

 

[GFWilliams]

Good news I reckon, bring on the new era of Lotus!  Hopefully with quality car parts and some actual development of the cars, as opposed to everything being determined by the cost.

[Parramint]

Great news.....

[Bravo73]

9 minutes ago, mayesprit said:

Why oh why cannot Lotus have any long term consistency at its helm? It’s starting to remind me of a Football team where the board becomes unhappy with their Manager every so many months 

To extend your football analogy, new club owners more often than not results in a new manager. 

[mayevora]

I’d love to hear MJK’s thoughts on this. 

Lets see if Mr Feng can last for more than 2-3 years.

[Günter]

..sounds more like the typical 'dismantle' of a company after Chineese occupation - is this guy from China in any relation to European automotive development or brand history ??

I personally would not wonder if his background is more financial related, as "synergies" often means to take over from other products and brands to create more outcome with less people.

Especially as the market chances and investment capabilities for an small exotic carmaker, who still builds the cars in Europe, is not that good - compared to cheap Chineese workfleet.

Volvo is bigger in terms of sales and product range, so that's why it is not so easy to transfer this brand completely to China. Lotus on the other hand ..

 

Anyway - an automotive business manager who goes to a relatively small "non OEM" private company, this sounds suspicious. Was he just in the way and blocked the Chineese to take absolute control up to now.. hmm ?

[tim_marra]

Oh dear. I was hoping JMG would be around for much longer.

[Bibs]

Official Press Release

[Parramint]

Gales told Autocar that he was leaving for "personal reasons" and that it was "time to move on". He departs his job today and described it as "a very emotional day", adding: "Lotus has been in my heart for 50 years."

 

’in my heart for 50 years’....what a joke, it’s been in his heart for 4 years, every time the cheque hit his account.  Thank goodness someone has closed his toy box, as told to me by a Lotus engineer a few months ago.

 

Lotus was in my heart for over 55 years and he ripped it out after five minutes......

[Mark Blanchard]

Oh bollox!  Real shame, he was real talent and was turning the company around.

My guess is he was shown the door.

[Gashead1105]

The Exige he's stood by looks great!

[nello]

I thought that Will and I'm not a massive Exige groupie! Sorry to see JMG go as he appears to have turned things around financially but with any organisation - a new owner usually means new bosses.

Asia is a big market / fan base for Lotus so I sincerely hope the rise will continue - though what we really need are new models (OK and a return to top-flight racing on different levels if I'm really going to declare my dream-list!) 

Edited June 4, 2018 by nello

[suffolk009]

I'm a bit saddened by this.

I'm aware of rumours that he wasn't hugely liked by the workforce (what boss who has to lay-off that many staff ever is though). I like what he did with the cars though.

It's exciting times with new models on the near-horizon and I can't wait to see what they're like. But that's tempered by a serious worry that they will all be four-cylinder turbo engines with flappy-paddles and high-end interiors. And a bit heavier. I'm sure they'll be great, but not what I want in a Lotus. But then no car company will ever get rich, let alone survive, pandering to me.

[NedaSay]

I don't really know what to think of this! Awful timing im,  the spin on this is going to be particularly bad.

I was one of JMG "supporters", I think he did right by the company on very limited means. It hasn't been all rosy but it's been quite solid. I wonder what's the ground for dismissal cause I can only see a dismissal or very severe fall out being the cause of such an abrupt departure... 

More than anything I hope this departure and new appointee doesn't rock the boat and they stay the course on the upcoming 3 models.  I think It is Geely's first move of the sort on their european brand both Volvo and LEVC have been able to retain their leadership or appoint a swede or british guy to run their business 

The new CEO appears to be a Geely guy here's a short bio :

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=237414620&capId=9834980&previousCapId=9834980&previousTitle=Geely Automobile Holdings Limited

Not quite the CEO profile more of an R&D Type... Is he going to be a place holder until someone else takes ? Or is it a fast track position to something else. He's been working on the Emgrand sub brand which means he knows premium cars quite well.  

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Out of the frying pan and into the fire for JMG then.

Jesus with what (allegedly) went on at JD Classics, I hope he knows what's coming!

Edited June 4, 2018 by LotusLeftLotusRight

[Frickin_idiot]

I

3 minutes ago, NedaSay said:

I don't really know what to think of this! Awful timing im,  the spin on this is going to be particularly bad.

I was one of JMG "supporters", I think he did right by the company on very limited means. It hasn't been all rosy but it's been quite solid. I wonder what's the ground for dismissal cause I can only see a dismissal or very severe fall out being the cause of such an abrupt departure...  

More than anything I hope this departure and new appointee doesn't rock the boat and they stay the course on the upcoming 3 models.  I think It is Geely's first move of the sort on their european brand both Volvo and LEVC have been able to retain their leadership or appoint a swede or british guy to run their business 

The new CEO appears to be a Geely guy here's a short bio :

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=237414620&capId=9834980&previousCapId=9834980&previousTitle=Geely Automobile Holdings Limited

Not quite the CEO profile more of an R&D Type... Is he going to be a place holder until someone else takes ? Or is it a fast track position to something else. He's been working on the Emgrand sub brand which means he knows premium cars quite well.  

A purely personal opinion but I agree that this is a disappointing turn of events. I liked what JMG said and more importantly what he did. 

I was keen on maintaining stability during the transition to a more sustainable ownership model. Time will tell on whether this was a good move.

[auRouge]

This is a bit like Ross Brawn selling/leaving his team! It's a bit sad😕

Geely now has full control.

Maybe they'll reinstate Danny as head of marketing🚁🛩🕺🏼🍾🥃🚬 😂😂😂

Well done JMG, thank you for rescuing Lotus! 👍🏼

You got things under control and added quality 👏🏼

[Kimbers]

Guys, its a reasonable decision by Geely. Many of you bemoaning JMG leaving but it is for the best.

Can you remember why JMG was taken on? If you do you know it was to "steady the ship" in terms of finances, at a time when Dany Blowhard had destroyed any credability Lotus had in terms of Finances. The Company was in a terrible state and only weeks away from Bankruptcy.

So what do you do in these times? You hire a money man. An accountant. who's sole job is to get finances under control.

But what can a "Finance biased" Head of a company not do as well as others? Passion, people, develop new ideas etc etc.

Personally I thank JMG for his steady hand on the tiller but now Lotus needs an innovatve head who can push forward with new Products, investment (rather than cost cutting), development, engineering etc.

I think this is long overdue and praise geely for knowing they need an innovator at the helm. Well done.