Lotus seem to be pursuing Bob Lutz
Lotus are looking to grab GM’s Bob Lutz in an effort to take the Hethel car maker away from founder Colin Chapman’s vision and firmly in the direction of bigger and more luxurious.
The Lotus five year plan calls for the track day cars to make way for much more substantial and upmarket cars to become the force at Lotus; a move to become the Aston Martin East Anglia. Probably the first obvious move in this plan was to grab Dany Bahar from Ferrari last year (and Ferrari designer Donato Coco) and now Lotus are casting their net again to snare some big names to drive them forward.
Top of the list is almost-octogenarian Bob Lutz who retired from GM – but certainly not from business – last year. But Lotus are also looking to Tom Purves – former Rolls Royce CEO – to help shape their future.
The plan is to move the average price of a Lotus relentlessly in the direction of £100k and to increase production three fold in the next five years, although much of that increase will come from the launch of the Lotus City Car.
You have to wonder if this is a last attempt by Lotus owners Proton to get some real value out of Lotus. It seems that Lotus hasn’t turned an overall profit for Proton in the almost fifteen years since it took control, although there was a reported £2 million profit in 2008 that followed a £5 million loss the year before and a £14 million loss the year after.
It may not be the ideal way for Lotus to go for those who believe in Colin Chapman’s ethos of simplicity and lightness, but it may be the only way to make Lotus a success.
We should find out when Lotus reveals its “…evolution of an icon” at the Paris Motor Show.
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