So Lotus looks like changing hands again, as part of a bigger Proton deal. Must say I view the prospect of the much-owned Norfolk car company joining VW with more excitement than fear, given the enlightened attitudes of their latest enthusiast CEO, Martin Winterkorn, and the thought of all those lovely VW group engines and components in future Lotus models.
Of course, it’s not as easy as that. It takes years for a tiny concern like Lotus to change key parts, and there may never be a decent case for it. Who’d ditch the Elise’s present Toyota engine? Not me. Still, anyone can see the baseline quality of VW’s components and that Wolfsburg has shown lingering affection in the past for the kind of concepts that Lotus has made its own. It could be a happy match.
Wolfsburg’s main motivation in this deal must be to gain a further foothold in south-east Asia and tackle its apparent inability to make profit-generating cars at Polo/Lupo level. That might mean Lotus strolls on more or less unaltered for the moment. In the eight months since his return as CEO, veteran Lotus boss Mike Kimberley has right-sized the place, drastically reduced a backlog of unsold cars, sent the engineering consultancy business surging ahead and created a demand that requires a 30 per cent increase in Elise production. Maybe that’s the best plan of all: leave Lotus’s much-experienced human dynamo to get on with it.
http://www.myautocar.com/community/b...d=l4g4VctYREo=
E agora pergunto... será que isto tem mão da Porsche? Já imaginaram Porsche e lotus com o dinheiro da Vw?
http://www.myautocar.com/community/b...d=l4g4VctYREo=
E agora pergunto... será que isto tem mão da Porsche? Já imaginaram Porsche e lotus com o dinheiro da Vw?
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