Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

[Mr.E]

Van Sniff Petrol:

SPAD_LotusExigeS.jpg (55.15 KiB) 2861 keer bekeken

[Frederik]

En we zijn weer vertrokken ...

Bahar klaagt Lotus aan > http://www.lotusforum.be/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=4470

[electroshock]

En de heren van de (duurbetaalde ?) sigarenclub, pardon Advisory Council, zijn mee vertrokken.
http://www.bilanz.ch/unternehmen/dany-b ... agt-london

Even het interview oproepen van april dit jaar dat Bahar gaf voor EVO: waarin hij 2 nieuwe modellen beloofde, met presentatie in Goodwood - dat is over 10 dagen ! Ik ben toch benieuwd wat we te zien gaan krijgen en of er wel iets nieuws te zien zal zijn. Really fun ?

Is your contract with Lotus as CEO unchanged?

Yes; all the employment contracts with the senior personnel at Lotus are unchanged, including mine. We will show you two new Lotus cars at Goodwood in July and these are really fun. We want to show Lotus is going in one direction, going upwards, and not being distracted by this shareholder discussion. That’s very important, especially to everyone working at Lotus.

http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/28208 ... rview.html

[Red Baron]

The next chapter in the Lotus saga
June 19, 2012 by Joe Saward

While Dany Bahar has told a Swiss newspaper that he is taking legal action against Group Lotus for wrongful termination of his contract, the word from up in Norfolk is that the legal firm Olswang is now in residence at Hethel, going through all the contracts that were signed by the firm since the new management took over in the middle of 2009, looking at what was done.

Group Lotus’s ultimate parent, DRB-HICOM, continues to say that it is not going to sell the British car company, but it is unlikely that the Malaysian conglomerate has the desire (or the cash) that would be needed to turn the business around, given that it has to find a way of getting rid of a rumoured $420 million in borrowing from a number of Asian banks. Unless that can be done, it is going to be hard to find a buyer. The word is that in the short term all contractor contracts are not being extended and the firm is cutting costs wherever it can. This would to suggest that the plan is to polish the company up a little and then put it on the market and see what can be got for it.

While there are some of Bahar’s flunkies who believe that his brand-building strategy would have worked and that in a few years Lotus would be selling 8,000 cars a year, others in the industry believe that DRB-HICOM was wise to put a stop to the spending. It is fashionable at the moment to suggest that Lotus was a failure before the new people took over, but the reality was that after former CEO Mike Kimberley returned in 2006, the company did very well, given the limited resources available. It produced the Evora, the company’s first new model in 12 years, and in 2007-2008 made a profit of £1.5 million, while also registering a 300 percent increase in its technology business. A poor exchange rate in 2008 meant that the firm lost £1.2 million for the year ending March 2009.

Kimberley was then taken out of the equation because of serious back problems early in 2009, and the-then parent company Proton took the decision to put Bahar into the role as his replacement. The theory was to spend large amounts of borrowed money in the hope of turning Lotus into what Bahar called a “British Porsche”, with the brand built up through motorsports activities (a la Ferrari) and on a raft of new models. The industry watched sceptically as money flowed here, there and everywhere. Bahar said that the firm would get into operating profit in 2014 or 2015, but the losses were dramatic, with £12 million in the year ending March 2010 and an even more spectacular £20m loss in the year ending March 2011. This year’s figures are expected to include further losses.

It remains to be seen what can be saved. Bahar and his people did a number of deals to allow others to use the Lotus brand in different ways, either geographically or in different racing series, but while these may continue and become brands in their own right, the future of the core company remains in doubt. In Formula 1 terms GenII has the right to use the Lotus name, although it is not clear whether this includes merchandising. In the World Endurance Championship it seems that there are similar rights that have been sold to Colin Kolles’s Kodewa GmbH, which is reportedly in the process of building a Lotus LMP1 car which will be offered to customers in 2013.

Origineel artikel: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/06/ ... lotus-saga

[Red Baron]

Het antwoord van Mike Kimberley's zoon Anthony op de eerdere reacties van Joe's artikel:

Anthony Kimberley
I can categorically state that MJK was NEVER sacked or forced to resign. In fact, he had a fall and cracked some vertebrae in his back meaning he was on Morphine for a year and had to have a major operation. Whilst he didn’t want to leave Lotus only 2 years through the 5 year plan, he could not give the job his normal 120% and it was resign or suffer permanent disability.

To address some points, incidently these are my points not my fathers.

- Thanks Joe for saying what some have forgotten. When people feel threatened or take credit for things that they shouldn’t they often use litigation, and misdirection as an answer to their own shortcomings. I know some people have blamed previous Management for the issues that Lotus are going through, but I can assure you that this is not the case. This is all in the public eye so I am not saying anything new. Joe is correct in what he says. In 2008 Lotus made £1.5 million. The previous year MJK had negotated a total wiping of the companies debts with Proton to give the company a secure foundation. With a clean bottom line the company proved its worth bringing out its first all new car for 12 years, and it was part of the “previous Managements” 5 year plan to build on the quality of the new Evora and bring out the already sorted Evora S and IPS, Facelift the Elise and Exige and Develop the new MES. Furthermore this car, which some know as the new Esprit, was already designed and ready to go into development with a release date of late 2011. After that it was the plan to develop a new Supercar. (this all from Press releases).
- My father was always a Lotus man. From 1969 through to 1978, helping design and develop the Europa TC, Elite, Eclat, Esprit. Then Colin entrusted him to run the company while he concentrated in F1 (his first love). Then when Colin passed away he saw it through 2 more owners to 1993 when he was promoted up to GM. Even at that point he kept an eye on Lotus. When he was with Lamborghini he used Lotus expertise and Engineering skills, passing business their way and then as an advisor to the board and finally being asked to get the company back on an even keel. Lotus is and was his life and the majority of his lifes work. To hear negative rumours spread about him and his Management team of the time effects him deeply, especially when they are all untrue.

I felt this needed to be said.

Incidently, if I can say, for myself, that I hope this most recent incarnation of Lotus, with all the hype, spending and very little cost control, has not damaged the company that we all know and Love. I for one 100% support anyone who wants to get it back on an even keel.

One thing few people have mentioned is the workers, but living just a mile away from the factory I know many people who do and did work there. There have been lay offs that have not been reported and this under DB, not DRB. Many of my friends have lost their jobs, so lets think about people who’s lives have been badly effected by what has been happening there.

Anthony Kimberley MCMI, MIMI

[JeanVM]

Al dat gedonderd over mislukte management had ik al voorspeld. Het is natuurlijk erg dat sommige werknemers alle gelag betaald hebben gekregen (ontslagen). En voor MJK moet het eens zo erg zijn zijn levenswerk (1ste man achter Colin Chapman) achteruit zien te gaan en dan nog de kritiek krijgen er zelf schuld aan te hebben. (ze moeten maar durven)

Laten wij hopen dat Lotus terug op zijn voeten terecht komt met een waardige opvolger zoals MJK en dat EINDELIJK de nieuwe Esprit van de tekentafel komt, misschien wat meer wedge dan eerder voorgesteld a.u.b.
(wedge: kan het niet laten dit te benadrukken)

Groeten,

Jean