Arguably more than any other automaker in the world, Lotus is ripe for a return to racing. Its products are uniquely track focused. Its history is rife with motorsport heritage. And its new chief executive comes to the company after stints at Red Bull and Ferrari, two outfits deeply involved in top-tier racing.
Unfortunately, as Dany Bahar points out, the formative Lotus F1 Racing team set to join the grand prix circus next season has little to do with the sportscar manufacturer and engineering concern which he now heads. Instead, the name is being furnished by parent company Proton to a consortium of investors in its native Malaysia. Bahar wants a slice of the action, and Proton would be wise to give it to him. But the executive who earned his reputation as a branding guru has more plans to get Lotus back into racing beyond the F1 team.
Speaking to a group of Lotus employees, Bahar reportedly disclosed that the company is looking at getting into a variety of racing series, including Indy, Le Mans and GT racing. That's some ambition for a company that hasn't seriously competed in decades, but if any team can pull it off, it's Bahar and Lotus.
It's been fifteen years since Lotus last competed in Formula One, but that dry spell is about to come to an end as the British engineering firm and sportscar maker is set to join the grid once again for next season as one of four new teams in the series. Preparations appear to be going full-steam ahead, and Lotus F1 Racing (as the team will officially be known) has released a pair of images depicting a full-scale wind-tunnel model of the car they'll be running next year.
Like the other new entries – and possibly a handful of veteran teams – the Lotus F1 car will be running under Cosworth power, taking advantage of the low-cost engine package commissioned by the FIA. Having worked with nearly every team on the grid, Mike Gascoyne serves as technical director for the new outfit, with Air Asia owner Tony Fernandes temporarily serving as team principal. The team is being fielded by a consortium of Malaysian investors including the aforementioned airline, the government, Lotus owner and local automaker Proton, the Sepang circuit and the national motorsport and automobile associations.
There's been talk as well of Malaysia's former A1GP team folding into Lotus F1 Racing now that it has withdrawn from the series itself, while speculation continues regarding who'll drive for the team. Toyota's Jarno Trulli is tipped to be one leading candidate, while Malaysian driver Fairuz Fauzy – who has won races in A1GP, GP2 and World Series by Renault over the past couple of years – could prove a compelling choice for the team's Malaysian owners and sponsors, which could as well include national oil consortium and former Sauber sponsor Petronas.
When most people think of Lotus, a few different thoughts tend to enter their head. One is of little teeny Toyota-powered EliseExige track toys buzzing around a racetrack. Another is of an underwater submarine piloted by none other than James Bond (albeit Roger Moore). And then -- maybe -- some of you might think of the racing success Lotus used to enjoy, back in the day, a long time ago. Well, according to Autocar, Lotus' new CEO Dany Bahar is seeking to change all that.
"Lotus was mentioned in the same sentence as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati in the 1970s-1990s," said Bahar. "Then, it got closed into a corner. We believe it's the right time to bring Lotus back to where it was." Not only that, but Proton Group (they own Lotus) managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir (must make for one hell of a business card) says that the new Evora, Lotus's first new car since 1995, is "a turning point."
Bahar is making returning Lotus to a place of prestige a top priority for the Malaysian-owned company. The ex-Ferrari exec claims to have have a business plan to return Lotus to the same plane of existence as Ferrari within five years. Of course, to accomplish this, the Camry-powered Evora just ain't going to cut it. Which more or less guarantees the return of the Esprit, which very well might have a Lexus V10 perched out behind the driver. All of which gets our octane lovin' hearts all aflutter. Also, let's not forget about racing – serious racing. We'll keep you posted.
When BMW announced several weeks ago that it would be withdrawing from Formula One at the end of the 2009 season, the automaker left open the fate of the operations it bought from Peter Sauber. Since then, reports have indicated that the automaker has been evaluating possible buyers for the team.
According to Autocar, one of the possible suitors is Malaysian automaker Proton and the British sportscar maker it owns, Lotus. Team Lotus was a staple of F1 from 1958 until 1994 – winning seven Constructors Championships in that span. During its heyday in the Sixties, Seventies and early Eighties, Team Lotus was one of the greatest innovators in the sport. Unfortunately, after founder Colin Chapman's death, the team eventually withered.
The new Lotus effort would likely be sponsored by long-time Sauber backer Petronas and the team could be led by former Renault and Toyota technical director Mike Gascoyne. So far, there has been no official comment from anyone reported to be involved.
Before Subaru entered the World Rally Championship in the Nineties, it was little more than an obscure Asian automaker. Though its rallying efforts helped to put it on the map, Subaru has decided to ditch the WRC this season. But another little-known Asian automaker may be ready to pick up what Subaru is throwing away. That company is Malaysian automaker Proton. And it's not as ridiculous as you may think. The state-owned enterprise has a strong customer base in Asia, and is the largest automaker in the Muslim world. Proton also owns Lotus, which brings the parent company a considerably performance engineering knowledge base to tap into. Subaru's former partner Prodrive is looking for a new client. And to cap things off, now unemployed former champion Petter Solberg (who used to drive for Subaru), is now rumored to be signing on to Proton's rally team. Together with motorsport garage MEM, Proton has been busy preparing an S2000-spec rally car based on its Satria Neo hatchback for the lower-level Intercontinental Rally Championship, and if plans to switch the WRC to a modified "S2000+" formula come through, it could pave the way for Proton to mount an assault on the WRC by 2010, as the brand is eager to expand outside its regional market and establish itself in Europe.
The Malaysian government has decided to end its protection of Malaysia's Proton Motors. In addition to the import duties and taxes levied against foreign carmakers, Proton was also the recipient of tax breaks and "other government incentives."
The decision could be seen as a blow to Proton, but Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is confident that the carmaker can and is turning itself around. Even though it has lost half of its market share while it was being protected by the government, Badawi said recently "No question of a bailing out. Proton is doing well today... they have a good program, they have secured exports to India, China, Indonesia and the Middle East."
For it's part, Proton's efforts to link up with a foreign car company didn't end well last year. For the moment, it has proposed that the government take an official stake in the company.
The FIA's Super 2000 formula class was designed to reduce costs in rally and touring car racing and appears to be living up to its aim, as Malaysian automaker Proton joins the growing list of carmakers jumping aboard that already includes Toyota, Ford, Skoda, MG, Peugeot, Volkswagen and Fiat/Abarth. Currently the British Touring Car Championship, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge and the Production Car World Rally Championship, as well as national rally series in Australia, Italy and South Africa, operate under the Super 2000 formula. While it is not yet known for which series the Proton Satria Neo S2000 is being prepared to compete, it's thought to be prepared by Mellors Elliot Motorsport in Derbyshire, England for a race debut by midyear. Although Mellors Elliot prepared the car with which Proton took the Production Car World Rally Championship in 2002, it wouldn't be entirely unreasonable to infer that Lotus might lend a hand in developing its parent company's new contender.
Amidst all this speculation, specs for the Proton Satria Neo S2000 remain unknown, although the Super 2000 formula calls for engines no larger than two liters, naturally aspirated and sending no more than 280 horsepower through the mandated six-speed sequential gearbox.
Malaysian automaker Proton will offer up a teaser of its next-generation hot hatchback when it shows the R3 Satria, a performance variant of the Satria Neo, at the Melbourne Motor Show next week. R3 is Satria's in-house performace wing -- headed by a former Lotus engineer -- and the nomenclature stands for "Race, Rally, and Research." The previous R3 Satria was a single-class racer based on the last-gen Satria, but this R3 Satria appears to be positioned as the spiritual successor to the original Satria GTi road car.
The GTi (right) was Lotus-tuned and made over 130 horsepower, and while Proton's not ready to talk specs yet, the new R3 Satria should likewise have a definitive edge over its standard counterpart when it arrives in the marketplace. It certainly seems to have the hot-hatch looks requirements down (see above), with its aggressive front air dam, skirting, roof spoiler, stripe package, center-exit exhaust, and wheel/tire package. Spiffy.
Bring back last year late initially glossy that Volkswagen was interested to take a majority interest in Malaysian proton of manufacturer of car. But into March the talks had apparently broken up. Volkswagen now for the first time really submitted a report/ratio about proton.
Volkswagen selects to the top of the step in the conversations with the Malaysian government which precisely proves to be the shareholder of control of the proton. The civils servant of VW will meet civils servant of government in next weeks about the way of proceeding. The result could be a change or right an association.
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