Currently reading: Group Lotus plays down F1 link
Road car company says F1 sponsorship was not a financial arrangement

Group Lotus has dismissed speculation that the ending of its Formula 1 sponsorship deal with Lotus F1 Team will have any impact on its future.

Group Lotus parent company Proton was recently sold to Malaysian firm DRB-Hicom. As a result, an announcement over DRB's plans for Group Lotus is expected imminently - with options as diverse as committing to the firm's current five-year plan or selling up being evaluated.

Yesterday www.autosport.com revealed that Lotus F1 was ending its sponsorship deal with Group Lotus, prompting speculation that DRB-Hicom was poised to announce its plans for the road car company.

However, a Group Lotus spokesman stressed that the F1 sponsorship deal was not a financial arrangement and that it has no link to Group Lotus's future.

A Group Lotus statement said: "Group Lotus and Lotus F1 Team are brand partners, the F1 team uses the strength of the Lotus name to promote themselves, and in return Group Lotus benefits from F1 exposure and the ambassadorship of its drivers, and the deal is a non-cost one."

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disco.stu 8 April 2012

Re: Group Lotus plays down F1 link

cimardinius wrote:

Well the contract was between a Danny Bahar managed company and some kind of Private Equity/Hedge Fund firm.

So now we know how much integrity is likely to be available.

In fairness to Genii and Gerard Lopez, he seems to have acted with the team's best interests at heart, rather than the usual vulture fund mentality (CVC/Cerberus). Although I do realise that saying one private equity firm is better than another is like saying a leech is better than a tapeworm...

As for Dany Bahar, the sooner he is removed from the automotive world, the better. He has turned the Lotus name into a farce, and I do hope the door hits him on the way out.

cimardinius 8 April 2012

Re: Group Lotus plays down F1 link

petrolheadinrussia wrote:
One has to wonder what kind of contract that was agreed.

Well the contract was between a Danny Bahar managed company and some kind of Private Equity/Hedge Fund firm.

So now we know how much integrity is likely to be available.

Driving 8 April 2012

Re: Group Lotus plays down F1 link

Lotus simply does not have the type of road cars to back up its F1 campaign rather than vice versa if they really want F1 sponsor to be put to use unless of course they get Renault Sport to start supplying them with engines for maybe a 4.0 V8 Exige at 500hp or something manic like that. The F1 team is reaching out its hand where the car division is not grabbing, reminds me of Renault F1 with its weak fleet unlike Subaru and Mitsubishi fully capitalizing race on sunday, sell on monday with the WRX and Evo. F1 does well in marketing up market automotive products which initially is what Lotus was .