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Lotus to produce new crossover in China

Lotus and its parent company recently signed a joint-venture agreement with Chinese automaker Goldstar to build vehicles in China for local consumption, and according to the latest report from Autocar, it'll all come down to a new sport-ute. That's because the market for C-segment compact crossovers in China is huge. So big that it's impossible for Lotus to ignore. Porsche is reportedly selling 30,000 Macans in China alone each year, and is expected to reach 50,000 per annum there in the near future. "Six million SUVs will be sold in China this year, and more than half of those are C-segment models," Lotus chief Jean-Marc Gales told Autocar. "That figure is forecast to rise to eight million in four years. C-segment SUV sales alone will be bigger than the entire German market." Little wonder, then, that Lotus and Proton are keen to dive in. Technical details for the new Lotus crossover are still being worked out, but we'll likely be looking at a steel monocoque chassis clad in composite and aluminum body panels, riding lower than a Macan and weighing a good 400-500 pounds less. Power will likely come (at least initially) from the same 1.8-liter four and 3.5-liter V6 that power Lotus' sports cars, but driving all four wheels. A hybrid system could follow, and the finished product is likely to adopt a nameplate starting with the letter E – in the grand tradition of the Elise, Exige, Evora, Esprit, Europa, Elan, et al. According to Gales, "Our car will drive beautifully. It will be supple and comfortable but the emphasis will be on handling. It will be the lightest and fastest of its class on the track." This would be the first crossover Lotus would design, engineer and actually bring to market, but not, strictly speaking, the first time it has toyed with the idea. There was the APX concept (pictured here) it showcased in 2006 and the T5 that Proton essentially licensed Chinese automaker Youngman to build with Lotus' name on it. But the former was never put into production and the latter wasn't a proper Lotus. The design is currently being worked out before a prototype can be put together so that the joint venture can get the manufacturing license it needs from the Chinese government. So we're likely looking at another year or two before we see something solid. "Let's get the design right, then make a prototype," said Gales. "Let's make it beautiful and very light.

Lotus F1 apologizes for tweeting support for LGBT Olympians

The Lotus Formula One Team is apologizing after its official Twitter account posted this image of two men kissing in connection to the opening of the Winter Olympics on Friday, February 7. It claims that the original tweet was "unauthorized."
The tweet, which Lotus deleted later that day, can be viewed to the right and was promptly replaced an apology that said, "We would like to sincerely apologise for an unauthorized message posted on our Twitter account today & will ensure this cannot happen again." Responses to the kerfuffle on its Twitter page have mostly focused on confusion as to what the original tweet was and why it was removed.
While the Sochi Olympics have been controversial among LBGT groups because of Russia's laws banning so-called "gay propaganda," the country has a growing importance in F1. In fact, the first Russian Grand Prix is scheduled to run later this season on a circuit around the Sochi Olympic Park. Genii Capital, the team's owner, has business interests in Russia, and according to the BBC, the Lotus F1 team is working on a deal to with Russian mobile phone company Yotaphone to sell it 10 percent of the team.

Lotus suing former CEO Bahar over spending on homes, helicopters and watches

More details have come out about the legal suit and countersuit being contested between Lotus cars owner DRB-Hicom and former CEO of Lotus Dany Bahar. Bahar was brought in by Malaysian car company Proton in 2009 to turn Lotus around, and events during his tenure have made just about everyone wonder "What's going on?" That's not unusual - it can take a minute to figure things out when a new leader takes everything in a new direction - but in this case the clouds didn't clear quickly enough.
When the Malaysian government sold Proton to Malaysian auto supplier DRB-Hicom earlier this year, a forensic accounting team from Ernst & Young and The Rothschild Group started going over the books. Not long after, Bahar was suspended in June from his position and then fired. In his countersuit against DRB-Hicom, claims of lavish spending began to surface. Then the stories and leaks and rumors really began, the UK's Financial Mail reporting on more than one million pounds spent on private flights and home renovations, the New Zealand Herald talking about other executives sacked so that DRB could rearrange a 270-million-pound bank loan to Lotus, and rumors on forums about Bahar flying from his home in Norfolk to Hethel HQ and spending 30,000 pounds on motorsports books for his office.
In the latest Bloomberg report it is said that DRB-Hicom seeks 2.5 million pounds ($4 million US) from Bahar "for unauthorized expenses and overpaid salary and bonuses," including the purported expense of 3,000 pounds on watches for company managers. DRB-Hicom also says Bahar made damaging statements to the media, on top of breaching his contractual duties. Bahar's countersuit seeks $10.6 million from DRB-Hicom.