Lotus renames Russell Carr its head of design

Wed, 22 Oct 2014

There's been a changing of the guard at Lotus recently. The legendary British sports car manufacturer fired its controversial chief executive Dany Bahar and replaced him recently with Jean-Marc Gales. And now it's named a new chief designer. Or rather, renamed its old one to the post.

That designer is the appropriately named Russell Carr, who had previously held the post until Bahar brought in his former compatriot Donato Coco (with whom he had previously served at Ferrari) and charged him with designing a series of ambitious but ill-fated concept cars that debuted at the 2010 Paris Motor Show and were subsequently axed on Bahar's way out. Now Coco has been shown the door as well, effective at the end of this month. In his place, Carr – who has been with Lotus since 1990 – has been given back his old job after having been demoted to playing second fiddle to Coco for five years.

Although both Gales and Coco both served in senior positions at PSA Peugeot Citroën, Gales didn't join the French automaker until 2009 – the same year that Coco joined Lotus, five years after having left PSA to work at Ferrari.

21 October 2014

Russell Carr appointed Head of Design for Lotus

Group Lotus plc announces the appointment of Russell Carr as Head of Design for Lotus. Russell joined Lotus in 1990 and in that time has worked on many of the designs produced by Lotus. Russell replaces Donato Coco who leaves Lotus on the 31st of October 2014.

Jean-Marc Gales, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus plc said, "I would like to welcome Russell to the role. Russell has a proven track-record of producing distinctive and compelling designs for Lotus over the years and is perfectly positioned to lead the Lotus design team in the future."

Jean-Marc Gales continues, "I would also like to thank Donato for his contribution to Lotus over the last five years and wish him well in his future ventures. Donato leaves a legacy of a strong, motivated and talented team within Lotus Design which under the new leadership of Russell will continue to design innovative, authentic and iconic Lotus products."

Russell Car said, "It is an honour to take on the role of Head of Design for Lotus. Design is extremely important to Lotus as it conveys the pure, competitive and unconventional values of Lotus."

Donato Coco said, "My five years at Lotus have been one of the strongest experiences in my career so far and I will look back with great fondness and affection for this iconic company."

The appointment of Russell Carr as Head of Design is effective from the 1st of November 2014.

By Noah Joseph