WayneB

Surprised it took 150 posts for you to figure it out, Sherlock. Sorry I didn't read the forum rules or I would have definately closed my old account down (which hasnt been used for years), most on here now wouldnt even know who I am or even care for that matter. As for the hiding behind another name, its no different to alot of the other forum members choosing another name to go by on this forum, I have no dark ulterior motive or nothing to hide Ultimately, all I want is whats best for Lotus as do most Lotus Enthusiasts like myself.

Yes I remember who dragged the Lotus name embarrasingly through the courts, his name was Dany Bahar , CEO of Group Lotus.

Thank god Kimbers is on this forum to put things straight. Anyways, where were Lotus 3 years ago? Well I remember MJK was bought back in to straighten things out, economies were made and a SOUND business plan was put together to enable the company to survive and grow (at an achivable rate) into the future. The Evora and the MSC Esprit was concieved, the Evora was released to the public and was well recieved. Members of the Esprit forums graciously were invited to events hosted at the Lotus factory and a certain forum owner was given a showing of the MSC Esprit, which at the time he seemed to like (alot). Now of course its all changed, Dany Blah Blah is in charge , and is re- writing recient Lotus history to serve his own ends. What dissapoints me more is the way some people seem to change their alegances depending on what they are going to get out of it and become parties to what essentually is nothing but a dressed up lie. As for money well spent? Well Dany certainally has spent money on the things that he likes that are showy (the track, his office, helicopters, jets, parties etc etc) whilst other aspects of the company are very neglected (employee morale, paying suppliers etc), and as yet the company has not made a cent of PROFIT whilst he has been in charge, nor IMO never looks likely too.

I find all of this quite farcical. I distinctly remember how delighted certain members of the Lotus community were when Fernandes set up Lotus Racing in Hingam after negotiating with MJK and Proton to use the Lotus name in F1. Wasn't his Lotus Racing branded merchandise being sold on this very forum? Now of course you all dislike him and are glad he has "lost" his battle to use the Team Lotus name in F1. Love Fernandes or hate him, you still have to admire his business savvy and the way he plays the game , kind of reminds of how a certain ACBC used to operate. Me, I still support Frank Williams and Williams F1, I dont need a Renault with a Lotus sticker on it to make me feel validated about owning my Lotus.

Yes Moxies post really summed up how I feel about what Lotus should be all about too. I also dont bother to read the press releases they send me, I feel they are an insult to my intellegence as an individual who prides himself in knowing when he is being fed a gourmet course of bullshit. Bullshit seems to be what the new re-invented Dany's Dream Lotus is all about, "Look at us, we are standing next to Steven Baldwin*, arent we cool," (actually completely the opposite.) *or substitue any a rent a celebrity Truth is I dont want to be associated with this kind of propaganda, and as Bahar has the final say on anything released from Lotus these days the blame lies solely with him. He has also shown an unforgivable lack of respect for past Lotus CEO Mike Kimberley, insinuating that he was a major part of the "failed regime" at Lotus (which I presume includes such past employees as Roger Becker, Paul Newsome, Tony Shute etc.) and from what I understand has actively "Gagged" MJK from defending his reputation in public, using Lotus lawyers and apparent threats of dissmisal to current Lotus staff If they seen even talking to him. As Kimbers pointed out in one of his posts, Mike knew more about Colin Chapman's opinions about how his company should be run and represented through the media , so If Mike happens to disagree with the way things are going at Lotus ATM, he should be free to publically voice any concerns or critisms he has without any fear of repercussions. Here is the official press release from Lotus announcing his re-enstatement as CEO , replacing then CEO Kim Ogaard Neilsen, who many (me included) view as the man who nearly really suceeded in ruining Lotus. He is the genius that auctioned the Lotus crown jewels (the Bond Esprits) for next to nothing and had little to no regard for Lotuses past history. GROUP LOTUS PLC CHANGES IN TOP MANAGEMENT OF GROUP LOTUS PLC Group Lotus Plc announced today a change in the senior management of the company. With immediate effect, Mr. Michael J Kimberley (Mike) will take over as Acting Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus Plc. Mike currently chairs the Executive Committee of Lotus Group International Limited (LGIL). Given his vast experience and expertise in the automotive industry, Mike is a natural choice to manage the company and he will be supported by the existing management team at the Company and will continue to draw upon the support of the shareholder, Proton Holdings Berhad (PROTON), the ultimate holding company. His priorities will include improving the overall performance of Lotus as well as preparing and strengthening the specialist car company and high-technology engineering and consulting company to compete in a wider market and on a broader business base globally. PROTON strongly believes that LOTUS has a critical role to play in the Proton Group to enable it to become a successful automotive engineering and manufacturing group and a prominent brand globally. Hence, PROTON will continue to provide strong support to LOTUS and its group of companies. In view of the above, PROTON has set up a special team to provide close and specialist support to Mike and the management at Group Lotus Plc, to address the key opportunities for LOTUS for the future. Kim Ogaard-Nielsen, former CEO of Group Lotus Plc, has stepped down to pursue his other entrepreneurial interests. Kim joined Group Lotus Plc in November 2004 and has presided over a number of projects during the past eighteen months. Lotus would like to record its thanks to him for his service to the company during this period. Speaking from LOTUS headquarters at Hethel today, Mike Kimberely said, 'All specialist sports car companies operate in volatile and highly competitive markets. However, sales of the Elise are moving ahead in the USA and are being further enhanced by the new introduction of the Exige model. I can assure our customers, business partners and all who watch this iconic marque with interest, that LOTUS is a highly valued and integral part of the PROTON Group.' Michael J Kimberley's background: Mike Kimberley has been associated with the LOTUS brand for over 22 years, since joining its founder, the late Colin Chapman in 1969. He worked his way up the Company, was appointed as the Managing Director of Lotus Cars Ltd. between 1976 until 1983 and became the CEO of Group Lotus Plc between 1983 until the end of 1991. Mike is a well-respected veteran of the automotive industry, having spent over 30 years with various world-renowned automotive companies including General Motors, Jaguar and Automobili Lamborghini SPA. Two of his major achievements were the rejuvenation of Group Lotus Plc following the tragic loss of its founder, Colin Chapman in the late 1982 and the revival of the Italian supercar maker, Automobili Lamborghini SPA, in 1994. More recently, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Group Lotus plc as well as Lotus Group International in August 2005. Mike Kimberley also chairs the Executive Committee of Lotus Group International. As I have said before, I believe the solution to our current dissatisfaction with the direction Lotus is currently heading lies with Proton in Malaysia, they need to replace Bahar with someone who is clearly more experienced and better suited in running a car company. I have nothing personally against Mr Bahar, he is what he is , doing what he does, I just dont think he is a good fit at Lotus, not now , not ever. On a more humourous note I have been reading on other Lotus Forums what the members think of Bahar, and on the North American forums I keep reading the word "Douchebag" whenever anyone dissagrees with what he is doing. I presume that is some sort of insult?

I feel robbed too mate. Lotus almost had the MSC Esprit ready to put into production at MJKs retirement, we would be witnessing the results of all of his teams hard work by now (and drooling over it) If Bahar hadn't rejected it . My theory is that his (Bahars)plan was to make himself look good by rubbishing all of the recent past efforts at Lotus, the Evora being the main one. Having the MSC Esprit go into production and receiving praise was not what he wanted, he wants to be seen as the man that saved Lotus with "his" ideas, not those of a much respected and admired past CEO. His public critism of the Evora was unbelieveably stupid, (from a marketing point of view) If the man at the top has no faith in his main product why should prospective customers? Of course the Evora isnt a bad car at all (read Bib's blog), in fact its a testiment to the past engineerings team skill and experience that it turned out as nice as it did with the miniscule development budget they where forced to work with. So If the Evora is a good car, surely the MSC Esprit that was designed and developed by the same team would have been just as good If not better?

Diana Rigg, what a sexy English Rose!!! The Blue Elan she drove in the Avengers , ended up at the "Cars of the Stars" museum in Keswick , which is now closed. The Elan and most of the other iconic Lotuses, the Bond Esprits, the Prisoner 7 etc are all on their way to Florida . Apparently the new Lotus management were messing around trying to figure out whether to buy them for the proposed Lotus Museum at the factory, but the museum owner decided not to sell to them (to Lotus anyways) in the end.

Regarding the comments that the Lotus brand needed a "kick in the pants" and "its profile raising", where have you guys been the last few years? Desert island with no communication with the outsides world perhaps? Lotuses only real problem over the last few years is that it has lacked funding, partly because Proton hasnt invested the kind of money required for the company to grow. Lotus has always had great ideas, engineering, design, promoting and image, the problem has been obtaining adequate investment to produce the model we all have lusted after (the Esprit). Alot of Bahars schemes are either rehashed/stolen old Lotus (MJK)ones that he takes credit for or idiotic attempts at bringing attention to the brand (Swizz Beatz, Naomi Cambell, Brian May, Bob Lutz, his "dream team" of engineers etc etc.) He should go back to what he is good at, persuading 16 year old boys to drink overpriced mock "heath" drinks, and leave the car stuff to the car people.

Phew, thats a relief! Its just not right that one of the top guys in the British motor industry was driving around in a German car (unless he was figuring out ways to improve on it). Now that Aston, thats a REAL CAR

I think what 99% of us Lotus enthusiasts are ultimately getting at is that Dany Bahar seems to be doing an excellent job of undoing any credibility, goodwill and prestige Lotus has built up over the last 60 years it has been in business. Of course ultimately the blame must be placed at the door of whichever idiot at Proton hired him in the first place, so I am appealing to the suits at Proton HQ in Malaysia to sack Bahar and restore a compitent CEO back at the helm at Lotus.

Absolutely! Good Hat Bad Hat Good Hat Bad Hat

Heres a new photo of our new good friend Swizz, sitting in a red pre-production Esprit, showing all of us unbelievers he is 100% hard core Lotus Whoops apparently that was a Ferrari Enzo he was sitting in , sorry my fault. To put things right, here is a photo of brilliant car designer Swizz Beatz admiring the designs he just did exclusively for Lotus Bloody 'ell, they look like Aston-Martins!, must be a part of the plan to bring Lotus upmarket. Anyways , here is Swizz sitting on the bonnet of a Mansory Evora he totally designed just after designing the special backpack(wearing) he designed exclusively for Dany Bahar to keep the money in that he is saving Lotus with ATM. My heros, the pair of 'em

Blimey that year went by quick! Happy Birthday Mike. 'Bout time you sold that Merc and bought yourself a Jag!

Yes I read the Mail on Sunday article on Dany Bahar with interest, he seems almost proud of the fact that he "couldnt work with none " of the existing department heads at Lotus, which is puzzling as their experience in engineering and building great low volume sportscars was second to none IMO. Some very knowledgable and hardworking guys left Lotus as a result of his arrogant and somewhat nieve approach to running the company, Roger Becker immediately announced his "retirement", Paul Newsome left and a few others, I believe the only department head to stay was Russell Carr, who seems to have taken a backseat (demotion?)in styling now Donato Coco has appeared. Paul Newsome however seems to have landed on his feet and is heading up the C-X75 project at Jaguar, working with Williams to productionise the concept car with ex. Lotus styling guy Julian Thompson who now heads up Jaguars advanced concept design dept. I think the new Jaguar C-X75 will be a sensational car and am very much looking forwards to its release, alot more in fact than the new Esprit. http://www.f1pulse.c...ws_article.aspx Tony Shute's work with Caterham will be interesting though, cant wait to see what they come up with.

I think I heard Tony Rudd rolling over in his grave......