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Lotus is planning to shake-up its brand strategy, and indeed its
heritage, as it abandons its lightweight focus and take aim at premium
competitors the likes of Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin.
Lotus calls this “the dawn of a new era”.
This new era will see the traditional and somewhat simplistic focus
dropped in favour of using more complex, more expensive and more
upmarket processes in the manufacturing of future Lotuses.
That said, the current lightweight Lotus
range will survive, at least for now. It is only the future model that
will employ the new philosophy. That is all Lotus has revealed for now,
but the brand is expected to divulge more information at the Paris Motor
Show in September.
Furthermore, there are plans to make
Lotus profitable within the next five years. Lotus has not made a profit
for owners Proton since it was bought in 1996. Cahirman of Proton and
Lotus Datuk Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh has said Lotus will be building its
new cars under a new motto – “Tomorrow’s sport car, today”.
In future we can expect seven-speed twin
clutch transmissions, active aerodynamics, continuously variable
dampers, hybrid systems designed to extend range and even heads-up
displays.
In order to fast-track Lotus to the
luxury sports car segment, the brand has made some key appointments.
Former Ferrari man Dany Bahar is now the Lotus CEO, while another
ex-Ferrari person, Donato Coco has joined the fray. With them are
Andreas Schlegel, Andreas Prillmann, Robert Hentschel and Frank Tuch,
all from varying luxury sports car companies. Article courtesy CarsInAction.net
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