- Asian investors are urging Malaysia's state-controlled Proton to sell money-losing Group Lotus.
- Proton bought Lotus in 1996 and "has yet to make a profit," according to the Daily Mail.
- Among the prospective purchasers of Lotus is China's Shanghai Auto, which owns MG Rover.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Asian investors are urging Malaysia's state-controlled Proton to sell money-losing Group Lotus. Among the prospective purchasers, according to local media reports, is China's Shanghai Auto, which owns MG Rover.
Proton, which was established in 1983 as Malaysia's "national car company," bought Lotus in 1996 and "has yet to make a profit" on the tiny British sports-car and engineering firm, according to the U.K.'s Daily Mail. The losses are "likely to continue to at least 2014," the paper added.
Proton itself is in the early stages of separating from government control. A majority interest is expected to be sold in the coming year to one of Malaysia's larger conglomerates, possibly local automaker DRB-Hicom.
Meanwhile, Proton investors are becoming more vocal in calling for the sale of Lotus, which previously was owned by Italian industrialist Romano Artioli, who purchased the company from General Motors in 1993 and once envisioned Lotus as the perfect fit for his resurrected Bugatti (control of which subsequently shifted to Volkswagen).
In an interview with Bloomberg, Lotus CEO Dany Bahar said he was confident that Lotus could turn a profit by 2014: "The only thing we can do is show the current owners, or the new owners, that we are absolutely in line with the business plan that we have presented. Without the funding support and the guarantees given by the Proton group, we would not survive, end of story."
Bloomberg quoted one Malaysian investor in Proton as saying, "Proton and Lotus are not a good fit. They are in different market segments, both in terms of geography and product."
A Malaysian investment analyst added, "Proton is better off without Lotus. There are no product synergies."
Inside Line says: Lotus could be the next British marque to wind up in the hands of Chinese owners.
Add A Comment »
dllotus says:
12:19 PM, 01/11/2012
Wow, we have seen another act, of a 12 year old CEO OF LOTUS, the guy has driven the likes of success into the ground, one more time, the biggest mistake lotus owners have made is letting Dandy boy spend money and make too many decisions, This is what one person that has all the answers dose (((it don't work))) burn Dandy boys ideas down,
If you have a lotus sale it, the appeal is going down, we understand, the apple of a marketable item is based on its worth and the ability to get people to perceive the value as a needed item, were in the universe dose making this swizzle stick a great move, we are trying to get 12-22 year kids to buy cars and poor people, great job Dandy boy, some one screwed up giving Dandy boy the CEO job why we could have given him a job at Lotus but at the back of the room with no Desk, Pen or Paper.
dllotus says:
12:18 PM, 01/11/2012
Wow, we have seen another act, of a 12 year old CEO OF LOTUS, the guy has driven the likes of success into the ground, one more time, the biggest mistake lotus owners have made is letting Dandy boy spend money and make too many decisions, This is what one person that has all the answers dose (((it don't work))) burn Dandy boys ideas down,
If you have a lotus sale it, the appeal is going down, we understand, the apple of a marketable item is based on its worth and the ability to get people to perceive the value as a needed item, were in the universe dose making this swizzle stick a great move, we are trying to get 12-22 year kids to buy cars and poor people, great job Dandy boy, some one screwed up giving Dandy boy the CEO job why we could have given him a job at Lotus but at the back of the room with no Desk, Pen or Paper.
kjgood says:
05:41 AM, 01/03/2012
It took Malaysian analysts & investors 15 years to discover that "Proton and Lotus are not a good fit."? The trigger here is likely not such a ridiculously late realization, but the implications of the fact that "Proton itself is in the early stages of separating from government control."
Bahar may think that Lotus can turn a profit by 2014, but it's not easy to see how. With poor economic conditions in most of the important markets for Lotus, their fumbling around in the important US market, and their apparent delusional product expansion vision discussed in 4Q 2011 (everything from new Elans, a replacement for the Esprit, four door models, etc.), Lotus currently looks like a technically talented company that isn't sharply focused on product/marketing strategies.
Until they get a better handle on those latter considerations, the future doesn't look promising for Lotus. I have been a fan for many years, have driven several models from the "old" RWD Elan onwards, but never actually bought one. Their current efforts are much better sorted than the days when Lotus stood for "Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious" but their ergonomics are still a bad joke, their prices are very high and dealer support sparse. If I decided to buck-up for an Evora, the closest dealer is 150 miles away, and I don't live in the boonies either. That pretty much rules out any practical considerations of my owning one.
It's always going to be tough going for a small specialty maker like Lotus, so there is little room for error when comes to marketing the product. It won't make much difference who owns them and funds their efforts; they need to uplevel their game, or their only viable long-term future will be dependant on how long any new owners will support them before selling them off to someone else.