Lotus under new ownership

Anything goes in here.....
User avatar
Andrew C
Posts: 242
Joined: Sat May 05, 2007 12:36 am
Location: Edinburgh

Lotus under new ownership

Post by Andrew C » Wed May 24, 2017 12:15 am

Looking like the sale has gone through this time and Geely are the new owners of Lotus.
Andrew
Esprit V8
Exige S V6

User avatar
C7Steve
Posts: 4381
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 2:00 pm
Location: Aberdeen

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by C7Steve » Wed May 24, 2017 6:48 am


tenkfeet
Posts: 2338
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2005 10:02 pm
Location: Glasgow

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by tenkfeet » Wed May 24, 2017 7:34 am

Hale! Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co our new overlords. Will they fix my wobbly drivers seat?
No lotus
Exige Sport 350 (Sold)
Elise Cup 250 (Air con and radio tubby spec) (Sold)
Evora S (sold)

User avatar
campbell
Posts: 17191
Joined: Sat Mar 25, 2006 12:42 pm
Location: West Lothian
Contact:

Lotus under new ownership

Post by campbell » Wed May 24, 2017 10:03 am

Just hope J M Gales sticks around. Holding Group ownership doesn't always matter. Except they will like their holdings to make profit...
http://www.rathmhor.com | Coaching, training, consultancy

User avatar
thinfourth
Posts: 3177
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:06 pm
Location: Playing in the mud near aberdeen

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by thinfourth » Wed May 24, 2017 10:16 am

Oh this could be geely good

Sorry

It had to be done
Landrover 90 = Muddy shed spec
Fiat panda = Couldn't care less spec
Landrover ?? = Muddy shrek spec
Unimog 404S = Very slow silly offroader spec
Kubota F1900 = Snowplough spec

User avatar
Lazydonkey
Posts: 5137
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2005 6:24 pm
Location: Glasgow
Contact:

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by Lazydonkey » Wed May 24, 2017 10:21 am

Geely have been nothing but brilliant for Volvo and seem to be following the Tata model of handing over cash and letting them do what they do.

They've also been heavily using volvo tech to underpin their home market offerings.

I see this as a good thing for lotus.
i3s, Volvo and more pushbikes than strictly necessary.

....did i ever tell you about the Evora and VX220 i used to own?

User avatar
Lazydonkey
Posts: 5137
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2005 6:24 pm
Location: Glasgow
Contact:

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by Lazydonkey » Wed May 24, 2017 10:44 am

Now confirmed that although they have purchased just under 50% of Proton they are now the majority shareholder in Lotus with just over 50%.

Also....
“Reflecting our experience accumulated through Volvo Car’s revitalisation, we also aim to unleash the full potential of Lotus Cars and bring it into a new phase of development by expanding and accelerating the rolling out of new products and technologies.”
:thumbsup

EDIT: With regard to Gales and will he / won't he stay.....check out the volvo board of exec management team...
http://www.volvocars.com/intl/about/our ... ement-team

Lots of Volvo experience there with little evidence of Geely people being parachuted in to run the company (although they are evident at the layer above)
i3s, Volvo and more pushbikes than strictly necessary.

....did i ever tell you about the Evora and VX220 i used to own?

User avatar
Lazydonkey
Posts: 5137
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2005 6:24 pm
Location: Glasgow
Contact:

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by Lazydonkey » Wed May 24, 2017 11:03 am

Great post from NedaSay on TLF
Personally I do hope JMG will be kept at the helm, he's done a great job on a limited budget and does have a plan that is not only doable but financially sound. During is short tenure at Peugeot the group struggled but he successfully launched DS which is doing very well. Lotus is doing well enough.

The good news is that Lotus will now be part of a much bigger group with its own tech. Geely produced last year under their own brand some 750k cars so if you add Volvo's 500k, that's 1.2M cars sold worldwide, 500k of which are premium cars displaying a very impressive array of cabin and engine technology.

Geely has developed its GETEC engine line in the past 4 years and has access to Volvo Drive E. More interestingly if Drive-E is limited to for cylinders, the GETEC range has everything Lotus may want to play with from a 1.5l TGDI to a modern 3.5l all aluminium V6 with TGDI fully compliant with Euro V regulations, so with a bit of fettling from Volvo and Lotus would make it to Euro VI and. So one could imagine a "Drive-Eed" V6. Geely has its own gearbox manufacturer called DSI - based in Australia, formally part of Borg Warner which produce a 6 speed DCT and is working on a 7 speed DCT. Geely and Volvo have the wiring loom Lotus so desperately needs and access to some of the best first tier OEM suppliers in Asia not to mention state of the art factories and engineering centres in both China and Sweden. So if you had Hethel to the mix they should get some very impressive tech to play with.



When it comes to the engine it is similar in size and displacement, here are the specs (looking for more info on that):

Engine Technology 6- Cylinder in V-Configuration (V6), DOHC, 24V, VVT - code name JLV-6G35V
Engine Capacity (cc)‎: ‎3456
Max Power‎: ‎275 hp @ 6200 rpm
Max. Torque‎: ‎326 Nm @ 4700 rpm
So Lotus only needs to get working on it and could have it ready for implementation on the Evora and Exige in a year or so, they could also decide to let Exige and Evora current models use the Toyota powertrain until they are replaced, that would happen in 2021 and 2022 according to the plan before the acquisition. Geely is also a very pragmatic manufacturer that did not rush things at Volvo, they knew they needed time and let the Ford supply deal last until the Drive-E engines were ready to go. Despite the existence of DSI they also have a relationship with AISIN thru Volvo that provides the 8 speed auto, So it appears to me that they want to get the products right therefore I don't think we'll get to see the Elise before 2019-2020. We may get another deep refresh for Evora focussing on cabin tech.

The good news is Lotus will now get to be crown the jewel I believe they deserve to be, and if Geely say they are going to unleash the brand it may get very interesting, Lotus is set to jump into a new market segment.

Oh and last bit of good news Geely believes in Motorsport, Volvo is allowed to compete in WTCC while Geely runs the local F4 championship so Lotus Motorsport may be revived before too long.
i3s, Volvo and more pushbikes than strictly necessary.

....did i ever tell you about the Evora and VX220 i used to own?

User avatar
campbell
Posts: 17191
Joined: Sat Mar 25, 2006 12:42 pm
Location: West Lothian
Contact:

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by campbell » Wed May 24, 2017 2:14 pm

Inspiring stuff.
http://www.rathmhor.com | Coaching, training, consultancy

User avatar
rossybee
Posts: 10976
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:13 pm
Location: Now fully entered into the fold!
Contact:

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by rossybee » Wed May 24, 2017 2:27 pm

Lazydonkey wrote:Geely have been nothing but brilliant for Volvo and seem to be following the Tata model of handing over cash and letting them do what they do.

They've also been heavily using volvo tech to underpin their home market offerings.

I see this as a good thing for lotus.
100% concur.

I've seen no dilution of swedishness with the Volvo product (I wonder if they saw what GM did to SAAB and learned a lesson), so see no reason why they should dabble any more with Lotus and their Lotusness.

They'll have paid for the company, and its skilled and knowledgeable workforce, so why dilute?

As long as the money comes in for the shareholders all concerned should be happy.
Ross
---------
1972 Alfaholics Giulia Super
2000 Elise S1 Sport 160
2004 Bentley Conti GT

Now browsing the tech pages :mrgreen:

:cheers

User avatar
Corranga
Posts: 4377
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 5:43 pm
Location: Fundee, Sundee, SCUMDEE!

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by Corranga » Wed May 24, 2017 2:46 pm

Exciting times and all that. Will be really interesting to watch things change over the next few years.

Really like what they did with Volvo, especially considering Volvo were perhaps 1 step away from just being rebadged Fords!!
'16 MINI Cooper S - Family fun hatch
'98 Lotus Elise - Fun day car
'07 Fiat Panda 100HP - Daily puddle jumper
'04 Maserati Coupe GT - Manual, v8, Italian...

User avatar
campbell
Posts: 17191
Joined: Sat Mar 25, 2006 12:42 pm
Location: West Lothian
Contact:

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by campbell » Wed May 24, 2017 6:30 pm

I only have eyes for an Elise S4 :-)

Cmon JMG get the finger out
http://www.rathmhor.com | Coaching, training, consultancy

User avatar
cjm
Posts: 305
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2006 10:02 pm
Location: Glasgow

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by cjm » Thu May 25, 2017 9:25 am

What are the current four cylinder Volvo engines like? I assume a new Elise could end up with one?
Colin
10-15 S2 Elise 111S
17-23 S1 Evora

User avatar
Sanjøy
Posts: 8808
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:23 pm
Location: Edinburgh Hamptons

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by Sanjøy » Thu May 25, 2017 12:21 pm

With Volvo fully committed to leccy then next Elise HAS to be fully leccy.
W213 All Terrain

User avatar
tut
Barefoot Ninja
Posts: 22975
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:53 pm
Location: Tut End, Glen of Newmill

Re: Lotus under new ownership

Post by tut » Thu May 25, 2017 12:44 pm

Thank god I will never find out.

tut

Post Reply