Lotus Answers Rumors about Company's Future

Lotus is responding to the numerous rumors swirling around the company's future with one of the weirdest, most aggressive press releases in quite some time. Specifically it posted a photo on its web site from the British automotive humor site Sniff Petrol showing boss Dany Bahar saying there are no problems at Lotus.  It also took jabs at the Caterham F1 Team and the Caterham Group boss Tony Fernandes. 

Lotus says that Behar is still the company's CEO and Dato’ Sri Syed is still managing director of Proton. It blames rumors to the contrary on Tony Fernandes who tweeted about the Lotus Group. Lotus then took a stab at Fernandes saying in its press release: "Perhaps he’s [Fernandes] still frustrated about owning Caterham instead of Lotus and the fact that he fights HRT and Marussia instead of Mercedes and Ferrari in F1."

"And whilst we’re on the subject of jokes - do you know the latest F1 joke? Mike Gascoyne, Caterham Group’s Chief Technical Officer, has gone missing. Why? He’s looking for the 30 to 40 points he predicted for the last F1 season. Funny."

That is interesting coming from a team that just had its sponsorship taken away from inability to pay. However, Lotus discusses that as well in the press release. It says that its owner Proton has provided a £30 million loan to Genii Capital that will guarantee Group Lotus as the title sponsor for Team Lotus F1  through 2017. Proton has the right to buy 10% of the the Formula 1 team as part of the loan and another 10% if Genii Capital defaults on the loan. 

Lotus blames some of these rumors about its role with Team Lotus F1 on Joe Saward who is a writer on Formula 1 and also a director for the Caterham Group.

Finally, Lotus claims that it is not going into administration, but admits that the buyout of Proton by DRB-HICOM, "couldn't have come at a worse time." 

"At no point has DRB-HICOM indicated to Group Lotus that it intends to put the company into administration. The over-active rumour mill is seriously damaging our business reputation, image and credibility but it is what it is," said Lotus in its press release. 

Lotus says that is still on track with its five-year plan to sell 8,000 cars a year and invest $750 million in new models by 2014. 

These rumors started today when several automotive news sites in the UK began reporting on problems within Lotus. Specifically, that the company would be sold now that Proton has been privitized. The sites said that Bahar was currenly on leave from the company. 

Lotus F1 Team Removes Sponsorship with Group Lotus

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