Lotus has announced the appointment of Donato Coco as the Group’s Director of Design. In this newly created position, Mr Coco will lead all design activities for Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering. He will assume the role on 4 January 2010.
The Italian was previously Director of Design and Development at Ferrari where he worked on the F430 Scuderia coupé and Spider 16M, Ferrari California, 599XX and the freshly launched F458 Italia. Prior to Ferrari, Donato was Chief Designer at Citroën and was responsible for the Picasso, C3, C3 Pluriel, C2, C1 and the Xsara WRC, amongst others. Coco holds an MA in Automotive Design from the Royal College of Art, London.
Head of Lotus Design, Russell Carr will continue to work on both Lotus products and third party design work, an area which is growing rapidly especially in emerging Asian markets such as China.
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lotus sudah mula mengganas……
hope to see more variation of sport cars from lotus
no other person is suit well for the post.
Hmmmm….. next….. Proton… Lotus Handling… Ferrari aerodynamic…. :)
I hope it will do well to proton as well
Nate De Coco
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
Aiyo…why can't they make Lotus as our national car like Proton and Pero2 and sell them at affordable prices.
Good for Lotus is good for Proton.
Since lotus is part of proton.. any chance of him slaping his stuff on proton cars??
Imagine if this ltalian can design like F458 Italia LOTUS inside out? Kudos Lotus.
Hopefully Donato can speed up Lotus volume through very decent design and more practical Lotus cars.
Lotus seems to be on a shopping spree too lately. Before this was Danny Bahar. What's up with Ferrari? Not much fun anymore? This man Coco really set the future design trend for Citroen cars. Not the Ferrari thou…not for me at least.
But it just made me wonder, where did they (Lotus Car) get all the mo-neys for all these guys?
But it just made me wonder, where did they (Lotus Car) get all the mo-neys for all these guys?
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Lotus is making money now. If not enough, can also ask from Proton lah..
Sports car designer can design F1 car?
Currently, Proton is hiring an ex-BMW manager (ex-BMW's RnD) for their product quality depart. or smthing.
And the guy was a legend in BMW Munich HQ. Proton is moving forward and thats a good news. THUMB UP!!
Source: my housemate working inside Proton..Heheh
lotus adaksMs said,
December 16, 2009 @ 5:23 pm
Lotus seems to be on a shopping spree too lately. Before this was Danny Bahar. What’s up with Ferrari? Not much fun anymore? This man Coco really set the future design trend for Citroen cars. Not the Ferrari thou…not for me at least.
But it just made me wonder, where did they (Lotus Car) get all the mo-neys for all these guys?
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lotus merupakan anak syarikat PROTON.proton beli lotus dulu time lotus ada masalah kewangan.. hutang2 lotus proton dah bayar..so,skrang nih RnD lotus menggunakan duit proton,termasuklah semua perbelanjaan lain..
Fabregas, good source you have. Haha.
Anyway, didn't Proton hired that guy who sells a zillion MX-5 from Mazda? What has happen to him?
If i am not mistaken Lotus is already profitable. They seem to be on an expansion plan . I think they may have realised that their strength is in consultation work, not in making cars.Throught their history they have been strong in this field but their cars seem to be not as well put together as their German rival.They also lacked the italian flair in design.
Now I know why i always keep dreaming my Gen2 only day will be a true sport car…
Folks, pls help to say to me just keep dreaming lah until 80 years old… what to do, I not earn that much…
waa….some more surprising maa…
emm..this time they really take big step foward.
aiyoo.. so many words need to put into protons bumper then.. lotus handling, italian design, german quality.. enough space or not?
Maybe if proton want to hired this guy he will refuse due to proton reputation and that why they use lotus as a cover so that this guy will joint the group. Hopefully this guy can help proton to make a good design & reliable car.
mirror-mirror said,
December 16, 2009 @ 5:01 pm
Aiyo…why can’t they make Lotus as our national car like Proton and Pero2 and sell them at affordable prices.
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What's the point? The point of a Lotus is exclusivity and performance. The brand is cheapened la if they make cheap Lotus. That's why Volkswagen uses Lamborghini parts to make the Audi R8. If they make the R8 as a cheap Lambo, then Lambo's brand is cheapened la…
Lotus handling, Ferrari design, Citroen suspension. :-)
I would rather they poached Frank Stephenson from McLaren. He's the one behind the really good stuff coming from Italy( F430, Fiat 500, etc), before he went off to macca.
handsome boy!!!!!hahahaha
epol said,
December 16, 2009 @ 6:56 pm
aiyoo.. so many words need to put into protons bumper then.. lotus handling, italian design, german quality.. enough space or not?
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No need…. just put "Continental Built" or "European Drive" that's it….
Design by Ferrari, handling by Lotus, price by Proton, hmm…what a great package..
I hope proton will be hire someone like this guy in the future.so that our next proton model will be very stylish,nice looking and desirable.it is gud for marketing.
aksMs : The 'father' of Miata MX-5 is Bob Hall. I think he's still with Proton. And he likes roti canai for breakfast ;)
i hope this helps proton as well…perhaps he can help to design the new perdana/persona/waja…rather than asking giugaro
just now, i like Proton style.. they are very low profile.
Proton is doing well..
just like Fiat those own Ferrari.
They didn't slap fiat badge on Ferrari and that's the same what the Proton did too!.
Ok what!?
Who is actually going to pay the final bill of this LotusF1 team? Tony Fernandes or tax payers?
tokmoh said,
December 16, 2009 @ 9:37 pm
aksMs : The ‘father’ of Miata MX-5 is Bob Hall. I think he’s still with Proton. And he likes roti canai for breakfast ;)
Why not ask him how to design better Proton, inside out. Say, Exora pretty OK exterior; but ugly 90-ish interior. These guys can do better than Giugiaro-Bertone l guess.
Fusing F458-exemplary Miata MX-5-Lotus handling-Danny Bahar-etc will boost Proton image. Remember Kia did well due to strong design of Kia Ceed.
is Bob Hall still driving an old Saga like he requested when joining Proton?
"Head of Lotus Design, Russell Carr will continue to work on both Lotus products and third party design work, an area which is growing rapidly especially in emerging Asian markets such as China."
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Has Proton engaged them for 3rd party design for any of their models?
mystvearn said,
December 17, 2009 @ 12:21 am
Who is actually going to pay the final bill of this LotusF1 team? Tony Fernandes or tax payers?
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???????????…..U're lost Bro. Sudah jauh tersesat ni….
Sharfox said,
December 17, 2009 @ 11:14 am
mystvearn said,
December 17, 2009 @ 12:21 am
Who is actually going to pay the final bill of this LotusF1 team? Tony Fernandes or tax payers?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
???????????…..U’re lost Bro. Sudah jauh tersesat ni….
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nevermind laa out of topic pon, he doesn't really care as long can bash bash bash
bob hall is still driving the old saga…he never went up but went down…
Proton will come out with 1 model every year post 2011 (correct me if i am wrong). the R&D for lotus may/ may not resulted better road car for lotus as they had set a very high standard of minimizing kerb weight.
Hope they can use proton cars as thier playing ground. I admit newer proton has acceptable chasis strength but lack of engine technology & control.
Petronas EO1, how are you? Are you still locked in Petronas closet?
My point: Dear Lotus team, whatever… just make sure we will have additional "stewardess" in Air Asia X! hahahahahah! Aww!