During our phone conversation with Tony Fernandes a few days ago, he told us that the team wasn’t really sure if they wanted to have “half a team”. He was could have been referring to a situation if they continued using the Team Lotus name and another team called “Lotus-Renault” was on the grid as well.
Then last night, Tony tweeted the above – “So we are going into final stretch of name change. Do we keep or do we start brand new identity. Pls let me know.” Of course I don’t think he meant 100% removing the Lotus name – the final stretch of name change probably referred to the potential change from Lotus Racing to Team Lotus, the name he and his partners Din and Nasa acquired from David Hunt. But now it’s obvious he’s potentially considering giving in to the whole fiasco and calling the team something else next season.
We tried asking him in the phone interview what his other choices of names would be but didn’t really get an answer… let’s wait and see what happens.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Just call it Team Lotus Restaurant!.. end of story… cheaper maa… no need to turun naik court.
Lotus Restaurant will be more than willing to lend their name for free.. or they even willing to pay for the chance to put their restaurant name in F1.
this lotus restaurant joke is lame already lah bhai…
just call it what ever tony want lah as long as he can beat that lotus-renaultF1 and earn a bragging right after each race next season
HAHAHA Good one. Use what ever hell of a name u want la, As long as show some results on the TARMAC not COURT.
or Team Curry F1 or Team Tony Curry F1 or Team Malaysian Indian F1
Lotus-Renault F1 and Team Lotus Racing name is perfectly great start 2011 season again. What so difficult to playing around with initial names and now up in the FIA court ?? Hello, you are not heading for divorce case, ok ? Dumbass Gomen forever.
this is motorsport la not about restaurant la….
I think better for Tony to sell the name right to Group Lotus and wait till Group Lotus goes bankrupt then sell with a token of 1 ringgit . Dejavu like his airlines.
i don’t think he is that fool person…wait Group lotus sell 1 ringgit is vr possible since our malaysia style govt link company like AirAsia (DRB-hicom), Agusta (Proton) famous sold rm1….now u see they r vr lame…don’t expect much from Proton/Group lotus…but u can expect more great achievement and surprise from Tune or Air Asia…
Pls don’t use Team Air Asia, please.
Get Power Root to get involved.
Tongkat Ali may do as well
Get out from all mess and give your team a new name
1Malaysia
Altantuya
motoring sans politics, can?
I guess you guys do not understand what I said. “motoring sans politics” – can we have fun with motoring without talking about politics in the same tone?
i dont think it can be without politics when this all started with this najib regime sticking the 1malaysia logo on the f1 team. u know that, bro :)
Barisan Nasional F1 Team
Fernandez F1 , talk about narcism, but its got a nice ring to it…..
technically u cant call ur team with F1 in it… maybe call it Fernandes1… akin to ForceIndia…
just my suggestion
I see what you did there. Hehehe. Cheeky.
Maybe it would be better to rename it Fernandes AirAsia Racing Team (FART)
priceless!
Fernandes AirAsia Racing Team- Renault, FARTeR
Good one…. hahaha….
so useless not helping and not recommended. but its a good laugh… hahahahaa…
No use throwing in the towel. Don’t give up until
you have exhausted every avenue.
You have contributed so much to the Lotus branding
and yet right under your nose you have Dany Bahar and DSZ
trying to arm wrestle you. All the best TF & team on your quest for excellence !!
Tony Fernandes asked for money from PROTON if want to give-up the LOTUS name, if want to settle it outside the court
u can read Jean-Louis Moncet comment in his blog
http://blog.autoplus.fr/moncet
“c’est aussi une question d’argent pour la guerre Lotus Cars et Tony Fernandes en F1. L’affaire se joue en Malaisie comme vous le savez et je crois savoir que Tony a demandé un chèque pour laisser tomber le nom de Lotus. Plus il s’acharne, plus le chèque sera important : voilà ce qui se dit chez Renault”
Contributed much to Lotus branding? Don’t think so….being at the back of the pack, with limited time showing on tv (the only time the were on tv was during start n when being overlapped) don’t count as contributing to Lotus brand name…. in fact it was lotus brand that contributed a lot to enable the team to be formed… cuz without the lotus name i dun think FIA will let them in cuz they’ll left with Litespeed name….
just change its name towards more malaysian like…teratai racing purhaps?…hehehe apalah yg best sgt nama lotus ni
Pasukan Lumba Teratai ?
aaaaah, help.. I’m being nonsense….
Haiz… spent so much money to buy Team-Lotus name then cannot use it ah? What a waste man.. Wait for court decision la…..then decide… If still can’t no choice lo.. use 1Malaysia team also ok what? Anyway there is no lotus component in the car also so what the hell…
screw lotus. get the team a new name boss. something macho and muscular.
Just drop the name & get Dany Bahar plus the whole Proton board to wear skirt next year ..chance to do more charity ;)
Paultan Racing Team
Teratai Team
omg the amount of fun I could have with this :)
yeah, not that funny anymore. few months back, you’ll a blast.
Just use Team Lotus , that’s the whole point of purchasing the rights in the first place right . If put Teh Tarik F1 , the angmo/lotus supporter will sure get very angry ,
Mr Tony, pls retain ‘lotus racing’ team name somehow. I believe u have that moral obligation to Mr David Hunt to retain the lotus name. Ignore proton, and those bashers. If u guys read the full story from Mr David Hunt, i’l be surprised if there’s any1 still supporting proton in this feud!
there a lot of ppl will be supporting the real lotus over this matter if they really bought into current renault team…. especially those britons who was once very proud of lotus…. they will surely support Lotus team that will get points n possibbly challenge for title rather than the lotus team that racing at the back of the pack and potentially will ruin the reputation of the legendary lotus team name….
real LOTUS?
OMG here we go again…
here’s the simple fact… GROUP LOTUS plc NEVER enter or compete in F1 before
TEAM LOTUS is the one that have enter and compete in F1..
GROUP LOTUS plc and TEAM LOTUS plc is different entity
so in FORMULA 1, who is real F1?
we talk about F1 not road car here
damn typo…
here’s my question again..
in FORMULA 1, who is REAL LOTUS?
TEAM LOTUS or GROUP LOTUS plc?
Totally agree with that. You might been given thumbs down but at least you knew the facts not like others typical Malaysians,bashing blindly without knowing the true history of Team Lotus and Group Lotus. Haiyo Please do some researchin the net before making nonsense comments regarding Lotus.
tony might own the name team lotus, but lotus group is still the manufacturer of the car. if tony goes to f1 next year without permission, its misrepresentation especially if lotusgroup/proton gets into F1 themselves.. if he use the name team lotus for a motorbike team, he’d probably get away with it.
Keep the name! Keep fighting against that greedy and potential big conman Dany Bahar!!!!!
you forget that lotus under danny bahar through proton gave tony permission to use the lotus name in the form of lotus racing in the first place which is how they got into F1 in the first place. so why didnt tony just continue to use lotus racing? instead, without informing lotus or proton, he announced he doesnt need them anymore, coz he bought team lotus.. seems kinda ungrateful if you ask me.
Seem like you really don’t understand the situation. Actually Tony got the permission before Dany Bahar came to Group Lotus. When Dany become CEO, the first thing he want to do is to terminate the licensing of Lotus Racing because he felt he want to make Lotus cars like Ferrari. Tony aware of Dany intention, so he went to David Hunt who actually by U.K law owns the Team Lotus name. Please search in the net about this matter. Don’t be typical Malaysian bashing blindly.
I suggest that Tony look for a title sponsor from China and get a Chinese as 3rd driver. (
Then, rebrand/reposition the team as China’s home team.
That would be counter productive, right? You see, say whatever you want, Tony is a proud Malaysian. It just that there are some people who hates him and his achievement and this people will do anything to destroy him.
This is the problem with us Malaysian, there is too much ‘dengki’.
proton dengki TF hoggin all the f1 limelight, kan? so that is why they want to tarik balik the Lotus name. isnt that right?
No you dickhead, Dany Bahar (current Group Lotus CEO) is the one with own agenda for his own Lotus F1 team. Proton only a pak turut.
The ones “hoggin all the F1 limelight” are Ape-lonso’s cheating team order strat, and against all odds, Vettel became the champion.
haha! you dont tok kok lah! sejak bila proton listen to ppl other than dr M and themselves?!
Vettel wins fair and square! Alanciao can go ride the ferarri roller coaster by himself!
nothing to do with dengki la, this issue. Lotus did not do terribly well this year. Frankly, Tony just want to ride on Lotus’ name. Which is business-wise, perfectly legit. But when the real Lotus (the motorcar manufacturers) owners want to use the name, Tony doesn’t act like a gentleman.
wah! suddenly all the former lotus f1 fanboys admit that lotus did not have a great season?! walao eh, you lot really are a bunch of fairweather fans! proton claim they own the rights to the name and want to take it to renault terus you all jump ship! despicable!
Hei Tony, better U use Team ‘Cherry’ and use cherry engine next year.
Otherwise use Team Naza and use Citra engine or Rondo engine.
i say ditch lotus name.no point having two teams of the same name.team lotus?lotus racing?what about tune racing?zune racing?naza & tune collaboration.
Tony, please sue Lotus/Proton for the whole debacle. I’ll be cheering for you when you win in court and when your team obliterates Proton on the track. Kick Nadzmi’s sorry ass back into the NEP hole from which he crawled out of.
I think TF should change the team name from Lotus Racing. Since next year, it will be with Renault, how about:
1. Tune-Renault Racing (TRR)
2. Renault-Tune Racing (RTR)
3. Tune Group-Renault (TGR)
4. Tune-Renault-Team (TRT)
Not sure if you want to use:
1. Air Asia-Renault (AAR)
2. Air Asia Racing (AAR)
3. Air Asia Renault Racing (AARR)
Feel free to use or mismatch the words to come out with something better
Tune Racing Development –> TRD
i think everyone is missing the big picture here. TF need to have the Lotus name next year.
They have already won 10th place in the constructor’s list and that brings in alot of money.
If they dont use the Lotus name then they will not be allowed their share of the money from FIA
Eg : This year BMW Sauber has sold the team back to Peter Sauber but they Sauber team still has to use the BMW name to if or else they will not receive their money from FIA
So the end result is what Lotus team TF wants to use. They may not use Team Lotus anymore but the LOTUS name must be there if not alot of $$$$$$$$$$$ will go down the drain.
Guys please correct me if i am wrong !
yup…he should try at the same time can promote his company to the world…at least can minimize the free advertisement to Proton even Headache with them about the name issue…Proton seem like a Devil…Firstly nice to u then after that Kena lah u non stop attacking u…this kind of doing business won’t go any far & success….even 25% still no power to control the Renault team only something like Petronas as title sponsor not a big deal…But Proton hurt a lot to the brand…even win / loss in the court like tony mentioned really hurt the brand name even Proton mostly will be the 1 going to lose after all…Proton claim too much that not belong to them…confuse the media & ppl… always pointing finger at AirAsia & NAZA bosses their hurting the brand name…in real world they make Lotus alive & win 10th spot as best new team from zero to hv such achievement in 1-2 yr time…Now Tony & his partner get the honour…
Yes. That correct based on Concorde Agreement if I’m not mistake till 2012.
Not necessarily. If the other theams agree to the name change then they are still able to receive the funds.
Team Lotus Tune or Team Lotus AirAsia.
Please add Genting, OldTown, Maybank, etc all Malaysia companies to give 1 hell of a show! That will be cool! 1Malaysia team totally!
proton and petronas sepatutnyer joint sekali, baru la jadi 1malaysia, apa sudah jadi ni.. i hate corporation politic… they can’t be one.. tiada semagat kenegaraan langsung.. buat aper ada banyak team f1 yg ada perkataan malaysia tp tak berjaya, lebih baik ada satu team malaysia yg sangat berdaya saing. betul tak? tak kesah la teknologi dari mana atau di buat di mama, janji kita bersatu.. ya?
why should a global company like petronas want to team with a 2 bit small time car rebadger like proton who can only compete in a protected car market?
they can help each other.. to be one, even petronas have they share in proton.. even both under kazanah… ya?
It would be wise for Tony and the gang to choose different route… giving up Lotus name doesn’t mean losing any track position in F1 grid… and please stop all the Lotus gratitude message… it means nothing unless you won a championship…
As a profound businessman Tony should have followed what Red Bull and Virgin is doing… by promoting own brand… doesn’t matter if it is Air Asia Racing or 1Malaysia Racing (or like William, name your team as Fernandes F1)… as long as it is your brand and by doing so you will create your own legacy rather than re-joining a legacy that’s not of your creation…(and probably involved in a legal tussle)
Although I’m not a fan 2010 Lotus Racing, as 1Malaysian I’m proud of what has been done by Tony and the gang…kudos…
well, since team lotus was established by Colin Chapman, why dun call it Chapman Racing
How come nobody ever mention about naza? Nasa pay his part also what.
true but it just doesn’t sound good nasa / naza ….
yes, he probably pays the most as well.
which is the most undeveloped country ever to host formula 1?
Malaysia!
F1 Airbus Racing Team (FART)..since u mr.tony got alot of airbus airplanes..then if u’r lucky airbus bg free A380 sebijik by promoting their brand…hahahaha..
now f1 car also can fly :)
Just use Team Lotus if possible.. use an establish name could attract more sponsorship from a big co. More money, will be more competitive year for the team.
No worthwhile sponsor would get involved with a team that potentially has a legal battle ahead of it. Sell the Team Lotus brand back to Group Lotus.
Fernandez Airasia Race Team aka FART. Not only the name has a nice ring to it, it also smells good.
HUNT can NOT sell the rights to “Team Lotus” Clive Chapman, Colin Chapman’s son has them & will NOT sell them !!!!!!!!!
Tony is now “prep-ing” the ground for a name change that will be forced on him.
Mike/Liverpool UK
Sorry but Hunt legally bought the rights to Team Lotus when the team went into administration in 1994. He even did 2 F1 races at the end of 1994 under his ownership.
If I’m not mistaken. Its Classic Team Lotus that Clive Chapman owned. The Team Lotus had been sold in 1994 by the administrator when Team Lotus went bankrupt. David Hunt bought the name legally.
Hunt bought it and what? 16 years later made some cash buy selling it to Tony. He did not maintain the name throughout those years. Lotus group on the other hand, had made Elise, 11-7, Evora, sponsored club races, trackdays, did marketing to uphold the brand. Proton never did sold a made in Malaysia car as a Lotus. Proton maintained production in UK. Employed UK people. Proton works the brand coz they know it’s worth more than money. Hunt sold it off for money.
get your self another name lar tony. be a man with telor.
you are not manufacturing any car, so why you want to associates your team with another team, the one that really make and sell sport cars. if you use lotus name, you are like those ah beng who drive wira, but change the bumper, put spoiler, and stick the mitsu evo emblem on the bonet. dont be a wanna be, be a winner beb!
name it tune team or airasia team or tony team or whatever.
btw, i dont travel with airasia coz to me the service is sucks. sell maggi me for RM7?
y not use naza racing, naza produce the road car… or naza world racing, so naza can sell @ export they car worldwide. setuju ka?
Team Lotus-Renault (TLR). Just don’t put ‘racing’.
Just to add 2 cent, GLC company doesn’t really have smart and creative peoples to run the show exceptional by injecting more $$$ to buy expensive and worthless assets or property that doesn’t generate economic into fruition.
well that is down to the glc only hiring ppl for what they are instead what they are able to do.
Proton acquiring Lotus is a very smart decision..it has enabled them to produce their own engine and cars with excellent handling from the technology transfer….cherry is doing the same by buying volvo..Tata buying jaguar…on what ground did you made such statement???your 2 cents doesnt worth it…
You are speaking out of context, my fren. It’s a thinkable that Tata have bought Jaguar and Land Rover to expanding their motor empire. If Proton is sooooo smart, why they are still acquiring other tech like Mitsubishi and Renault instead to build on their own ? Plussssssss…….they shouldn’t have bought MV Agusta in the first place. Wrong move, smartass.
of which model of proton now has excellent handling??
Most Protons today handle better than its rival. Have you driven one lately. Have driven a Waja? Satria Neo? Let’s not even talk about the old Satria GTI ass that was simply amazing.
Even the Proton Exora is surprisingly very good in the handling dept.
Just try one first.
Get a name where you will have strong backing and support and without so much lotus fuss in Malaysia. A name like Apa-nama Racing Team (ART) sounds perfect and nobody will ever stab your back again…except for one maybe.
Proton don’t bother so much about this b4.
But once Danny is in, he manage to convince Proton the important of lotus name.
He want to boost lotus merchandise which is what Tony wanted to do as well.
To me, Proton will got nothing from this, they always being taken for granted. What a PITY!!!!
how about this name?
“Semua OK Malaysia Boleh?”
don’t know if you guys are reading the news…but for those who is thinking what on earth Proton is doing wanting to buy RenaultF1, this is from The Star today
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/17/business/7444300&sec=business
i guess the RenaultF1 stake is part of the deal to get into Renault-Nissan alliance which is definitely a step in the right direction for Proton then…..
they dun wan mitsu anymore? oh my
My suggestion is , MY F1 Racing Team……
MY = Malaysia F1
MY= Me, you, all ppl F1 Facing team….
Much more Better then Lotus name …..
But Without the Lotus Name , they might lose a lot brocast n F1 fee
keep d LOTUS name Tony
Tony,
You can get the name, the court may allow you use the name… but you’ll never get the soul.
We have to remember that TF & gang were using Lotus’ name and heritage for the team, not the other way round. And no part of their race car has any Lotus engineering input.
The people team mr fern says hahaha. Then why still worrying about the name, call it the Rakyat Team if u dare. The people team my shoe.
Use Cili Padi Racing lor… hot n spicy d mat salleh sure need CPR after ate one… mah mah mah
To those guys who keep supporting Tony Fernandes, you guys are his testimonials of GREAT SUCCESS (Like Borat always said) brand enhancement strategy.
Tony is a businessman. Like Richard Branson, like Dietrich Mateschitz. They want to build a strong team to put their brand on the cars. Successful brand associates itself with successful event and teams.
But not many people follow and see Tony’s antics in the past 8 years (since Air Asia’s inception into local aviation industry).
Remember route rationalization plan? MAS was bleeding cash in billions some years ago. Air Asia was looking very strong at that moment. Tony talked to the government, and ended up being handed some unprofitable routes in Sabah and Sarawak (at least that’s what he said). The actual plan was, Tony only wanted new AOC (Air Operator’s Certificate) to operate his new long haul airline, Air Asia X.
Air Asia can’t fly to certain route as there’re some requirements set by the government to protect MAS. By acquiring an airline (AOC under MAS) Tony got his free AOC without going through the hassle of applying and lobbying at the Department of Civil Aviation and local politician. Applying an AOC is a very tedious and time consuming process. Handing out new permit for new airline is not as easy as creating new permit for buses or taxis. You have to check the new airline’s financial standings, it’s engineering and maintenance facilities etc.
So end up, when Tony told the whole world he will run the rural air services in Sabah and Sarawak and vow to make them profitable, everyone believed. See, after few months, he appeal to the government to talk to MAS to take it back. Take it back from me please. And of course. He got away with an AOC.
Remember Fly Asian Express ( FAX) ? Or we call in Faux Asian Express. In the end, under pressure from Ministry of Transport, MAS has to take back all the Fokkers and Twin Otters which some of them were cannibalized for parts (never happened when RAS was in MAS hand before route rationalization program)
Then DCA has to issue another AOC for MAS new subsidiary, MASWings. MASWings, being wholly owned by MAS, which is a GLC, has to bear the repair cost of unservicable aircraft. At who’s money?? All of us la..the tax payers. Dont be so dumb.
We all know, how badly Tony wants the old Subang Airport because of its close proximity to the city? We all know all the residents of nearby area are against reopening of Subang Airport because of noise issue?
Tony make some noise that his airline cannot survive if they are operating from Main Terminal Building of KLIA. So okay, government build a temporary LCCT for him.
Then the new airline come out. Firefly. Firefly get the old Subang Airport as their home base even though with only turboprop aircraft. Tony was very disappointed at this. When Firefly starts making some money and many travellers starting to appreciate the convenience of using a city airport, Tony was worried about Air Asia’s competitiveness on local Peninsular and Singapore routes.
So he requested to the government again. To no avail.
Then he came out with his very funny and ridiculous idea of building his own LCCT in Labu, negeri sembilan and managed to pierce a ring on Sime Darby’s bosses nose and pull them into his own soap opera. Not to forget Negeri Sembilan Mentri Besar, Mohamad Hasan. Bodoh betul kan orang UMNO. He said he cant stand current LCCT as it is too small and he’s running out of space to park his buses at KLIA.
Everyone who are sane and learn economics know it’s a joke. But many people, the layman, fall for his word and false predicament. He said he can build the airport for less than RM 2 billion. What a joke. Freaking Joke. Runway alone cost more than 100 million. Plus, the distance was a joke too. Only 30 km from KLIA. aiyaaaa…
At this point i cant stand his drama anymore.
Have to defer aircraft deliveries because of scarcity of parking space in KLIA? What a dumb excuse. How about telling the people that passenger growth was not that rosy and he overbooked the Airbuses?
He was granted his wish by the government again. The new permanent LCCT next to Kompleks Bunga Raya cost more than RM 2 billion and it has a new runway to accompany with?
Even Changi who handles more than 35 million passengers this year can still run efficiently on 2 parallel runways. And KLIA’s passenger projection this year say’s 27 million. Bangkok Suvarnabhumi’s handles more than 45 million passengers that warrants them to build the third runway.
Building for the future. Or building for Tony’s future?
Tony is a very good of making other people especially the GLC’s looked bad while he’s always the white knight even though he’s not that fair-skinned ( no i’m not racist)
See how many GLC suffer because of him? MAS, MAHB, Sime Darby and not forgetting the government and the next on his list is Proton.
He made Proton looked very bad.
And most of you guys are rooting for him. Dumb arses!
Proton. With DSZ and Nazmi are smart. They dont want to succumb to Tony’s manipulation of Government’s resource for his own glorification.
Why are we rooting for a businessman who keep conning us subconsciously instead of supporting Proton’s serious ambition with their Renault F1 collaboration.
Proton and their F1 buyout stake is a waste of rakyat money lah, what ever lah but with Tony using the GLCs to his advantage which is also indirectly involve rakyat’s money, you guys said okay because he use his own money for his F1 hobby. Otak kasi lembu laa..dumb la all of you.
Dont forget Proton is buying into an established team. Twice Constructor’s Champion. And Petronas is putting its billboard on Schu and Rosberg body and car. And Lotus Racing??
Simply build a new team then using the Lotus name?
He’s in for the branding only, to attract sponsorship and license to compete in F1.
What happened to the plan to build F1 factory and wind tunnel at Sepang??
Anyone still remember ke? So far no news.
don’t worry meh..
PROTON-RENAULTF1 is done deal…
I have to say “nicely put”. :-)
I’m not exactly anti-AA or anti-TF (I use his hotels too) but most of the time AA flights aren’t that much cheaper than full service airlines especially after adding in all the plus-plus-plus charges. With that little bit of difference, I usually go for full service airlines where I get better service, f&b and convenience. Of course it’s a different story if you manage to get the FOC or super low price tickets. I’ve never been that lucky.
Booked flight to Sibu a few days ago to visit my GF – Air Asia was over 400 ringgit while MAS only cost me 200 ringgit!
Whoa…. there you go… budget airline indeed! :-P
Paul Tan has a girlfriend!
My hometown is in Sabah and annually I travel back to Sabah from KL for over 20yrs. Without AA, MAS was screwing us with expensive air fares. With AA(competition), the cost of the fare has halve and sometimes gone to one third of the original price. So I have not sympathy with any GLCs especially with the ones fleecing the rakyat. MAHB is another one of them.
i can’t agree more.. some ppl here didn’t even have any clue of who is the real Tony… what a joke
Proton cannot afford to get involved in F1.
And Lotus with Dany Bahar think they can run the co so well
when in fact its still losing money. – Better use the money
developing better P1 cars rather than rebadging them.
Dany’s reputation is no better than TF , he is actually a Turk
with a Swiss PR. If you mention his name to those in the Europe motoring
industry, you’ll be surprised with the questionable comments they make abt this guy
when he was in Ferrari.
Yep, Tony is only in for himself. Always has been and always will be.
Its not right for him to use the name ‘Lotus ‘ without the permission of the Road Car Manufacturer’s authorisation. Its like using the name ‘Nissan’ or even ‘Mazda’. Comeone all of you TF supporters, its a simple issue of ethics and morals and not about an Indian vs a Malay. Don’t be some emotional.
Tony, use AirAsia Racing.. u should advertise the AirAsia instead of give free advertisement for Lotus..
Proton going to Renault
Petronas is with Mercedes
Air Asia is another team of its own
Talking about 1Malaysia – Joke of the year!!
So what’s wrong with Dany Bahar being a Swiss PR Turk? Carlos Ghosn is a Lebanese Brazilian and it seems he’s the most successful CEO of non Korean and Japs car makes.
Man.. what a long post. Sour grapes it seems. Obviously Mr Mat Husin is unhappy with Tony for the way he ran his airline biz in the airline industry. I think Mat Husin is likely to be someone from the airline industry and he seems to be well versed in it. Though some of his points seem to contradict each other and halfway through I actually wondered what his point really was.
Anyway, my point is that we’re now talking about this latest F1 development, not the airline industry or about liking or hating public personalities. So, I regret having spent time reading the whole Mat Husin’s post in paultan.org, an automotive site, hoping to find some little nugget of information when it turned out that 90% of it was irrelevant and about the history of the local airline industry.
I cannot and will not comment on the airline industry coz I don’t know enough of it but for the current topic at hand and F1 here is some points/facts:
1. Lotus Racing is owned by Tony, Din, Nasa almost equally. So its not the Tony Fernandes racing team. I presume in Air Asia he also does not wholly own the airline. Thus the race team is not an extension of his body and has it’s own organisational structure and soul regardless of the character of Tony, past or present.
2. Tony and shareholders have pumped in large amounts of their own money. To say that he is ‘profiteering’ from this is difficult because he and partners are currently down in millions of pounds. No one can deny this. In what way these can be construed as ‘rakyat’s money’ directly or indirectly, I have no idea.
3. He has proven his worth in F1 and has walked the talked. I am not a Tony Fernandes fanboy. I don’t care honestly but I am an F1 fan. I acknowledge and respect this team that happens to be under Tony and give credit where credit is due.
On the Sepang promise, yes Tony made promises he should not have, in part I think he was naive, being new to the F1 biz and all. I actually laughed when the idea of a Sepang F1 Tech centre was mentioned to happen within a year.
It was impractical and illogical because the industry is non-existent in Malaysia and this region. It’s a very highly specialized technology and you need the existence of supporting suppliers to make the centre logical. This supply network is what is meant by ‘industry’.
At the moment the industry is in Europe. To rely on that region to support an F1 tech centre in Sepang would be a nightmare, wasting time and money. It will take a fair amount of time, commitment, focus and demand to create such an industry in Malaysia and this region. And to just create such an industry to serve an F1 team doesn’t make good biz sense either .
The more interesting question regarding this promised tech centre is this:
Are we disappointed that it didn’t happen or are we glad that it didn’t?
Being Malaysians I’m not surprised that if he did fulfill that promise, someone would come in here and post a long comment about how stupid he is for building it.
there’s malaysian aviation history by chekgu mat husin
LOL
hi tony,
just rename our team to 1singapore team, im pretty sure we can milk the singaporeans the same way we did to malaysia,
then dont forget to buy the ‘chiken rice’ trademark too, the singaporean will surely be pissed off to get their ‘chicken rice’ back.
Whatever the outcome will be, I think we have to credit TF for his initiative. I’m supporting TF and his F1 team whatever the name would be. hopefully the team can gain success in 2011 and mark a new proud achievements for Malaysia starting there.. all full respect for TF and his team, and the fans and everyone that makes it work. If somehow Proton race in F1 in 2011, I wish them well and all the best too… Proton are Malaysian Brands too. the fact that that they’re fighting for the name rights did not bother me. I just love to see them finally racing in full spirit on the racetrack. ultimately, hope they can get around those name and branding arguments nicely and develop 2 race team from Malaysia that race with the world. there are somewhere to begin, there are problems to solve….wish all the best for all parties.
just my 2 cents opinion….
I couldnt agree with you more…