We had the opportunity to catch up with Lotus-Renault GP owner Genii Capital’s Gerard Lopez recently. Lopez was quite open to reveal some details on what’s the whole deal with Group Lotus, Proton and Genii Capital, especially with regards to the working relationship between Group Lotus and Genii Capital, as well as Genii Capital working to open doors with Proton in certain markets. Lopez also shares his feelings about the whole Group Lotus versus Team Lotus court case that’s to be heard in March this year. Enjoy the interview.
What is Lotus’ involvement, in terms of funding for this project and how long is it?
It’s a 7-year sponsoring agreement. And as would be the case with any sponsorship agreement, we wouldn’t disclose a number. It’s a 7-year program for Lotus, that is on one hand the sponsoring agreement, and on the other hand a technical collaboration agreement.
And then the last one which is not spoken about in the newspapers at all is the fact that the team is owned by Genii Capital, which we own, and we have an agreement with Proton and are working a number of things with them, including opening certain geographies in terms of platform, like Russia for instance. It’s not a one variable equation.
When you say the team is owned by Genii Capital in terms of shareholding structure, what’s the breakdown then?
In terms of shareholding structure today, it’s Genii Capital with Lotus having an option to buy into the team in different tranches. Right now, it’s Genii Capital 100% with Lotus having the option to take over 50% at some point in time.
And the option is for how long?
I believe two years.
When did you buy into F1?
About little over a year ago. A year and two months.
Besides F1, are you involved in any other sporting activities?
Not to the level of F1. We have a foundation that helps out with children playing soccer. But yeah, in sports this is our main thing.
So your focus is now Formula 1?
In sports, yes. But Formula 1 is one out of 34 companies in Genii, and it goes from Solar Energy, brake manufacturing, engine manufacturing, real estate, clean tech, funding clean tech, so it’s much broader. This Formula 1 team you see here is one company out of many companies in different areas that we have at Genii Capital.
So you’re basically a private equity fund?
A private equity fund would be what our sister company Mangrove is, that is you invest other people’s money. Genii Capital is our own, we own Genii Capital 100 percent. There’s no outside investors.
And how many people own Genii Capital?
Two. Myself and Eric Lux. We are based in Luxembourg.
Are you trying to dispose all of your shares in the team?
No, unlike a normal investment, this is not one we expect to sell to make a profit. This is one that is used through a certain strategy we have for some of our companies to use it for their promotions. So for us, it is important to own it.
If you were to talk about making money, we will probably make more money over the long term using it as a platform to invite people, meet people, and do deals than we would make by just by buying and selling the team. There’s certainly a long term intent.
So you prefer to be a major controller of the company?
You know the things that we do, there’s only two ways for us to do it, completely or not at all, right? We decided to do this with Lotus, because we know the people well, we know the people at Proton and we feel comfortable that we can share the responsibilities, the management so on, going forward.
If it was a question of who is in charge and who’s not, we would not have accepted any deal with Lotus. It’s a good partnership, but a lot of people do not realise it because Formula 1 has this tendency of overshadowing things. It’s a partnership that goes way beyond Formula 1. We’re partners with Lotus now, looking at brakes system, engine systems. We’re working with Proton looking at new ways to lease cars, finance cars, and looking at the Russian market. We’re working with Renault-Nissan looking at electric cars.
Formula 1 just happens to be one portion of a relationship that is much wider. And certainly not the most, I know there was a question about finances, but certainly a small piece in that big picture in terms of overall discussions.
How are you going to help Proton venture into Russian market? What are you planning?
I won’t disclose what is being discussed in detail, but let’s put it this way, there’s the Russian markets, and there’s other markets where Proton could be provider of platforms for sensibly priced cars to existing brands in those countries. So that’s one of the things that is being worked on. And we have excellent relationships with Russia.
So you looking at the Russian market for the time being?
Yes, that and other markets where we have relationships, but the Russian market is a market of over 160 million people who are now in the situation where a lot of them are buying their first new car now, so there’s a lot of organic growth, unlike other markets, like the UK for instance, where people already have two or three cars and are certainly not buying their first car. So it’s a market that everybody wants, but it requires affordable cars.
When do you expect that Proton will be able to enter Russia?
I think we’re going to start serious discussions sometime in spring this year. These things take time, so you won’t be seeing a Proton manufactured car in Russia in 2011, but from then on, we don’t know. I mean, we’re really dipping the toe in the water now.
What do you feel about this whole tie-up in general?
We decided to go for a relationship with Lotus because we have interests outside of Formula 1. If we wanted to have a relationship with pure sponsor just based on cash, there are other companies out there. For us, we love racing, but we also have businesses that need relationships, and we’re excited to tie up with Malaysians. So we will be going to Malaysia, looking at what business opportunities are to be found.
At the end of the day, we are ranked every month, I believe, as one of the top 10 technology investment companies worldwide. We understand that the Malaysian government has an agenda to try to position Malaysia as a technology hub. So now that we have this relationship, we’re going to move it one step further, try to talk to the government, go and see what it is we can do.
So for us to look at this purely as Lotus-Renault Formula 1 would have been a mistake. That’s why we took quite a bit of time to discuss. It was not the Formula 1 aspect we discussing, but we took time to discuss what else can we do together and how do we do it. That’s how we ended up having a program that was more complete.
But I can’t hide the fact that I’m excited about the whole Lotus deal. I’m sure as journalists you guys can Google for this – there’s an article on an interview that I gave about 10 years ago when I was asked what I bought with my first pocket money? The article has been out there since 2001 – the first thing I ever bought with my pocket money was a Lotus black and gold Formula 1 car toy.
Any plans for you to go into Lotus, because currently they are looking for funds for their turnaround plan.
I think they have a good shareholder with Proton. for sure, that is something also that we will be looking at, but it’s not anything that is urgent.
You will not rule out that possibility right now?
No, I wouldn’t rule it out. I never rule anything out.
What are your comments on the trademark dispute between 1Malaysia Racing Team and Group Lotus?
I’m a pretty pragmatic person, for me it’s quite simple. Mr Chapman who founded Lotus, is no longer among us. He has a son, Clive Chapman. And all I can say is that there is no way we could say that we are the Formula 1 team that used to belong to Mr Chapman. And with all due respect Tony and his team, there is no way they could say the same thing.
I mean, none of them could say that. You know I am not Mr Chapman’s son and neither is Mr Boullier, and neither is Danny Bahar. And Tony Fernandes as far as I know, is also not Mr Chapman’s son or family. I don’t think any of us can say that we have any link to the heritage of that. The only difference is – and that’s why I have a very pragmatic approach to this – the only difference is that Group Lotus has decided to promote itself in Formula 1 and has absolutely every right to do so. They are called Lotus, they make Lotus cars, and that’s it. They are a car manufacturer.
So we’re not saying “oh we’re continuity of Mr Chapman’s team”, all we’re saying is that Group Lotus is a partner of ours, wanting to promote their car brand in Formula 1. What Mr Fernandes is saying, as far as what I can read from the press, is that they are the spiritual successor to Team Lotus.
And honestly, it doesn’t make sense. I know they will lose money if they change their name. So I understand the struggle that they have to give up on this. And being pragmatic if I was in his position, would I do the same thing? I have no idea. For sure they stand to lose money, but that doesn’t make it legit to say that they are Team Lotus. Because we are not and they are not.
We are Lotus Renault GP, which represents among other things the Lotus Car company, who wants to sell Lotus cars. And that’s it end of story. 1Malaysia Racing is not the Lotus Car company, and it’s also not the Lotus of Mr Chapman.
And that’s why the Chapman family made a statement not that long ago. Because they were actually supportive of what they were doing up until a certain time, and they became unsupportive when things got skewed. And when they decided to go from Lotus Racing to Team Lotus essentially becoming what they never were, which was the extension of Mr Chapman’s family heritage and so on. I think the family didn’t take that too well.
So we have a very clear opinion. Which is absolutely nothing to do with the position of the court, but it’s just a pragmatic approach on what this team does, and this team represents Group Lotus, the car manufacturer wanting to promote itself in Formula 1. And that’s it. End of story.
So it doesn’t matter what the court decides? As far as you’re concerned?
I think it matters to the other side. And you know, it’s pretty sad when you have a brand like Lotus and when you even have to go to court to decide who’s Lotus, when at the end of the day, you only have one Lotus company worldwide, and that’s the one that is owned by Proton. That’s what I find sort of odd, such is the system.
Is there any way this could be resolved before it goes to trial?
I don’t know, unfortunately or maybe fortunately, we’re not linked to the issue right? We don’t own Lotus, we’re not Mr Fernandes. I think I would say that from our side, and certainly from the side of Proton and Group Lotus, everything has been done not to publicly comment on this.
Even with what I said now, I don’t think you’ll ever be able to say I’ve criticized the team. I think it’s been the exact opposite on the other side. So I don’t know if too many bridges have been burnt. I know for instance there was an interest from Proton to actually try to resolve it.
But you’re okay with there being two Lotus teams?
I’m okay because I have no choice. If you were to ask me if I had a choice would I be okay? No, I’m not okay. I think it’s a dilution of the brand, I think it’s bad for the brand, and as I’ve said, because I’m very pragmatic, I don’t need to be a lawyer to explain why there’s only one Lotus.
So to me, there’s only one Lotus and that’s it. End of story. Everything else is just a discussion on a name to avoid losing money, if they have to choose. So yeah I’m not okay with it, but at the end of the day I’m not the one who has the say.
Do you look at this as positive publicity instead of negative publicity, you that have four Lotus racecars on the grid?
You know, some people might say that. I don’t know. I don’t look at it that way. I don’t think it’s necessary bad. I don’t think it’s horrible. For sure, for Lotus as a car brand it’s not that bad. I don’t think it does Lotus as a car brand any good if they intend to compete with Ferrari if their cars qualify 18th or 19th.
At the end of the day, only hardcore fans care about the car that’s running 18th. If you’re not a hardcore fan of a team that’s not competing in the top, it’s likely you won’t be able to tell me who finished even 10th in the race. Nobody knows, because nobody cares. So either you’re at the top, or people won’t talk about you.
So if the relationship that Lotus has with us is one about promoting the car brand, I think their decision was right, which is not to be in Formula 1 at all or to be in Formula 1 and be able to race at the top. So I don’t think it’s necessarily a horrible thing to have four cars called Lotus, but I don’t think it’s a good thing either. It’s neutral at best and for sure it doesn’t do anything for the brand in terms of promoting it.
And that’s one of the reasons I believe that Proton decided to terminate the agreement. And again I say that, knowing how difficult it is to build a team from scratch, and knowing that they didn’t do a bad job as a new team. But if you’ve been able to visit their factory and compare it to ours, I don’t know if you can imagine the time it will take to built something like this and the amount of money it takes.
There is about 20 years invested in creating what the team is today. With every year, as I said, loads of money is invested in the factory. You just don’t come from nothing and build something like this. So I respect what they’ve done in building their own. But if Lotus wants to be at the top, there’s no way they could have tied up and kept with it. Because it would have taken ages and probably never would have been able to catch up.
It’s an unfortunate circumstance which is that if you’re at the top, you’ll get more sponsor money and more TV money so you can invest more. So how do you ever catch up?. You’re always playing catch up.
That brings me to my last question, how confident are you that Lotus Renault team will do well this year?
I predict that we will be winning races this year. So I’m very confident.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
This is a professional interview. No name calling, no bad mouthing, no drama. just factually present your opinion. Some people need to take note of this…
Yes, definitely. Unlike Dany Bahar or Eric Boullier!
hahaha unlike Tony as well…u see the comments from this guy about the dispute of Lotus brand??why Tony want Lotus brand b’coz he will lose money if he lose the brand..but what is his right to use Lotus brand?He is not the lotus car manufacturer and neither chapmann son..so it is clear that who own the Lotus brand..TF be prepare your self at court soon..fore sure you will lose everything..CONGRATULATION TF!!!!!
Tony Fernandes do all this for the fans. He didn’t scared to lose the money. He just do it for the Team Lotus real spirit.
yeah right… it’s like a politician said they work for the ppl.. hurrah
No Tony you are not doing it for the team spirit..it’s more like money spirit….
So how to officiallize this ‘real spirit’ and present it as an evident in the court?
doing it for fans, not afraid of losing money and for team spirit – what a load of crap!
TF is clearly riding on the revival of Lotus brand, or in simpler words, piggybacking on the success of others, namely Proton.
I don’t think TF would care hoots about Lotus if it doesn’t help in promoting his baby, Airasia. In all fairness, the guy clearly know that good opportunities like this don’t come often.
It’s all business, nothing personal.
dude… everybody’s in it for the money.
“it’s pretty sad when you have a brand like Lotus and when you even have to go to court to decide who’s Lotus, when at the end of the day, you only have one Lotus company worldwide.”
absolutely.
No. There are always two very different Lotus but rooted from the same guy. Lotus Car and Team Lotus.
I think you will find the company Team Lotus went bankrupt in 1994. David Hunt purchased the name and sold it to Tony F.
So there is only one (or 3) ‘Lotus’ company(s), Group Lotus (sub company’s Lotus cars and Lotus engineering) and a guy that owns a name not a company called Team Lotus, 1Malaysia is the company name.
Actually, Daivd Hunt bought more than just a name – he bought the organization as a going concern and was its owner when the team contested its final two GPs in 1994. He owns all intellectual property including trademarks, historic achievements and rights to race under the Lotus name in Formula 1.
But while Mr. Lopez is quick to point out the current statement from the Chapman family he fails to acknowledge the Chapman family sold Team Lotus to Peter Collins and Peter Wright, and in turn it was sold to David Hunt whom Tony Fernandez acquired it.
So its all too convenient for the Chapmans to take the money and later protest what the end owners wish to do.
Agreed. Why protest when they had let go the bran Team Lotus quite sometime ago and Proton did lost to David Hunt in court at the end of 90s regarding the rights of the name Team Lotus. Now, TF owned the name now, he have every right to use it the way he seem fit, like putting it on a F1 car.
My team is Ferrari but I think this unreasonable hatred of Team Lotus not because of TL but because of the owner, TF. I don’t know, maybe he murdered some of your family or he have land that you want so badly. :-)
he took my money. i dont mind losing the pre-booked flight ticket fee. he should have refunded air port tax fees of thousands of other cancelled air travellers including me at least!
how do u think he funded his 100 new A320s?
asian’s businessman of the year?
more like an asian cheater of the year..
the guy look like mukhriz
yup..i think so too :D
at a first glanze, yes., tot mukhriz join the lotus group pulak..
u r right man.. but mukhriz a bit bigger
I think he looks more like blogger Shaolin Tiger… without beard hehehe
That’s how a gentlemen should be, unlike our politicians!!
this is what we call businessman with telor.
to tony, please be a businessman with telor. just drop the lotus, rename it to team-air-asia.. or team tony-naza, or.. team airasia-naza.. or 1malaysia racing (oopss.. this one cannot coz you ll be banned from racing in sepang, selangor).
just keep the name to yourself. if you have not fully paid mr hunt, then ask for discount from him lar.. you are good at it. last time u got discount few mills from mab what..
Don’t hope so..just said it in your dream. Team Lotus will be never be with Group Lotus.
Great interview and insight. Wish them great things ahead. Can’t wait to see them on the grid!
we’re not saying “oh we’re continuity of Mr Chapman’s team”,
not the spiritual successor to Team Lotus.
then why use the Gold-Black livery, HIPPO
because the title sponsor aka Group Lotus choose so, DAWG
not like TF crap team, claiming the heritage but qualified at the back of the grid. talking about challenging ferrari.. heh..
nice1 paul… =)
luv the interview… like his statement..
“…..when at the end of the day, you only have one Lotus company worldwide, and that’s the one that is owned by Proton”
very interesting interview.. learnt a lot more about Genii Capital.
Gerard Lopez represents Genii, the owner of the Enstone based formula team. His outfit remains the same regardless of who his sponsors are in this case his sponsor is Group Lotus. I’m sure he is more than happy to take the money, as any other formula 1 team owner would. His allegiance is towards his racing outfit in Enstone. The Lotus saga is all political distraction. Doesn’t change his interests.
but he is very clear on his position regarding the “team lotus” name and who is “Lotus”
I wished he took a more impartial stand on the Lotus name issue or stay clear of it completely. But he as an obligation to his sponsors.. naturally.
of course… as are team lotus cyber troopers to their employer :)
nice one dude.. i can’t say it any better :)
but im in agreement with his stand though, coz it makes sense to me. :)
Did I read somewhere in the interview that Genii have no intention of letting go their F1 team to Lotus/Proton at all? Even if Lotus/Proton want to buy half of Lotus Renault F1, Genii still want to maintain control over it. Then how come Bahar said they are looking into taking over the whole Lotus Renault from Genii?
“So you prefer to be a major controller of the company?
You know the things that we do, there’s only two ways for us to do it, completely or not at all, right?”
Correct me if I’m wrong.
yeah yea.. I read somewhere too.. Paultan.. do some research here.. Give us more update.. ;)
He did indicate that he would like to retain some ownership, perhaps not necessarily 100%. He also said that he never rules anything out. Lopez is a very good interviewee, he talks so much and it makes for good content, but not easy to crack for anything he doesn’t want to say either. There are many parts of the interview where I left out where he simply curtly said he would not like to disclose any details.
It seems to me that things are not all that rosy in LRGP. We’ve seen various parties in the team itself giving conflicting statements in a bid to protect their separate interests. Bahar led everyone to believe that they own a percentage of the team which then led to Genii and the team (Eric Boullier) to issue statements clarifying that Genii still owns 100% of the team.
Yeah, agree with diablo. once again i find articles from P1 & lotus to be misleading. They tend to lead us to believe they own part of Lotus renault gp. gerard here mentioned they owned 100% genii, which in turn owned 100% Lotus renault gp. P1 is only a sponsor for the team, with an option to partially buy/ own it within 2 years. gerard also mentioned it’s a long term investment for genii & will either own it completely or otherwise. that says somethg, P1 can be a sponsor only or a 100% owner, unless gerard change his mind on this relationship. i hope P1 management knows what they are doing and are smart & shrewd enough to play balls with these european entrepeneurs. if not, rakyat’s money will be burn right under P1’s nose. good luck & be careful.
but he still a businessman just like tony.
he also mentioned that his involvement with f1, lotus and p1 not only focus on f1 but he is looking into other collaborations. if along the line he make good money by bring in p1 into russia, or make good money with break system or engine system with lotus, then things can be different if lotus said i want control in f1, if not i ll stop working with you. i bet he gonna follow the money.
I still remember that DB has approched TF for investing into Lotus Team but the offer price was ridicolous. The price offered by Genii Capital is much more cheaper from what offered by TF, which is one quater from TF price. Even more 7 years as main title sponsorship, what a great bargain. And now, Proton will station around 35 personnells at Lotus-Renault FI Team.
From the interview.
Genii own all at the mo but Lotus could own half and have 2years to buy into the team.
This would seem the same as the Indy deal with KV racing
When you say the team is owned by Genii Capital in terms of shareholding structure, what’s the breakdown then?
In terms of shareholding structure today, it’s Genii Capital with Lotus having an option to buy into the team in different tranches. Right now, it’s Genii Capital 100% with Lotus having the option to take over 50% at some point in time.
And the option is for how long?
I believe two years.
“In terms of shareholding structure today, it’s Genii Capital with Lotus having an option to buy into the team in different tranches”
Sounds like a convertible loan to me.
after PROTON-GROUP LOTUS win this case…
and definitely PROTON will win this case against Tony Temban!
then PROTON will buy 100% of this LOTUS RENAULT GP and rename it to REAL LOTUS GP as Dany Bahar (LOTUS CEO) already said “I call this the Real Madrid of the sports-car industry”
…
Genii Capital will expand it’s role to be the main PROTON international marketing, technology middleman and public relations, especially with RENAULT and NISSAN GT-R.
Real Madrid football team and Jose Maurinho will use PROTON cars!!!
and then PROTON can sell their cars beating Porsche and AUDI.. yeahhh!
No need to be too desperate to steal other people effort to bulid f1 team like the greedy full of debt proton.
kinda true, they cant even survive without protection in home country, now tryin to play the big boys game. all we can do nw is hope that all those HUGE investments dun go to waste if Lotus Groups grand plans didnt work out well. Many analyst are seriously doubting the ability to recoup the investment.
Proton should seriously stick with its main goal, which is to provide value for money, economical and safe cars to Malaysians first, before venturing into the unknowns. nothin wrong in being ambitious, but the execution plan should be practical.
neither toyota, honda and nissan will survive without protection in their early days in japan.
neither hyundai, kia wil survive without protection in korean too.
neither gm will survive without bail out from gov.
neither american will survive without greenback and FED.
neither israel will survive without american and britain.
neither paultan will survive without bashers and supporters.
you didnt get my point bro, if the basics are good, then no prob with takin the next step. in this case proton shud be proving that they can survive without the protection wit good and safe cars. then take the next step.
at this point proton is stil regarded as the govenment backed auto firm to the international audience, not somethin to be proud of.
outstanding interview! this should be a referal for those are not very clear the dispute of Lotus’s name between 1Malaysia Racing Team and Group Lotus….
Actually I did not know what the hu-hah about this “Lotus” issues. Just prying Paultan.Org to find for some good cars but this “Lotus” issues keep coming up these 2 days. Curious but couldnt find any sequence of events that led to this. I read the whole transcribe of the “Justice Shepherd” court case and today’s interv iew with “Mr Lopez” and still know nothing much until I checked out Wikipaedia.
My Opinion Let the 2 team race with the Lotus name. We have before Team Mercedes and Mclaren-Mercedes no issue mah….
Or the better team at the end of season get to keep “Lotus” name.. A race not for the Championship but also for the Namesake “Lotus”.
there is no race for the namesake ‘lotus’.
tony owns ‘team lotus’, and group lotus is the car manufacturer of Lotus cars.
very clear.
but… imagine an old existing company called team apple, and some dude buys the name/company, and then decides to come up with an “ipad” copy and calls it “team apple iped”. do you think apple will sit down quietly? its not exactly the same circumstances of course, but i feel its a similar situation.
Before we guys get into trouble and be hunted down by Scotland Yard, Paul , could you ask our beloved YB Karpal Singh for legal advice whether we all can be cited for contempt of court as now that every one seem to be talking about the Lotus issue which is already in UK court perview .
btw, one of his daily cars is a 700hp NIssan GT-R, i think the article is in this month’s EVO magazine. Its pretty awesome.
I don’t disagree with Lopez’s position. He is pragmatic and definitely he is speaking mainly on behalf of Genii and his F1 operation in Enstone, more than his sponsors Group Lotus/Proton.
His statement “So we’re not saying “oh we’re continuity of Mr Chapman’s team”, all we’re saying is that Group Lotus is a partner of ours, wanting to promote their car brand in Formula 1.” seems fair enough but then again why the ‘Team Lotus JPS’ inspired livery and more obvious the fact that Group Lotus keeps referencing the successes and race heritage of the old Team Lotus, which is not really his doing but more of Group Lotus ‘passing off’ as Team Lotus
this is what we brand. if there is already an existing brand, and somehow if you think you own it or you associate with it, u make full use of it, use its color, its fonts, its design, its memories coz that allow you to reach far more ppl and market, and provide you leap jump in marketing.
that what tony is fighting for. wide market of the existing brand coz then he can make money. he dont have companies doing break system, engine system, etc.
Very happy with the direction Proton is moving. It goes beyond F1. It is also about market penetration, technology sharing, etc. Else, they would have partnered with 1Malaysia Racing Team/ Team Lotus/Whatever.
During Mahaleel’s time, it is only about creating sportiness out of crappy cars. In Syed Zainal’s time, you can race on weekends and still sell quality cars on weekdays.
p/s
Come to think of the technology that would’ve been shared by Team Air Asia to Proton. We would have jet turbine strapped to the back of the F1 car with the drivers wearing red overalls with mini-skirt. Talk-about low-cost fuel, low-cost tyres, steering, engine, and low-cost food for drivers.
If Naza’s technologies were to prevail, we would have the Kia Picanto rebadged as the F1 car. Add in a little turbo-charger and it’s complete.
Jet turbine in a car you say? Take a look at this;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaF9iYw–QI
and more interestingly, this;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_56
Over to you.
checkout this..
PROTON-GROUP LOTUS will launch this luxury lifestyle brand tomorrow and the name of that brand is lotusoriginals.. tony tembam pawned!
www.lotusoriginals.com <– checkout this!
"I call this the Real Madrid of the sports-car industry" – Dany Bahar (current LOTUS GROUP CEO)
yo people….
tell me one team / car manufacturer or what ever organization that want to be part of F1 just for the sake of charity… because It’s kind of lame saying that this dude in it for the money only… that dude join F1 for the god of the money … bla bla bla
ada wang, ada amoi
ada wang, ada F1
ada wang, ada lotus
bila wang kering.. gadai Proton and group lotus plc
is it?
LOL
:D
All malaysia wish you luck Tony Chapman!!
LOL~
Correction… Tony ‘Cheapman’…
please no name calling lah.. call him a liar, greedy or whatever but not with the name calling… we Malaysian r much better than that.. kan?
P1 n our big G bought a GL, a company that filed bankruptcy and changed few owners before = We salute and say hoorah for acquiring such GRAND TECH COMPANY!!!!
TF and co bought TL, a racing team that also filed bankruptcy and changed few owners before = we bash and say CHEAPSKATE and SCAVENGING on other’s failure which is TF style, bla bla…..
Where’s the logic in that?I cant comprehend…..maybe some other genius Malaysia can explain to me as my brain is too slow
The logic is GL has greater intrinsic value to the buyer. The benefits are now plain to see to all: Proton benefits from Lotus-tuned handling etc.
There is little value in buying a team name. Yea, they’re buying the heritage n stuffs, bt seriously? If their team were to be success, it’s bcuz of team effort, not the name. Any hardworking team can be successful, like Red Bull. They dun hv d rich heritage like Ferrari or Lotus, bt there they are: World Constructor Champion 2010. Beat d sheez out of felali hahaha! “Sebastian is faster than you, can you confirm you understood that message?”
I seriously wonder why a lot of u guys keep saying that TF’s action for legally acquiring TL trademark and property is immoral when TL filed for bankruptcy back then and was eventually sold to Mr. David Hunt as the final legitimate owner who legally acquired its asset and continue racing to preserve TL’s legacy whereas our P1 buying into GL after it was bankrupt which was sold to a few companies before P1 owns it and yet a lot of us keep saying that GL has the right and the true descendant to LOTUS name in F1.The way i see it, both had the same history of folding up, changed a few owners, 99.99% of the original team and staff during their glory days are no longer in existent!!! so how can some of us can be so blinded?is it just because we think that GL belong to G & P1 so in the sense we all own GL and therefore we support GL whereas TL is totally a privately owned by TF and their corporate bosses and has no relation with our G & P1 so we choose to exile and say bad things about them????you people go figure it out
wow!!! try use more “fullstop” next time dude… i’ve never seen too long of a sentance with too many “when”, “and”, “as”, “therefore” etc. all put together into a single sentence..
Having figured it out…..it is because in the license agreement between GL/Proton for usage of “Lotus Racing”, they (i.e. TF et al) are not supposed to acquire TL trademark. The support GL is getting here has nothing to do with the links to the government.
Was there a need for TF to change to Team Lotus had Group Lotus and Proton maintain their agreement in the first place?Obviously no, TF was more than happy to stick with Lotus Racing name. It was Group Lotus that breached a 5 years deal contract,stab TF in the back and left him no choice but to opt for a new name.
AFAIK, their relationship was ok until TF suddenly announced he bought TL name. If not for this, they’d probably still be fine I guess. GL stab TF? No, it’s the oder way round!
But then again, the offer from Renault is too good to pass. It’s, as Gerard says, a relationship that goes beyond racing. Plus, did not Dany Bahar once said the deal is even cheaper than dealing with TF? Sorry, it’s just business!!
the deal is cheaper with Renault compared to Lotus racing as informed by DB?Since when did Lotus Racing even wanted money from Group Lotus?Lotus racing been telling Group Lotus all this while that they are willing to do free promotion for Group Lotus without a single penny!It was Group Lotus that wanted to control the Lotus name in F1 so they planned to acquire Lotus Racing asset.By the way, how on earth is it possible Lotus Racing asset can worth more than Renault?That’s just insane of DB to make such lame statement.Look at those article written by foreign journalist, it’s clearly stated TF never talk about figures with DB! It was a just a story created by DB coz they can’t reach an agreement and wanted to make TF looks like the bad guy!!!Another point is TF always wanted the team to be named TL from the begining but he didn’t acquire it from Mr. Hunt cause Chapman’s family doesn’t like it and GL didnt have that trademark and so went with Lotus Racing name instead.TF only bought TL after GL wanted to terminate the contracts not the other way around like what u mentioned.
Sept 24th : http://paultan.org/2010/09/24/its-official-lotus-racing-will-be-called-team-lotus-in-2011/
Lotus Racing confirms they become Team Lotus
Sept 27th : http://paultan.org/2010/09/27/breaking-proton-revokes-lotus-brand-licensing-from-1-malaysia-racing-team/
Proton takes back the licence. Then Proton/Group Lotus vilified everywhere while TF played the unfortunate victim of the big, bad, faceless corporation, until finally…
Dec 16th : http://paultan.org/2010/12/16/bahar-renault-f1-deal-cost-one-third-of-what-tony-asked/
Well, he could be giving half-truths, but in the end, it’s just business. Between a budget carrier… and a chance to expand your business. We’ve seen this before, Petronas did it, they’re in it for the business.
wish you luck Tony Chapman!!!
LOL… biggest joke, Benson & Hedges money can’t give them enough edge to win, Group Lotus can. Although I don’t really like the concept of 1Malaysia Racing Team. But I don’t mind watching Lotus Renault GP beat up by Team Lotus in 2011 season.
A team would not changed hand so many times if it is good. Anything to do with Flavio Briatore is not good. Proton invest MV Augusta wrongly. This time is Lotus.
Correction there… should be another tobacco brand. LOL
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