Lotus settles Bahar dispute
British-Malaysian firm reaches out-of-court settlement with controversial former CEOLotus is hoping it can move past the controversy and return to being known as a sports car company after reaching an out-of-court settlement with its former CEO last week.
In papers lodged with the Malaysian stock exchange, Lotus owner DRB-HICOM stated it had reached a settlement a month before the case was due to be heard in London’s High Court.
DRB-HICOM dismissed Dany Bahar within weeks of taking over Proton, the nominal parent of Lotus, due to poor financial management, including undertaking a six-figure renovation of a rented house near Lotus headquarters outside Norwich.
Bahar countersued for £6.7 million ($A12.2m) for unfair dismissal, and it is understood that he has also dropped his suit, with both parties signing non-disclosure agreements regarding the terms.
Bahar, a former marketing executive with the Red Bull Racing and Ferrari Formula One teams with no engineering or product planning history, was poached to head Lotus in 2009. A swag of Ferrari employees followed him, along with some of Europe’s best engineering talent, including AMG engine development boss Wolf Zimmerman.
This website was skeptical of Bahar’s grandiose reveal of five all-new concept cars at the 2010 Paris motor show and, in the face of hostility from rivals, was proven correct. Not one of the five cars is in production and even the long-planned V8 Esprit has not reached showrooms.
Zimmerman culled the plans for a supercharged, front-engined V6 Elan, and developed not only a unique V8 twin-turbo powerplant from scratch, but an all-new gearbox as well. Development halted in 2012 when suppliers became fed up with slow or non-existent payments.
After being headed by a triumvirate of Malaysian executives since Bahar’s dismissal, Lotus recently announced ex-PSA executive Jean-Mark Gales as its new CEO (pictured here with the Exige S roadster).
DRB-HICOM announced a three-year business plan last July after a long review of Lotus operations. I will invest an additional £100 million ($A182.5m) into the brand, which will be topped up by a £10 million ($A18.2m) boost from the British government’s Regional Growth Fund.
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