Bob Lutz estimates 60% chance of success for new Lotus recovery plan
By Steph, 15 Dec, 2010. 0 Comments
Lotus Eterne Concept
The new Lotus recovery plan has at least a 60% chance of attaining its goal of launching 5 new models, raising prices towards the £100,000 bracket and selling 6,000 to 7,000 vehicles annually, according to Bob Lutz who recently signed on to be a member of Lotus’s senior advisory board of industry experts. Lutz, who was formerly the chief of General Motors, was invited by Lotus CEO Dany Bahar to be in the position to give advice on how to run the company. In an interview with Autocar, Lutz said that he gets asked frequently if he’s sure that the plan will work. But he says that there’s no guarantee but he believes that it “stands a better chance than the Lotus status quo,” which is certain to lead into “terminal decline.”
In reference to Bahar’s new strategy of presenting five new models at once, Lutz said that it contains “a fair bit of showbiz” and he also admitted that the cars and timings are probably going to significantly change before they arrive at the market. He believes that the only option is to make “fantastically desirable” cars.
He said that a “pretty big gamble” is being taken by Lotus’ supporters, which indirectly include the Malaysian government. However, he added that from what he has seen so far, the engineering is “very good” and the carmaker is “going about it the right way.” He estimates that the money that Lotus spends on each model is actually only a fraction of what GM uses on similar projects.
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