By LAWRENCE TAN

Malaysian-owned Lotus wants to return to the same footing as Ferrari and Maserati, its CEO Dany Bahar said in a report in Malaysia’s state newspaper New Straits Times.

Speaking to the media when Bahar hosted a recent visit to the Hethel-based plant in Norwich by Malaysia’s constitutional Head of State, His Majesty Mizan Zainal Abidin, Bahar said: “Lotus was mentioned in the same sentence as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati in the 1970s-1990s. Then, it got closed into a corner. We believe it's the right time to bring Lotus back to where it was.”

Newly appointed Bahar is of course himself formerly from Ferrari, and says he has already outlined plans to return Lotus to its former glory in the next three to five years.

One of the strategies is the introduction of new models, the first of which is the recently launched Lotus Evora, which Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, managing director of Lotus’ parent company, the state-owned automaker Proton Holdings, describes as “a turning point”.

Bahar also added that the Lotus brand’s potential was huge and its inherent strengths were the iconic brand, its long history in car-racing and its reputation as a manufacturer of exciting, innovative and light sports cars.

Lotus

via New Straits Times