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    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    about time too!

    good riddance to bad rubbish



    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    So what was the reason? They did not specify. And from what I understood, Lotus was on a turnaround. The Exige was the beginning of a rath of products they had slated to introduce in 2013-2015 with much refreshed and exciting designs culminating in the return of the Espirit.


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    We do not know.

    However, if I have to speculate, 1 million pounds flying expenses for a CEO in a company that had a 1 millions pounds operating loss last year (if this is what you call a turnaround) with 200 million pounds debt outstanding?  and much more expenses to be accounted for just for Bahar while the rest of the employee is wondering if their company will still be around in the coming year.


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    Such a spectcular and rapid rise and fall ....

    --

    997.1 C2S GT Silver/Cocoa, -20mm/LSD, PSE, short shifter, SportDesign rims, Zuffenhausen pickup, BMW Z4 2.5i Roadster Sterling Grey/Red


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    Taner "Dany" Bahar is the type of flashy executive, the kind that gives lots of talk and visions but very little substance. He was there to enjoy it while it lasted but in effect he raped an already problematic company. Lotus is lucky that some good engineers are still there in spite of adversity.

    I won't be surprised if more waste is found when a future in-depth audit into "Dany's" activities takes place.


    --

    "Form follows function"


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    reginos:

    Taner "Dany" Bahar is the type of flashy executive, the kind that gives lots of talk and visions but very little substance. He was there to enjoy it while it lasted but in effect he raped an already problematic company. Lotus is lucky that some good engineers are still there in spite of adversity.

    I won't be surprised if more waste is found when a future in-depth audit into "Dany's" activities takes place.

    I suspect that your above assessment is very close to the truth.
    I'm just wondering whether any of the several non-executive automotive consultants which Lotus was reported to have engaged in the last couple of years had blown the whistle on Bahar's activities, since they surely should have seen signs that management of the company was out of control?


    --

    fritz


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    The idea of launching so many new models at more or less the same time was always doubtful to me and gave me the impression of someone who wanted to run before he could walk.


    --


    997.1 C2S
     GT Silver/Cocoa, -20mm/LSD, PSE, short shifter, SportDesign rims, Zuffenhausen pickup, BMW Z4 2.5i Roadster Sterling Grey/Red


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    Multiple models in a row should not have been too tough for an experienced car maker if they shared a platform. And if Bahar had an active hand in designing and bringing the new prototypes forward then this is an unfortunate outcome. The new Espirit and Eterne were beautiful designs with great specs. Had they brought them to market it would have stopped the long death spiral this company has been in. Also would have saved a great name from the glory days of F1.


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    I thought Lotus had been doing reasonably well with its Elise, Exige, 2-11 and Evora models. Bahar wanted to take the range more upmarket to compete with Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin etc.

    Like Icarus, he flew too close to the sun and the whole thing came crashing down :(


    --


    997.1 C2S
     GT Silver/Cocoa, -20mm/LSD, PSE, short shifter, SportDesign rims, Zuffenhausen pickup, BMW Z4 2.5i Roadster Sterling Grey/Red


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    If you read the excerpt below from the link posted above, it leaves no doubt that Lotus wasn't doing at all well, in spite of impressions to the contrarry. The Elise and Exige might have been magazine favourites and perhaps in the UK a few circulated on the roads but they were not real international sales successes.

    As if that eternal lack of profitability wasn't enough, Bahar was milking the company with his own extravagance.

    Under Bahar’s stewardship, Lotus has been bleeding red ink, putting its parent Proton under tremendous strain.

    Affin Investment Bank said in a September 2011 report that Lotus was expected to continue bleeding red ink until 2014 at the very least.

    Proton has not made any profit from the British unit over the past 15 years and Lotus has been struggling to compete against other sportscar makers such as Porsche AG and Ferrari in Europe.

    In 2010, Proton sought to turn around Lotus with a five-year business transformation plan that would potentially cost up to RM2.37 billion, a project that has since been a drag on the
    Malaysian company’s earnings.

    There have also been talk in the market of a consortium of local banks, which includes CIMB Bank Bhd and Malayan Banking Bhd, having stopped lending money to Lotus due to its management’s
    inability to meet certain conditions in their loan agreements.

    Thus far, the bankers have advanced Lotus as much as £200 million (RM984 million).

    Business Times reported in April that Lotus was in dire straits, with Proton having to pump in between £5 million and £8 million a week into it.


     

    --

    "Form follows function"


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    Proton made a bad choice of CEO and compounded matters by failing to supervise his activities. 


    --

    fritz


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    Bahar was Lotus's last shot at becoming a real car company again. I didn't want to say what I was really thinking regarding their current offerings that Easy mentioned out of respect for the few owners here. But Reginos touched on it. Talk about a niche market. I remember the first time I examined one up close, no thanks.

    There is a reason why they had Sharon Stone introduce the new Espirit at the LA auto show. Her movie was the last time they were thought of as an upscale car company by the general public. The vision brought forth under Bahar's time as CEO whether it was his doing or not was their last chance. A little discipline instilled into Bahar's travel habits and some balls to carry on the revamping and they might have become what he talked about.

     

     


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    racerx:

    Bahar was Lotus's last shot at becoming a real car company again. I didn't want to say what I was really thinking regarding their current offerings that Easy mentioned out of respect for the few owners here. But Reginos touched on it. Talk about a niche market. I remember the first time I examined one up close, no thanks.

    There is a reason why they had Sharon Stone introduce the new Espirit at the LA auto show. Her movie was the last time they were thought of as an upscale car company by the general public. The vision brought forth under Bahar's time as CEO whether it was his doing or not was their last chance. A little discipline instilled into Bahar's travel habits and some balls to carry on the revamping and they might have become what he talked about.

     I agree with you entirely - my early posts said the same thing.  Go big or go home...


    --


    Porsche Carrera GTS (2012); Porsche Cayenne Diesel (2012)


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    Gauss:

    Group Lotus confirmed this evening that chief executive Dany Bahar has been dismissed with immediate effect.

    Lots of speculation about his performance re. losses at Lotus in this thread, but if that were the reason, it is usually easy to diplomatically phrase a release about "results not meeting expectations" etc... When the owners use the word "conduct" it can often be a code word for behaviour that is against internal policies but cannot be disclosed due to its nature, and this is often the way that serious harassment (sexual or otherwise) is worded.  Just a possibility, and we will likely never know....

     


    --

    2011 Range Rover Sport S/C,  2009 Porsche 911S


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    Seems like it is time to let Tony Fernandez "buy" Lotus as he did a great job marketing team lotus, which is why Proton put up such a big stink about the name of the F1 team..the guy sold like 150 million in merchandise...so a bit of jealousy maybe on the part of Proton and company.what is really interesting is that the DRB Hicom deal never closed with Proton so technically the shares should not have transferred to them and none of this should be taking place... also an engineer is one thing,  running a car company is something else entirely....really has been a mess over there Swizz beatz a board member? tasteless tuner companies doing body kits? they brought in a great team of people to work on the production of cars but it is sad..once the dealers lose confidence and the banks dont want to finance the cars it certainly makes the situation much much more challenging....



    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    Yes the article is the beginning of the usual proton process. Mr. Behar has no choice but to sue Proton Lotus for wrongful dismissal. Proton lotus will probably end up paying--(the assumption probably was Proton has more money so Behar wont be able to afford the financial bleed of a lawsuit) and  if he doesnt sue them he will have a hard time finding employment in the auto industry. The Plan he was following was the one that Proton approved so alll of this hand wringing about their plan makes no sense since proton is the one who approved it in the first place. The current choice of COO seems to suggest that religion and race are more important than finding the right person for the job if in fact they are not satisfied with the Job mr. Behar is doing. Looking at the current political situation in Malaysia which is fed on a diet of religious and racial divisivness(as opposed to the strength of the multi cultural makeup of the country)  the choice should be of no surprise and sadly should not produce the positive results that would make people looking for a solid bottom line or car people happy.


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    The complaint about Bahar was made by Lotus, not the Malaysian side.  


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    Lotus is owned by Proton ..so to separate the two is not possible. You will see that he will end up in a suit with them.


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    I don't see how blaming religion and politics in Malaysia would help Bahar's case in the law suit.

    Would you have him run around on a spending spree if it was your own company with 200 million pounds of debt with covenants?


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    I was looking at a Lotus forum last night, on the off chance that they might be closer to it.  Some interesting stuff - even amongst the Lotus fans DB divided opinion (although still mostly negative).  One additional unsubstantiated rumour from people (apparently) close to insiders is that a number of cars can't be accounted for, and rumour has it that he "gave" them to friends with no fixed date for return...

    Also, on the house renovations (which isn't new), he's accused of spending GBP375k on changes to a rental property: most executive contracts contain very, very lavish relocation allowances - the question is whether he overstepped the mark.  Also, the builder is suing both Lotus and DB for non-payment for services as some of the invoices were to the company and some to DB, so it seems that there might be some question as to who should have been paying for the renovations (or the limit thereof).


    --


    Porsche Carrera GTS (2012); Porsche Cayenne Diesel (2012)


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    Jean:

    I don't see how blaming religion and politics in Malaysia would help Bahar's case in the law suit.

    Everybody who has been dismissed makes an attempt at a law suit, just in case he gets something out of his ex-employers. We shouldn't read too much into this.

    In Malaysia there is freedom of religion, with Islam being the state religion. Nevertheless, I would have thought that Bahar being Turkish (with Swiss passport) wasn't a ready target of any religious prejudice.


    --

    "Form follows function"


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    This is the usual nonsense...I bet that the company is put up for sale within the next month. Maybe there will be a managment buyout too.... By the way Proton is Lotus with no talent .....the original idea of the investment was to transfer some talent to Proton and improve the cars which didnt happen. In the is case also Proton is in the same position as lotus. They are funded by the government and they dont make money. So is DRB Hicom ...so this is a shell game of moving things from one government funded and protected entity to another and neither one makes a car that is any good.  This is like the bad old days of Tommy Suharto at Lamborghini.... 

     


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    Yes if you dont follow malaysian politics and business you would be correct. on the other hand since Senor Behar has a clause in his contract regarding his getting a payout if the company is sold, the usual nonsense would be to fire him for "cause" so as not to pay when the company is sold.  http://www.leftlanenews.com/drb-hicom-actively-seeking-new-owner-for-lotus.html and look here too.. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/9219816/Lotus-chief-Bahar-gets-bonus-if-sports-car-maker-is-sold.html

    In regard to the politics involved, while Malaysia is a multi cultural and multi religious country the current administration is approaching elections with the usual fear mongering of how native islamic malays need to vote for the ruling party or be marginalized... This is simply an observation of business as usual and in the case of Proton and Hicom both of which are funded by the Malaysian government that is the way they roll.  Just an observation from personal experience. a real shame as you really want to root for the Proton lotus combo to have worked....  in the end when the tree falls the monkeys will scatter... Smiley


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    charliecleanup:

     since Senor Behar has a clause in his contract regarding his getting a payout if the company is sold, the usual nonsense would be to fire him for "cause" so as not to pay when the company is sold.  

    This is an interesting conspiracy theory and might turn out to be true if DRB decides to sell Lotus in time.


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    I just really dig the cars and hope it gets sorted out. Just frustrating to see this going.


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    "I am not aware of any suit being filed by Bahar against DRB-HICOM. Nevertheless, we are fully prepared should Bahar wish to take action against Lotus plc or DRB-HICOM. We had anticipated this when Lotus dismissed him," said Sulaiman Yahya, head of corporate communications at DRB-HICOM.

    "Bahar was dismissed based on the results of Lotus' investigations into his conduct. We shall rely on this evidence should he wish to take legal action. In fact, in doing so, he must be prepared for the truth to be out in the open for all to see," added Sulaiman.


    --


    Re: Group Lotus boss Dany Bahar suspended

    well maybe he is aware now: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/6/21/business/11520237&sec=business


     
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