Lotus: via un quarto dei dipendenti

beckervdo · 20 Settembre 2014

Lotus plans to cut up to 325 jobs to reduce losses
September 18, 2014 18:41 CET

LONDON -- UK sports car maker Group Lotus said it plans to cut as many as 325 jobs, a quarter of its workforce, as it seeks to reduce losses.
The company wants to ensure that it has the "right organizational structure in place to achieve its business goals and to build a strong, sustainable future," Lotus said in a statement Thursday.
CEO Jean-Marc Gales said in the statement. "Once the reshaping has been undertaken, and with its strong and experienced management team, Lotus should be a leaner, more competitive organization."
Gales, a former head of brands at PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, was appointed Lotus CEO in May. Lotus is owned by Malaysian industrial group DRB-Hicom.
Group Lotus's cars and engineering units reported a combined loss of 159 million pounds (201 million euros) in the financial year that ended in March 2013, according to the most recently filed company report. The year before the company lost 115 million pounds.
Through June, Lotus increased sales 14 percent to 292 cars in Europe, its biggest market worldwide.
The company’s three sports car models, including the long-running Elise, are well regarded by the motoring media for their dynamic handling but are often criticized for lacking the finesse of rivals from the likes of Porsche.
Lotus hit the headlines four years ago when it showed off five new sports-car concepts at the Paris auto show as part of an ambitious plan to leverage its illustrious heritage and push the brand upmarket to create a British Ferrari.
The plan, however, was abandoned after the Malaysian government sold Lotus-owner Proton in 2012 and former Lotus CEO Dany Bahar left the company in the same year.
Lotus said it would redeploy staff wherever it could to reduce the number of job losses.
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Future Lotus plans could include new saloon and SUV

New Lotus boss Jean-Marc Gales says the firm will look outside its primary sports car business for new models

by Steve Cropley
19 September 2014 11:48am

Lotus could be building saloon and SUV models within a decade as part of a transformation plan framed in secret over the past few months by its recently-arrived CEO, Jean-Marc Gales, who once led Peugeot.
The idea was initially leaked on a Malaysian website claiming to be privy to Lotus's boardroom secrets but in an exclusive interview today with Autocar, Gales confirmed that the idea was very much on the table.
Speaking one day after it was revealed that Group Lotus' workforce could be cut by a quarter, a "very sad and regrettable" move that was needed to reshape the company and cut costs for the short term, Gales said his initial aim was to sharply increase sales of Lotus's three existing models - Elise, Exige and Evora - by making them better and increasing dealer spread.
"You will see many new variants of familiar Lotus models over the next nine months, and even more in the next two years," he said. "Our cars will be faster, better made and more convenient to use but we will keep our relationship with Toyota as an engine partner so the cars will be also be very reliable and easy to own."

However, in the longer term Gales says he sees no reason why what he sees as Lotus's core values - lightness, dynamic ability and unique styling - cannot extend to "cars in other categories than the sports car". Gales does not have to add that the same strategy has already turned Porsche into a hugely profitable automotive powerhouse.

Lotus sales are up 46 per cent so far this year, and the company is confident of selling 2000 units this year, most of them in "good old Europe" though other markets are also looking promising.
The company has recently opened nine more dealerships worldwide and has plans for a total of 20 within the next few months. Gales believes a reasonable production target with the existing model range is 3000 cars a year.
He clearly believes a return to profitability is an urgent requirement, but refuses to be tied to a date beyond naming it as a short-term objective.
"I am 100 per cent confident we can get Lotus back to where it was in its greatest days," Gales says, "but it would be foolish to suggest the task will be easy."
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Via Autocar.co.uk

DerrickNAE3 · 23 Settembre 2014

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