Lotus to be renamed next year??

[guesswho's back]

There seems to be a row between Tony Fernandez and Lotus parent company Proton over the naming rights, and if I read it correctly, Proton not just refused the renaming of 'Lotus Racing' to 'Team Lotus', but banned the use of "Lotus" in the team name altogether, while withdrawing all financial support...

What gives? What will they do with the name if it's not involved in F1? What will Fernandez do...?

[Dave]

I had originally thought this was a Proton venture but it seems they are not involved or are no longer involved... I dunno what is going on. If it has no ties with Lotus cars then I can't see how they can continue to call it Lotus in any way shape or form. Maybe they can rape some other great, long-dead name instead. Brabham or Tyrrell or BRM!

Shame because the team seems to be shaping up for a brighter future.

[esterence]

would be great if lotus can get rid of proton and all the malaysian branding all together

[Schumacat]

Tony had made a deal with the Proton group for 2010 to use the Lotus Racing name for the year. However, recently, Danny Bahar, a Ferrari guy moved to the Proton group and he had his own ambitions in regard to the Lotus brand. He made a deal with ART group to have his own team in GP2 and GP3 which was in direct competition with Tony Fernandes' Air Asia GP2 team. Bahar also wanted to get his own Lotus team in F1.

Meanwhile, Tony Fernandes, had already been in talks with David Hunt, who owns the Team Lotus brand( the original racing brand created by Colin Chapman) , so that he could rename his team to "Team Lotus" instead of the current "Lotus Racing". He finally made a deal with David Hunt and now his team will be called "Team Lotus" from 2011 and the original Lotus logo will be back in addition to the team being recognised as the successor of the original Team Lotus ( meaning they will inherit all their records and stats too ).

However, Danny and Proton group didn't like this and have said they will contest this. Legally, Lotus Group and Team Lotus are separate entities. And Proton only owns the Lotus Group, not the Team Lotus which was separated a long time ago. Also, I have read somewhere that Proton already tried to sue Team Lotus and lost. So i guess they don't have much legal standing here.

So there you go. That is the whole story in short .

[Gary]

Will be fun to have Team Lotus and Lotus Racing both on grid.
My money would go on Team Lotus to be the better of the two...

[Mach]

Will be fun to have Team Lotus and Lotus Racing both on grid.
My money would go on Team Lotus to be the better of the two...

At the back of the grid

[Dave]

The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it seems that the team is called Lotus. It has no link to the parent company and no link to the original Team Lotus. It's just some guy who has bought a name.

I might build a luxury car out of toilet roll and cardboard boxes and call it a Duesenberg.

[arizal_adl]

Tony had made a deal with the Proton group for 2010 to use the Lotus Racing name for the year. However, recently, Danny Bahar, a Ferrari guy moved to the Proton group and he had his own ambitions in regard to the Lotus brand. He made a deal with ART group to have his own team in GP2 and GP3 which was in direct competition with Tony Fernandes' Air Asia GP2 team. Bahar also wanted to get his own Lotus team in F1.

Meanwhile, Tony Fernandes, had already been in talks with David Hunt, who owns the Team Lotus brand( the original racing brand created by Colin Chapman) , so that he could rename his team to "Team Lotus" instead of the current "Lotus Racing". He finally made a deal with David Hunt and now his team will be called "Team Lotus" from 2011 and the original Lotus logo will be back in addition to the team being recognised as the successor of the original Team Lotus ( meaning they will inherit all their records and stats too ).

However, Danny and Proton group didn't like this and have said they will contest this. Legally, Lotus Group and Team Lotus are separate entities. And Proton only owns the Lotus Group, not the Team Lotus which was separated a long time ago. Also, I have read somewhere that Proton already tried to sue Team Lotus and lost. So i guess they don't have much legal standing here.

So there you go. That is the whole story in short .

Nice summary.
In addition, Proton has/will cut their ties with the company called 1Malaysia who owns the F1 team.
and if i may add more.. Stupid.. stupid stupid..

[Rus-Evo]

So Tony Fernandez doesnt own Proton?

[Dave]

So Tony Fernandez doesnt own Proton?

Proton is state owned.

Tony Fernandes owns AirAsia. (Tony FernandeZ played baseball )

[Schumacat]

Nope Tony owns the Tune Group and the Air Asia group. Proton is owned by the Malaysian Government. Tony had bought the loss making Air Asia group from the government for 1 Ringgit and turned it into a huge profit making company now.

He had made a deal with the Proton owned Lotus group to use the Lotus Racing name in F1. But Danny Bahar had plans to get his own team in F1 ( he has a few ex Ferrari people with him in Group Lotus, including that annoying Ferrari guy who used to be seen all the time in the garage ). So they decided not to extend the deal with the Tune Group.

This forced Tony's hand since his original plan was to buy the Team Lotus brand and then merge both the Racing and Manufacturing teams. He has now bought the Team Lotus brand and he will use the name in F1. And he has the support of the Chapman family as well as David Hunt who has owned the Team Lotus brand since 1994.

Meanwhile, Group Lotus wants to get an F1 team on its own and is planning to buy some small team ( probably Sauber or Torro Rosso ) . So we could have 2 Lotus teams on the grid next year . But Tony has already gone to court to clarify this issue.

Also, it seems like Group Lotus is on shaky ground here since they had already gone to court previously over the issue and lost.

[arizal_adl]

To see how confusing this mess is.. a quote from local news

Its chief executive officer Riad Asmat, who was formerly with Proton, said they were confident of their rights, adding that Proton’s public statement gave them a chance to reveal the actual situation.

“We are glad that this has been brought up by Proton in the public. It will give us a chance to show to the shareholders, government and the public the exact situation.

“We are confident of our rights. I have worked in Proton for many years as the special adviser to the chief executive officer and I am fully conversant on this matter. A full release will follow,” he said in a statement Monday night.

Full story
Battle over Lotus name goes to English court

[Rus-Evo]

If they want to be a big team then they might benefit from the creation of their own identity in the long run.........in the short run the Lotus name brings in the bucks.

[esterence]

I am in support of Tony Fernandez then after reading Schumacat story. Always thought he and Protons guys were in cahoot.

I think Tony have a good chance of winning imo. He had bought team lotus name over, what has that gotta do with Proton?

[Schumacat]

The funny thing is that when Tony made a deal with Proton last year to use the Lotus Racing name in F1, he was told explicitly that he cannot use the Team Lotus name in F1 as they didn't have the rights to use that name. And now they claim they own everything related to the Lotus name .

[Rus-Evo]

But there were all the conversations on the forum about how it would be a Malaysian team with Proton manufacturer backing lols.

[Prefect]

Hah what a mess

[MihaiVIP]

who cares, they're damaging the iconic name & image anyways, weather it's team lotus or lotus racing. they're not the same team from back in the day. lotus was a british european team, these guys are asian lmao. (no racism of course, just stating the difference)

[arizal_adl]

what about mercedes then? it was once Brawn after Honda.. whatever before that.. (Honda = asian, merc=european)

I dont think the current Lotus is damaging to the original or the genuine.. in what way it is damaging?
If am not wrong, the original Lotus wasnt performing, and was put to sleep after that...

Tony has carried the Lotus name respectfully..

[arizal_adl]

But there were all the conversations on the forum about how it would be a Malaysian team with Proton manufacturer backing lols.

Now we know what the backing means...
Its still a Malaysian team though.. at least that is what I like to think.

[arizal_adl]

would be great if lotus can get rid of proton and all the malaysian branding all together

Would that includes removing Air Asia and NAZA?

[Schumacat]

who cares, they're damaging the iconic name & image anyways, weather it's team lotus or lotus racing. they're not the same team from back in the day. lotus was a british european team, these guys are asian lmao. (no racism of course, just stating the difference)

Lotus wasn't exactly doing their iconic image a lot of good in their last days, so i don't see the problem with the current team. Atleast the current guys are trying hard and have a lot of respect for the history of the team and their legacy. Give them some credit for that. Proton had tried to buy the Team Lotus brand from David Hunt a long time back but he refused. But he agreed to Tony's deal which should count for something. Even the Chapman family are happy with the way the current management is proceeding with the things.

Regarding the British european and asian thing, only the owners are Malaysian. The whole team is based in Norfolk and most of the people in the team are british/ european. I don't see the issue here. The Arabs own a lot of shares in the Mclaren team, that doesn't make it an Arab team, does it ?