Time for the name Lotus to leave F1

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Originally Posted by studiose

Why not see it as a compliment to Colin Chapman? ;)

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Well, I was going to say that the Lotus name saga is as nothing to some of the stuff Chapman allegedly got up to in his later business dealings. But this doesn't disguise the fact that the matter has now become laughable.

Let the Benetton sponsorship and team name returns!

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Originally Posted by ArrowsFA1

In what sense?

Lotus, whether that be group, cars or racing team, has no involvement in F1. The only reason the name is in the sport is because an international financial advisory and investment firm, which specialises in brand management, and who have aquired the name think "it is a good name for F1".

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Who? Genii?

Lotus was called that because of Bahar insisting on the name change for title sponsorship, not because of Genii's efforts. If anything the fact that this year's car is called the E20 for the 20th car to come out of Enstone indicates that Genii weren't particularly bothered about the Lotus heritage or they'd have just given it a plain number.

I'm not surprised that Genii now want to keep hold of the Lotus name, changing it to something else would be ridiculous given the pain the team went through to go from Renault to Lotus in the first place and they might lose prize money.

The fools and cynics here are Group Lotus (roadcars) who sponsored the team, insisted on the name change and forgot to actually put up the money that they said they'd pay. They're also fools for forgetting that the world's best advertising and marketing can't compensate for a lack of product and squandering their money by throwing it at any formula going. The Indy car venture has backfired spectacularly. What American would want to waste their money buying a car from a company that can't even supply a handful of engines for testing?

I don't blame Genii for squeezing a sponsor for all the money they were worth and agreeing to change the name of the team in exchange, particularly as they were planning a reverse takeover. I blame Bahar for getting the whole Lotus group into this sorry state.

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Good write-up. While having this new "Lotus" may not be pleasant for some fans, it hard to blame the Enstone team for using it now. The team was going to be part Lotus (cars) owned and also sponsored by them, until the deal fell through. It's not pleasant to change the team name yet again, just two years after the last change.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

That is a reasonable point. You mean because he wanted 'the next best thing' to Lotus after he couldn't have that name any more? Still, I do think the use of the Caterham name is more legitimate than the use of Lotus by Genii now is.

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More why so desperate to be associated/buy a brand?

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Originally Posted by zako85

I am pretty sure Tony Fernandes bought the Caterham because he thought that "Caterham" is cool team name to be used in F1. I don't think that common sense economics drive his decisions. F1 is his toy project that he will keep sponsoring as long as he stays interested in it.

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That's my main worry. Caterham shouldn't be treated like a football club. What happens when he gets bored/tired of F1 or numbers don't add up?

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Originally Posted by Malbec

I'm not surprised that Genii now want to keep hold of the Lotus name, changing it to something else would be ridiculous given the pain the team went through to go from Renault to Lotus in the first place...

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You're right, Genii have little option but to keep the name for now and they're not at fault for what has been going on with Group Lotus, but I hope they put an end to this sorry mess and re-name their team for the start of 2013.

Gerard Lopez feels confident for Lotus title sponsorship

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Group Lotus had signed a seven-year agreement with Lotus to act as the title
sponsor with a choice to acquire the team in the future. However, they are going
through some financial crisis which provided that reason for the termination of
the agreement.





“When we changed the name from Lotus Renault to Lotus, it opened up the door
for a title sponsor so, if you take into account the fact we signed Unilever,
probably the biggest sponsorship agreement this year in F1, and we signed
Microsoft, which is huge news as it is a brand that has never been in F1 before,
we have a wide space for sponsorship,”

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i say if they get to keep the lotus name for free good on them

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Originally Posted by wedge

More why so desperate to be associated/buy a brand?

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I don't think Fernandes is desperate and he's thought carefully about his entry into F1 too. Although he could have bought out an existing team he went in the hard way and so far, even if the results are a bit disappointing he's invested in the right infrastructure and laying down good foundations for a decent team.

I don't know where he is going with Caterham but his dealings with Air Asia are impressive and he gained control over another airline IIRC as part of the horsetrading over the Lotus name. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to buy companies on a whim. IMO I don't think he's given up on buying Group Lotus but he's biding his time until the value of the company drops through the floor.

They should change their name to Renault :p :

I’m confused. Does anyone actually own the name “Lotus”?
I thought that some time ago, the Chapman family endorsed the use of “Lotus” for Fernandes’ racing team? Now with Genii in the mix, does anyone have rights to the name or brand “Lotus”?