Lotus bought by China's Geeley

[Guest]

Just read this on BBC new website...

The purchase is part of a deal by Geeley to buy a 49.9% stake in Malaysian carmaker Proton. Geeley, which also owns the London Taxi Company and Volvo Car Group, will take a 51% stake in Lotus... Mmmmm

[chris_h]

No worse that proton owning it I suppose.  They've invested heavily in volvo and let them get on with their own thing.  Here's hoping...

[Eric]

I reckon that the back end of the Evora 400 reminds them so much of their beloved Volvo V40 that they just had to buy the company .

Lets just hope that its a "hand off" majority stake and they'll let Lotus get on with it.

[winthattt]

They have invested massively in Coventry Taxi with a new factory in Ansty and I regularly see new cabs and hybrids moving around.  The black cab business is even more marginal than Lotus.  Volvo thrives with Chinese ownership, JLR thrives with Indian ownership.  Both were lame under Ford ownership. I think it's good news.  I hope so, my brother is a welder at Lotus.

[Eric]

Can't wait to see how the new Elise is shapng up.  Who knows, new investment from Geeley might just help accelerate (or at least solidify) the new model programme.

And, if the new Elise is half as desirable as the 2010 Donato Coco mock-up, it'll be ultra desirable!