Feng Qingfeng to succeed Jean-Marc Gales as Lotus Global Chief Executive Officer

[Mark H]

• Geely Holding Announces Management Change at Group Lotus
• Feng Qingfeng to succeed Jean-Marc Gales as Lotus Global Chief Executive Officer
• Jean-Marc Gales to become Chief Strategic Advisor to Lotus Chairman

June 4th 2018, Hangzhou, China. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding), China’s leading
privately-owned automotive group, announced today that Mr. Feng Qingfeng, vice president and
chief technical officer of Geely Auto Group, has been appointed to succeed Jean-Marc Gales as chief
executive officer of Group Lotus effective immediately. Mr. Jean-Marc Gales has chosen to leave for
personal reasons and will become Chief Strategic Advisor to Lotus Chairman, Daniel Donghui Li.
Geely Holding, which acquired a controlling stake in Group Lotus in 2017, thanked Mr Gales for his
contribution to the company over the past four years.
Daniel Donghui Li, chief financial officer of Geely Holding and Lotus Cars Chairman, said: “Jean-Marc
has stabilised and turned Lotus to profitability for the first time in the iconic brands history with new
industry leading products and unique business models since joining the company in 2014. Lotus is
poised for the next phase of growth under Feng Qingfeng’s leadership, where its expertise in
lightweight materials and sport cars-engineering will form part of the wider expansion of Geely ‘s
automotive portfolio. At the same time I will welcome Jean-Marc‘s Council as Chief Strategic Advisor
to myself and the Board of Directors”
Geely acquired a majority holding in UK-based Lotus – a world leader in high-performance
lightweight sports cars – as part of its agreement last year to acquire 49.9 percent of the shares of
PROTON from HICOM Bhd (DRB) of Malaysia, Lotus’s former parent.
Feng Qingfeng (Mr. Feng) said: “I am honoured to have been appointed to lead this iconic British
sports car group. With Geely’s global synergies and total support I am confident that Lotus has an
exciting opportunity to achieve its full potential as a luxury sports brand, based around its
engineering legacy and its future product pipeline.”
On 2017 Group Lotus sold 1600 sports vehicles, an increase of 10% versus 2016, produced at its
plant in Norfolk, England. In 2017 the company showed a profit for the first time in history.

 

 

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