|
Special Report: Ford to Buy Lotus?
by Alex Michalas
Lotus is one of the most important automotive companies as far as the impact it has had on the evolution of automotive technology is concerned, even though it has never really been a
mass manufacturer. Ever since its early years in the 50s, Lotus founder Colin Chapman has always been successful in keeping the company at the forefront of automotive technology for both the
race track and the road. As a result Lotus has produced some of the most radical sports-cars of the century including the original Lotus 7 in the 50s, the original rear wheel drive Elan in the 60s, the Esprit in the 70s and, of course, the magnificent Elise that broke cover in 1996. The financial history of Lotus has rarely been a happy
one though and the company has been changing owners quite frequently. Still, things really seem to have taken the right track now that the Malaysian Proton company owns 80 % of Lotus. Lotus has just unveiled the
Elise II and plans to introduce the M250
mid-engined sports-car too soon. Moreover, Lotus' Engineering division has been helping many mass-manufacturers produce cars that handle as cars should handle – an attribute that all Lotus cars have
always had. The latest example of this is the amazing Opel Speedster/Vauxhall VX220 roadster.Now think about Ford for a while. Another company with a huge impact in the automotive industry
and, of course, the #2 manufacturer in the world in terms of car production. Still, any automotive industry insider will tell you that Ford has been struggling a bit lately, especially as far as its European
division is concerned. With the latest industry-wide trend of mergers between everybody, it comes as no surprise that Ford
had apparently approached Proton 2 years ago in an effort to buy Lotus from the Malaysian company. Unsurprisingly, Proton replied that they were keen to retain their ownership of Lotus so the discussions
stopped. New reports have now surfaced, though, and this time Ford is in talks to buy a 30% stake in Proton that would give it an important stake in Lotus as well.
So what's up with Ford? Why does it care that much about a manufacturer that produces a few thousand cars per year? But, of course, for the same reason it cared about Aston Martin and Jaguar
(both parts of the Ford empire these days). Lotus, just like the two other great British manufacturers, is a very high profile brand with many devotees around the world. In addition to that, Lotus' engineering
expertise (as we have already noted above) is unsurpassed and can definitely be put to good use by Ford as it tries to sort out its new model lineup.
We don't yet know if these discussions will actually flourish and if Ford will go on and buy into Lotus but the importance of this whole event cannot be undermined. A corporate giant like Ford, that
possesses practically unlimited engineering resources around the world is, apparently, desperately trying to get into a small but very innovative and forward thinking manufacturer like Lotus. We really think this
clearly shows how important a small but legendary maker like Lotus still is in the automotive industry. What do you think of this whole situation? How do you view the possibility of Lotus joining Aston
Martin and Jaguar in the Ford family? Click here and discuss all these in the FantasyCars.com Message Board – see what others think and post your own comments!
Whatever the case, we really hope that Lotus continues producing some of the most radical FantasyCars on the road. In fact, we are sure it will!
|
