Lotus name in F1

[myurr]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98628

So it looks like after the messy legal rubbish we were forced to witness last year where Renault and Genii Capital wrestled the Lotus name away from the team now known as Caterham, Lotus are now ending their title sponsorship so we'll see another renaming of the Genii Capital car when they find a new title sponsor. Absolute farce.

[myurr]

I should add that whilst I understand that Lopez is publicly keen to keep the name Lotus, longer term I can't see that happening. The new owners of the Lotus brand may not want to be associated with the team, depending upon performance and public image, it will possibly conflict unnecessarily with other title sponsors, and ultimately if Lopez and the others are half as smart as they should be they won't promote someone else's brand for free they'll look to put one of their brands on the car.

They were originally looking to buy Lotus as a company from Proton which would have been a good reason to bother with all the legal fighting last year as they looked to pull together the car company and F1 team. Now that deal looks like it won't happen the name Lotus holds much less value for them.

[marcush.]

jesus what a farce... how is that settlement of Fernandes with group lotus ? could he return to Team lotus Branding?

[WhiteBlue]

Amazing entertainment from Dany Bahar again. So we learn that Lotus can't afford a sponsorship in F1. Very few people thought that Bahar could afford it in 2010. This mess will probably continue until the Malaysian politicians have found someone who can really run Lotus properly. GenII will only keep the branding as long as it suites their purposes and perhaps until Group Lotus is sorted.

[Bob Brown]

No, Fernandes cannot return to Team Lotus branding, unless he gets a new deal with the DRB-HiCom (new owners of Lotus) but I highly doubt he wants to after seeing how ridiculous this all has become.

[bhall]

"Lotus has terminated its title sponsorship deal with sportscar manufacturer Group Lotus, AUTOSPORT can reveal, but remains wholly committed to keeping the famous name in Formula 1 for the future."

In other words...

"Lotus has terminated its title sponsorship deal with sportscar manufacturer Group Lotus, AUTOSPORT can reveal, but remains wholly committed to free advertising/association."

[munudeges]

I believe there was another thread where the Group Lotus house of cards was discussed in a bit more detail:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9250

That whole Bahar joke is going broke very fast. Personally it wouldn't surprise me to see Fernandes acquire the whole sorry mess.