Lotus Terminates Entire European Dealship Network
There has been much discussion of late as to the future fate of Lotus. One of the best-loved brands on earth, the company has enjoyed relatively large amounts of success lately, with burgeoning sales figures delivered by their excellent Elise and Exige models as well as the recently released Evora. This, however, has not been enough to satisfy the brand’s Malaysian ownership at Proton.
Looking to broaden the brand’s relatively hardcore-only appeal, Lotus has announced the pending termination of all existing European dealership contracts by July of 2012. Fulfilling the brand’s contractual obligation to give two years’ notice to any dealers, the long lead time will also allow existing dealers to re-apply for dealership licensing as well as give Lotus time to re-evaluate their position. Having spent the last few months hiring executives from such high-end brands as Ferrari and Aston Martin, Lotus hopes to move towards a more luxurious market that abandons Colin Chapman’s (Lotus’ deified founder) maxim “simplify, and add lightness.” The work of the brand’s ownership group over at the Malaysian brand Proton, this newer, heavier, more luxurious and more complicated Lotus brand will require slightly different things of its dealerships, and one can assume that dealership network revisions will take place in North America as well. Enjoying a more luxurious brand image in this hemisphere, critics do not expect the same sweeping and dramatic changes taking place in Europe to translate over here, and instead envision revamped dealership requirements to bring the Lotus purchasing experience further in line with the Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Porsche dealerships this new Lotus hopes to contend with.
