Group Lotus to Tony Fernades: Cease and Desist

[Hun200kmh]

Autosport is being to conservative in that report, I think the original is much more ... errmmmm .... interesting. Someone allowed a kid to post on Lotus Cars' facebook wall I guess LOL

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1146106&l=da3676510f&id=135849009792886

 

[Prince.M5]

Wow, I didn't know but thanks for the link mate. This has just about to get even more hilarious!

 

[Northstar]

I don't know what's funnier, the "article" itself or the people commenting not realizing it's a parody.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Justin, it looks like it is a parody, but it isn't. And the "digs" at Fernandes, Gascoyne and Saward are very real.

Anyway, Sniff Petrol, the author of the photoshop Lotus Cars is using is tweeting like mad

Note: Read from the bottom up, most recent tweets are on top

Sniff Petrol ‏ @sniffpetrol Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Someone on Facebook has just pointed out that the Lotus madness release contains this Yoda-ish line: "Fact: Rubbish – Dany Bahar still is."

32m Sniff Petrol ‏ @sniffpetrol Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
@BurtonSays @harrismonkey You've missed the point. Can't speak for CH, but I love Lotus and it breaks my heart to see it doing dumb things.

33m Sniff Petrol ‏ @sniffpetrol Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Good news! Dany Bahar has just arrived at the Lotus factory to sort out this whole press release debacle: http://i.imgur.com/TpVbB.jpg

45m Sniff Petrol ‏ @sniffpetrol Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Just to recap in case you missed it earlier, Lotus has gone mad: http://tinyurl.com/d3sgy9k

52m Sniff Petrol ‏ @sniffpetrol Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
@samphilip Didn't you read? They love a bit of "self irony". LOVE IT. The fact their teeth are gritted is a COINCIDENCE.

1h Sniff Petrol ‏ @sniffpetrol Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
I should add that motor industry press releases are, by and large, pretty dry and factual. This one isn't that. It's basically mental.

1h Sniff Petrol ‏ @sniffpetrol Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Do take time to read the text under the picture. That same copy was sent out to all the motoring outlets in the UK and beyond.

1h Sniff Petrol ‏ @sniffpetrol Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Lotus have used the latest Sniff Petrol picture of Dany Bahar in a press release.

 

[Northstar]

Justin, it looks like it is a parody, but it isn't.

That is just in bad taste than.

 

[Hun200kmh]

^^^^ I think that's what Adam Cooper also thinks. From his tweeter (I bolded what he thinks):

Adam Cooper ‏ @adamcooperf1 Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
#F1 Fascinating details from Group Lotus re Proton's £30m loan to Lotus F1: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/04/11/group-lotus-confirms-details-of-30m-loan-to-lotus-f1/


1h Adam Cooper ‏ @adamcooperf1 Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
In fact here's a link to the Lotus Cars Facebook page...: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1146106&l=da3676510f&id=135849009792886


1h Adam Cooper ‏ @adamcooperf1 Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Reads like one of those Tweets you should never do when you are angry and drunk, except there are a lot more than 140 characters...

1h Adam Cooper ‏ @adamcooperf1 Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Lotus Cars has put out an astonishing statement re reports of its difficulties, including digs at T Fernandes, M Gascoyne and J Saward

 

[Prince.M5]

In a moments time, I'm very sure it will create an enourmous stir in the online community. Seriously, apart from this being hilarious, digging up on other people is just never a good idea - doesn't matter how badly drunk you are...

 

[Ardius]

Bring back 2008 when none of this mess started...when Lotus still had some respect. Now its become a joke, pretending to take part in motorsport series by re-branding teams, cars and engines and pulling all kinds of PR-disasters like this. I would happily have no Lotus in F1 if it meant that the name wasn't tarnished with all this crap.
The worst part of it all is the new roadcar models.

 

[Pupik]

Bring back 2008 when none of this mess started...when Lotus still had some respect. Now its become a joke, pretending to take part in motorsport series by re-branding teams, cars and engines and pulling all kinds of PR-disasters like this. I would happily have no Lotus in F1 if it meant that the name wasn't tarnished with all this crap.

Amen, brother.

 

[Liquid]

Thirded.

Team Lotus was essentially over when Chapman died. Sporadic wins in the mid 80s but not much else. It's become farical now.

 

[Ardius]

Its not just about Team Lotus anymore though - Group Lotus/Lotus Cars themselves have become the joke!

 

[Prince.M5]

I'm putting all the blame on Dany Bahar. He's spending Group Lotus's money like tap water, expecting Lotus to become a Ferrari in 2-3 years which will never happen! I don't know who made those comments but they've certainly left their brains somewhere at the circuit and eaten by their own cars.

And as I've said before that this will create a stir, yes, it has alreadys started.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Autosport is being to conservative in that report

Probably because Lotus slammed Joe Saward for being on the payroll of Caterham, and given their connections to Lotus, Autosport probably don't want to cause trouble by rubbing Caterham's face in it.

 

[astrosdude91]

A bit of a messy "blame Caterham" fest with that press release. Very odd.

 

[Tired Tyres]

First draft of the Facebook statement.

http://sniffpetrol.com/2012/04/11/lotusfirstdraft/

There is bad language on this site. Viewer discretion recommended.

 

[Furinkazen]

And the actual FB statement:

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story….

Take a little look at what we found online. Don’t you think it’s funny? We do. We had a good old giggle. After all, we love a bit of self irony, just as well really. Although it’s funny, this one’s not accurate but then again, why let the facts get in the way of a good story? The inconvenient truth is – surprise, surprise – we have never said that there are no problems at Lotus.

So whilst lots of people obviously feel the need to comment on Lotus’ current situation in the absence of proper facts or evidence, we can’t ignore these particular mistruths any longer even if we would like to, so we have decided to turn a negative into a positive and use this hilarious piece of ‘art’ to set the record straight regarding the status quo at Group Lotus and try to return a little stability to a fast changing situation.

False rumour #1: Dany Bahar is no longer CEO of Group Lotus.
Fact: Rubbish – Dany Bahar still is.

False rumour #2: Dato’ Sri Syed is no longer Managing Director of Proton.
Fact: Again rubbish. He still is.

You can thank good old Tony Fernandes for these two. Don’t take everything he tweets too seriously – perhaps he’s still frustrated about owning Caterham instead of Lotus and the fact that he fights HRT and Marussia instead of Mercedes and Ferrari in F1.

And whilst we’re on the subject of jokes - do you know the latest F1 joke? Mike Gascoyne, Caterham Group’s Chief Technical Officer, has gone missing. Why? He’s looking for the 30 to 40 points he predicted for the last F1 season. Funny.

Speaking of F1: It seems that one special so called ‘independent’ source is at the root of the lion’s share of damaging rumours and misleading stories. The delightful Joe Saward which leads us nicely to….

False rumour #3: Joe Saward is JUST an independent journalist.
Fact: He is an active Director on the Caterham Group Board.

And unlike some, we don’t want to get too personal, so we’ll leave it to you to judge how ‘independent’ his stories about Lotus are.

False rumour #4: Group Lotus is no longer involved in F1.
Fact: Lotus F1 Team and Group Lotus have reshaped their commercial relationship earlier this year. The new governance agreement signifies the continued commitment of Group Lotus to the team and the sport.

Group Lotus’ branding and marketing rights and subsequent activities remain unaffected by the new agreement until at least 2017. Alongside continued branding and title partnership status, Group Lotus is also the exclusive master licensee for all Lotus F1 Team merchandise.

The new agreement was reached following Group Lotus owners Proton providing team owners Genii with a £30m loan which is repayable within three years. In order to secure the loan Genii used 100% of the F1 team’s assets as collateral meaning that under the conditions of the loan agreement Proton have been given full title guarantee to all plant, machinery, show cars, computers, office and the Lotus F1 Team headquarters.

In addition Proton retains the rights to purchase 10% of the F1 team. Another 10% share option will be activated if the team default on their loan obligations with Proton.

Again we leave it to your judgement how ‘bad’ Lotus’ current situation in F1 is. And speaking of bad situations…..

False rumour #5: Group Lotus is going into administration.
Fact: Rubbish. The takeover of our parent company Proton by DRB-HICOM couldn’t have come at a worse time, but up until that point Proton was (and still remains) fully committed to our five year business plan to create jobs and to expand the factory and business. With the takeover process the funding has been restricted and DRB-HICOM is taking time to understand what to do with the business. DRB-HICOM is currently in the middle of due diligence of Group Lotus and there have been and continue to be positive discussions between Group Lotus senior management and senior management at DRB-HICOM both here in Hethel and in Malaysia. At no point has DRB-HICOM indicated to Group Lotus that it intends to put the company into administration. The over-active rumour mill is seriously damaging our business reputation, image and credibility but it is what it is.

The simple fact is, and we haven’t denied this - Lotus is going through a very difficult phase at the moment but we are showing true fighting spirit every day in trying to keep this vision alive. This is also a fact – no matter what people outside of Lotus may say or tweet or blog.



EDIT: Look at the FB comments, Lotus being slated... for those who can't access FB i'll copy and paste a few:

"False Rumour #6: Lotus Cars knows satire when they see it.
Fact: RUBBISH. Lotus Cars is fully committed to being completely clueless about satire and putting their foot in mouth in any satirical situation. They are fully supported in this endeavour by Proton and DRB-HICOM."

"LOLTUS. How very sad."

"Nothing shows the professionalism of a company like a press release written with the same tone as an angry sarcastic drunk."

"Whats next from Lotus a press release of "Your Mum" quotes. Grow up!"

"Have Caterham planted a 'sleeper' in Lotus' PR department, or is that Norfolk cider stronger than I thought, because this is simply lunacy... Lots of Trouble - Usually Serious never seemed more apt."

 

[Hun200kmh]

The 3 guys aimed directly by "Group Lotus" press release reacted very differently from one another:

Tony Fernandes - nothing, he just retweeted what the Caterham team wrote ( "Always nice to be talked about isn't it! Anyway - back to the real world ..." ) and a few of Gascoyne's tweets.

Joe Saward - lengthy blog post, using a lot of self-restraint.

Mike Gascoyne - The most vocal of the three, through twiter. IMO, he shouldn't have because he leveled with the press release's author. But hey, here's what he wrote:

4h Mike Gascoyne ‏ @MikeGascoyne Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Found out what you know who has been up to..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FLiO_VSkYs&feature=youtube_gdata_player


9h Mike Gascoyne ‏ @MikeGascoyne Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Enough said on the lotus press release, I would normally ridicule them but they seem to be doing a good enough job on their own


10h Mike Gascoyne ‏ @MikeGascoyne Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
And I'm in a car, enough said.....


10h Mike Gascoyne ‏ @MikeGascoyne Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
I'm on my way to the circui, unlike a lotus indycar engine apparently


10h Mike Gascoyne ‏ @MikeGascoyne Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Just landed in china, not missing but can't see Dany anywhere....

Oh ... and he made a retweet of this.
Be warned, many many 🤬 words in it:

Grand Prix Diary ‏ @GrandPrixDiary Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
The Lotus Group - Part 1 - An inside look into the Lotus Group: http://youtu.be/B8cDtLt4CU4
Retweeted by Mike Gascoyne
View video

EDIT - The Genii Team (currently named LotusF1Team ) is making clear in several tweets this morning that they have nothing to do with Group Lotus' press release. Check this conversation.

Mikko Talvitie ‏ @TheMikaelT · Open
Funny how fast respect for @Lotus_F1Team can go after press release on @MyCaterhamF1 I know it was Group Lotus but SEEN as Lotus F1. Sad.

Lotus F1 Team ‏ @Lotus_F1Team Close
@TheMikaelT nothing to do with @Lotus_F1Team and we're sure our fans know that


Mikko Talvitie ‏ @TheMikaelT · Open
@Lotus_F1Team I just mean that every time the headlines say Lotus, you automatically think Lotus F1. And it's sad. Good luck for China!

 

[Pupik]

I'm thinking that the only logical way out of this is to blame Flavio Briatore for the mess.

Or if HRT paints their car in the style of the 1987-90 Camel Lotus colors.

 

[Liquid]

I'm thinking that the only logical way out of this is to blame Flavio Briatore for the mess.

Or if HRT paints their car in the style of the 1987-90 Camel Lotus colors.

The stewards have concluded that it's Hamilton's fault. 10 place grid penalty for every race that has either a Lotus or a Caterham on the grid.

 

[Hun200kmh]

The stewards have concluded that it's Hamilton's fault.

 

[hawkeye122]

So can someone explain to me in much more concise terms what exactly is going on? All I'm getting is that "Group Lotus"(The people who make the Evora?) No longer sends money to Genii Capital, who actually own the F1 team?

Also, is Group Lotus re-badging all the race cars, or is it Genii?

I honestly can't keep up because it seems like the BS flies faster than I can make sense of it.

And Sniff Petrol... they make the picture, which is a blatant parody, and then Lotus put this thing on Facebook (Which Lotus, mind you, I have no idea) Which is ALSO a joke?

 

[Ardius]

So can someone explain to me in much more concise terms what exactly is going on? All I'm getting is that "Group Lotus"(The people who make the Evora?) No longer sends money to Genii Capital, who actually own the F1 team?

Also, is Group Lotus re-badging all the race cars, or is it Genii?

I honestly can't keep up because it seems like the BS flies faster than I can make sense of it.

And Sniff Petrol... they make the picture, which is a blatant parody, and then Lotus put this thing on Facebook (Which Lotus, mind you, I have no idea) Which is ALSO a joke?

-Proton/Group Lotus sponsored the Enstone team who are owned by Genii.
-The Enstone team will no longer be sponsored by Group Lotus after their sale to new owners.
-The Enstone team name will not change yet because:
1. There are several hoops to jump through just to get it changed, even just for next year.
2. Genii are happy remaining as "Lotus".

It was Group Lotus that was re-naming teams (ART, Rebellion, etc) as well as re-badging engines. Nothing to do with Genii or anything in F1.

Lotus were referring to the Sniff Petrol picture as an example of the kind of abuse they feel they are getting. They were sarcastically referring to how funny they thought such pictures were. Basically that facebook post was as much a response to the jokes people make of them on the internet as it was as a response to current events.