Dany Bahar appointed as new Lotus CEO

by: Damon Lavrinc

It was rumored yesterday and it's fact today: Ferrari's former senior veep for brand management, Dany Bahar has become Lotus' new CEO.

Before taking on the task of road car, after sales, F1 marketing and merchandising for Ferrari SpA, Bahar headed up the Corporate Projects Business team for Red Bull, where Bahar orchestrated the company's F1 program and oversaw the firm's NASCAR operations along with acquiring a few football (soccer) teams.

Bahar takes the reigns from long-time CEO Michael Kimberley who retired from the automaker in July after engineering Lotus' renaissance, particularly in the U.S. In a statement (posted below the fold), Bahar says he, "can't wait to get my plans underway in October." What's the new CEO have in-store? We should have a better idea sometime early next year.

REPORT: Lotus delays new Esprit to go hybrid

By: Noah Joseph

Nimble as they are, Lotus fans have been looking forward to something with a bit more oomph than the Elise/Exige/Europa series, and the Evora just didn't cut it. With the start of the new year, we thought we had come that much closer to the launch of the highly anticipated new Esprit. But the British sportscar-maker has moved the goalposts back, with new reports indicating that the re-Esprit may debut in 2011 instead of next year as originally planned.

The reason for the delay, according to emerging reports, is that Lotus is working to integrate some sort of mild hybrid system into its reborn GT. The system could be borrowed, along with its core powerplant, from BMW. A Lotus chassis with German power and regenerative braking may just be worth the wait.