Lotus's now suspended CEO Dany Bahar.
Lotus CEO Dany Bahar has been ousted due to alleged irregularities connected to a lavish expense account that he reportedly used, among other things, to bill two homes in Norwich, UK to the sports carmaker.
The oft-controversial Turkish-Swiss Bahar is the man behind an aggressive product development program intended to transform Lotus into a major player in the global exotic car market. It’s unclear what his suspension will mean to that effort.
Lotus has confirmed that, Bahar was “temporarily suspended from his role, to facilitate an investigation into a complaint about his conduct.”
The Swiss-born executive was reportedly playing fast and loose with his expenses, according to reports in the British press. Bahar was already involved in a legal dispute involving one of the two Norwich homes.
A little over a year ago, Lotus announced plans for the most expansive product development programs in its history with five different models promised to reach market by mid-decade. While fans hailed the plans there were plenty of skeptics doubtful Lotus could raise the resources to pull the effort off. Since then, the British-based maker has scaled back its ambitions slightly, but it also added some additional projects that include in-house development of a new V-8 engine.
Lotus and its Malaysian owner, Proton, were sold to DRB-Hicom in January. Questions about Bahar’s tenure have been raised repeatedly since then. But the axe fell after the executive met with Lotus’s new owners last week.
Bahar’s suspension doesn’t end the concerns about Lotus. The firm reportedly has run up over 200 million British pounds in debt and the new owners are reportedly wary of pumping more money into the company – with a number of analysts and observers anticipating DRB-Hicom might be seeking a new buyer. A story in the London-based Independent daily warned that Lotus could, according to sources, “run out of funds within weeks.”
A statement from DRB, however, insisted “it is business as usual at Lotus,” insisting that it “will continue to support Lotus in its business endeavors and development.”
Perhaps, but prior to his suspension, Bahar was reported to be involved in negotiations with potential several Chinese partners or buyers, including Geely Holding, which now owns Volvo, and Youngman, which had attempted to purchase Saab before the Swedish maker declared insolvency earlier this year.
For the moment, three executives from Lotus’s parent, Dato’ Lukman Ibrahim, Mohd Khalid Yusof and Aslam Farikullah, have been put in charge of the carmaker.