Lotus will terminate the contracts of all its European dealerships in July 2012 as part of plans to completely overhaul its dealership network.
Lotus CEO Dany Bahar has written to the Norfolk firm’s entire European dealership network informing them that their contracts will not be renewed and will expire on 18 July 2012.
Full story: Lotus reveals radical new direction
The sports car firm is acting within the current terms of its dealerships’ contracts, which outlines that two-year’s notice must be given for termination.
Plans for a radical overhaul of the European dealer network will be revealed in the period after the Paris motor show, the location where Lotus’s new five-year blueprint will be announced, outlining its future building a new range of more luxurious GTs and sports cars.
Lotus has confirmed the current dealer network would be able to apply for new dealerships or franchises under new terms, but it has yet to reveal precise details on what those terms will be.
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Re: Lotus axes dealer network
Not good news on the Lotus front, looks like it's full steam ahead on the 'upmarket' push..
Really not a good idea, if you move away from what makes you unique in the marketplace, what makes you different?
If you want a 120k+ sports car- you'll buy Ferrari/Lambo
If you want a 100K+ British sports car you'll buy a Aston.
If you want a sub 100k sports car, you'll buy Porsche
These are the type of buyers Lotus are going to have to convert to realise the strategic direction they wish to take the company.
surely a new Espirt would have been sufficent to chase the high end sales?
Think the Malaysian owners may regret the day they put a Ferrari man in charge of Lotus.
Re: Lotus axes dealer network
Are you as much of a self righteous, pompous arse in real life or do you just save it for the internet?. If it's the former then I'm glad I don't have to have any dealings with you in My day to day life!.
Oh!, and by the way, there was no need for you to: " ...reply in such a patronising way !!! ", as nobody asked you for an explanation of the article in the first place.
Try getting off your high horse once in a while, it doesn't make you look good!.
Re: Lotus axes dealer network
This is fairly standard as most manufacturers have done this over the years, mainly to implement a universal standard for customer service and experience as lots of independent dealers doing it their own way means that Lotus cannot deliver a consistent quality brand experience.
I believe Nissan were the first to do it and a notable recent one was Mercedes about 7 years ago.
All of the best dealers have nothing to worry about and hopefully the re shuffle will get rid of the lousy dealers.