Lotus Names New Chief Executive
Long in the wake of former Dany Bahar’s controversial dismissal as the English sports car manufacturer’s chief executive, owner Proton is naming a new CEO.
Jean-Marc Gale, 51, comes to Lotus from being the CEO of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers. Before that, he held positions with Daimler, GM and Volkswagen as well as PSA.
“This is an exciting time for Lotus, and Jean-Marc’s appointment could not have come at a more appropriate time, especially taking into account our plans for Lotus. We believe that with his strong technical and managerial expertise and leadership, Jean-Marc will be able to drive the Lotus transformation plan and further enhance Lotus’ business and capabilities,” said Proton CEO Dato’ Abdul Harith Abdullah.
Gales, also a Lotus board member, has been running the company for the past two years after Proton parent company DRB Hicomm fired Bahar. Since then, Lotus has been keeping its cards especially close to the chest, but AutoCar reports that the company has managed to cut costs by roughly 50 percent while improving its product quality and quietly expanding its business on both the import and domestic sales side.
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Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
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