Dany Bahar Manages to Do What He Couldn't as Lotus CEO
Ares Design has opened a brand new facility, showing off the company’s first six cars at its new home.
Led by former Lotus CEO Dany Bahar, the Ares Design Technical Center is housed in Modena with plans to design, develop, produce, and deliver coach-built, limited edition cars for clients from around the world. When Bahar was CEO of Lotus, he had extravagant and lofty plans of revamping the British automaker’s lineup. He unveiled several concepts all at once, but his tenure as CEO didn’t end well and none of his concepts became production cars.
Now as the CEO and co-founder of Ares Design, Bahar finally has actual products he can sell to customers with six vehicles released at the official opening.
“Presenting our amazing new facility and 10 ARES projects either on the road, in-build or at concept phase and due for release later in 2018, was an incredibly proud moment for me and our shareholders,” said Bahar. “We believe we have found a sweet spot for bespoke automotive production: both in our location in Italy at the heart of the world of luxury cars, and in the market place for coach-building.”
SEE ALSO: Former Lotus CEO is Also Making a Tesla Model S Wagon
Those first six vehicles include the Ares Design Coupe for the Bentley Mulsanne, Corvette Stingray, X-Raid, Porsche 964 Targa, and Land Rover Defender for both supercharged and naturally aspirated. While the vehicles used in five of the six projects are obvious based on their names, the Ares Design X-Raid is a bit unclear. It’s actually based on the Mercedes-Benz G-Class and was revealed last year.
According to Ares Design, the VIP opening event drew 200 global guests, including media, clients, prospects, shareholders, and other VIPs.
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Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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