Lotus no longer sponsors the Lotus F1 Team
Lotus Cars is no longer the title sponsor of Team Lotus, which however ensures that it will keep its name until 2017.
While we reported to you a few days ago that Proton – the parent company of Lotus Cars – had an option to acquire 50% of the Lotus team, which is wholly owned by Genii Capital, Gérard Lopez, the owner of the Luxembourg fund, indicates in Autosport that not only will the Malaysian manufacturer not exercise this option, but that Lotus will no longer sponsor the British team: « The sponsorship agreement and Lotus’ obligations have been terminated. […] There was an option but we withdrew it. »
The withdrawal of Lotus is not a surprise given the company’s financial results. Indeed, Lotus Cars recorded a pre-tax loss of 21.4 million pounds sterling, which is more or less the cost of its commitment to Formula One for one season, not counting its investments in GP2, GP3, and IndyCar Series.
The Luxembourgish businessman, however, stated that the end of Lotus sponsorship does not affect the future prospects of the British team: « We financed this team last year and the year before […] we would prefer to have sponsors to fully finance it, but if we have to finance it, then we will. […] So, if you take into account that we signed a deal with Unilever, probably the biggest partnership signed this season in Formula One, and that we signed a contract with Microsoft, which is huge news since this brand has never been involved in F1 before, we have plenty of room for sponsorship. » And Gérard Lopez goes further: « If we signed a title sponsor now, we would end up in a better financial situation than ever for this team. »
But Enstone-based team fans can rest assured, since, even if Lotus no longer sponsors the team, it has stated that it will retain the name Lotus F1 Team for another five years. Gérard Lopez, long linked to the acquisition of Lotus Cars, has not given up his intentions: « We do not know yet because we do not know the intentions of the new owners. » Last January, following the sale of the 42.7% stake held by the Malaysian government in Proton to the industrial group DRB-Hicom, now in charge, a brand official stated: « We need to sit around a table with the Lotus executives and study their objectives before reaching a final decision. »
