Lotus has been without a CEO since the ousting of Dany Bahar in 2012, but now the sports car company’s Malaysian parent, DRB-HICOM, has named a new CEO in the form of Jean-Marc Gales.
A former president of French auto giant PSA Peugeot Citroën, Gales will be in charge of Lotus’ 3-year strategy to improve the company’s production processes and see it return to profitability.
Unlike Bahar, Gales is a known industry player and has a background in both management and mechanical engineering, which should serve him well in his new role. Gales also has experience working with a handful of major automakers including Daimler, General Motors, Volkswagen and the aforementioned PSA.
Most recently, he was CEO of a group representing automotive suppliers in Europe.
The man who has been running Lotus since Bahar’s ousting, Aslam Farikullah, remains COO and a member of the company board. Previously, Farikullah stated that Lotus’ immediate plan was to implement updates to the existing model line rather than launch brand new models. The good news is that those updates will include improvements to the technology, performance and quality of Lotus cars, as well as a reduction in the cost at which they are produced.
