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Team Lotus
Team Lotus On The Way Back?
"In the last few years there have been various rumours to the effect that Lotus would be returning to Formula 1 competition but with the costs of running even a mediocre team soaring while the tobacco companies -- major sponsors of most F1 teams -- are coming under ever greater pressure to limit their advertising role in sports, it seems unlikely that Lotus would ever be able to secure the financing that would be required to return them to their former role as a constructor.
Toyota's announcement in 2000 that they would take the 12th and final vacant spot on the grid and field their own team from 2002 onwards looked like it might end the speculation for good as once the grid was full it would be virtually impossible for any other team to enter Formula 1 without either partnering with an existing team or buying them outright. 2002, however, brought its own surprises and the collapse of both the Prost and Arrows teams created two more empty spots and the poor results and shaky finances of a few other of the smaller teams means that this is still a possibility.
It is also possible that -- even if they don't form a new team themselves -- Lotus could have some future involvement in F1 where they could bring their considerable engineering expertise to the assistance of one or more other teams as an engine supplier or technical partner. Malaysian car manufacturer Proton was said to have been considering joining Formula One now that it's home country had its own Grand Prix. Proton, the owner of Lotus Cars, would doubtless call upon Lotus' experience to help put together an F1 project.
"With Malaysia getting the GP, we are totally committed to the future of F1 and we want to make sure that Proton is a part of that," said Tengku Datuk Mahaleel, President of Proton. "The fact that we now own Lotus is very important, and will form part of the discussion, and we cannot underestimate that. We will already be involved in F1 next year by supplying some support cars, but we will definitely be analysing if we could race."
http://www.f1page.com/f1lotus.html
Comments
Volkswagen may be preparing to acquire Proton, Malaysia's state-controlled automaker. Discussions between the two companies were confirmed this week by Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohammed, an adviser to Proton. "If we want to, we can sell more than 50 percent to Volkswagen," he said. "They are quite willing, I think, to buy even 100 percent."
Proton has struggled to establish itself as a global player, despite exports to Europe for more than a decade and the acquisition of UK sports-car maker Lotus. And it faces an uncertain future after 2008, when Malaysia opens its protected market to foreign competition. Currently imported cars are subject to tariffs of 300 percent.
Mahathir said "many other companies" would be interested in Proton, but the biggest fear was that if they took over the firm, they might end production of Protons and assemble their own cars instead. VW has already announced plans to assemble the Passat sedan in Malaysia this year with Proton, and the subcompact Fox from 2006.
http://www.lotuscarclub.org/
No chance of F1 for Proton/ Lotus.
After the disastrous performance of teams named March and Lola and Brabham in their last attempts (with teams, owners and factories totally unrelated to the original), I remember FIA issued in 1997 a directive according to which no team shall any more be allowed to race in F1 with the names Lotus, Brabham, March and Lola.
If the GPWC takes place, who knows?
But I don't think GPWC will take place.