Bahar: The more Lotus cars the merrier
Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar sees no problem with two teams carrying the Lotus name in F1 next season.
Speaking after Group Lotus' announcement that they have become a major shareholder and title sponsor in the Renault team, the Swiss national insisted that there was no reason why Tony Fernandes' Team Lotus couldn't continue to make use of the Lotus name despite the presence of the new Lotus Renault team.
"Not [a problem] at all - for me, four are better than two," Bahar told BBC Radio Norfolk.
"The controversy, that is something that has mainly been pushed up by media I would say, has been dealt with directly by our shareholders in Malaysia and with the owners of the 1Malaysia racing team [Team Lotus' parent company], and doesn't really touch us.
"However, my personal opinion is that four Lotus brands out there is better than two. I have nothing against that."
"We have never claimed to be Team Lotus," he later told the Daily Telegraph. "We never want to be Team Lotus. That was a successful era of the company but it is an era which we should leave it in the past.
"We have no confusion on our side at all. We have built Lotus cars for many years. We have an ambitious racing programme and we have decided to team up with one of the top five teams."
Bahar explained that the reasoning behind Group Lotus' decision to throw their support behind the Renault team rather than Team Lotus was that the group felt that it was more important for the brand to be seen at the front of the field as should be the case with the Renault team, than making their way up from the back.
"I think that's just a strategy decision, whether you want to build a team from scratch, which is a much, much more costly exercise," he said.
"Maybe there is more satisfaction [with a brand new team] for some individuals, but I think the time you consume and the money you spend in building a team from scratch into a winning team, we can just not afford that exercise.
"And I believe that our brand should be participating in all motor racing activities not for the sake of participating, but for the sake of winning. And that's why we decided to go with one of the top five teams because we believe there is the potential to go back to where they were when they were winning world championship titles," Bahar added.
Group Lotus' entry into F1 forms part of a concerted effort to increase their presence in motorsports, with the company also making headway in IndyCar and Le Mans, as well as joining up with ART in the GP2 and GP3 divisions.
Credit: PlanetF1.com (www.planetf1.com)
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