The statement released late yesterday confirming the sacking of Lotus CEO Dany Bahar did not come as a big surprise.
It had seemed to many that there was no real way back after he had been very publicly suspended two weeks ago by Lotus owners DRB-Hicom who said that a complaint (still unspecified, but likely to involve finance) was being investigated.
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The new owners of Lotus had already frozen new product development spending while they conducted a comprehensive review and audit of Lotus operations. For all the public statements of support for Lotus from the new owners, the latest Bahar twists appeared to suggest that serious differences may exist in terms of Bahar’s Lotus vision (‘British Porsche’) alongside his ambitious five-year plan for execution on that, and the rapidly forming views of the new owners.
On the face of it, Dany Bahar deserves some sympathy. He did what good CEOs seek to do. He rode in with a bold vision and strategy for an under-performing brand and company, but it is one that appears to have been undermined by a combination of a tough market and a change of ownership. To his credit, he recruited some top names to the Lotus revitalisation project (an essential confidence and credibility builder) and would probably say that his vision is akin to a final throw of the dice for Lotus cars in a highly competitive and difficult part of the market and industry. There’s a brand with immense heritage that can be propelled to the next level, he believed, given the right plan and commensurate investment. But it needs that investment or it will ultimately fail, he would maintain.
Bahar had formulated a bold plan. It then needed backing and it looked like he had convinced the Malaysian funders that it was indeed a sound investment (though it is in the area of financing that difficulties may have arisen for Bahar to coincide with unhelpful politics). And that’s the role of the CEO, he might add, to have goals, a vision, to consistently drive the strategy forward, to be ambitious, to bring all the elements together, to not falter and to build the confidence – among all stakeholders – that will ultimately be needed to successfully execute.
Has Bahar been acting with incompetence or in some way improperly, on a scale that amounts to something like ‘gross misconduct’ and therefore deserving of the sudden forced exit? If he has, it has taken a long time to uncover and the story may have further to run as lawyers get involved.
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By GlobalDataFor whatever reasons, the new owners and Dany Bahar have clearly not seen eye to eye. And Dany Bahar has now been unceremoniously removed from his post. Is Bahar’s plan dead? If it is, what’s the plan now? Bahar Lite? Stick with known quantity products for Lotus purists and enthusiasts? The Lotus brand’s many admirers, customers, suppliers and, of course, the employees, will look for reassurance that there is a strategy for the company and that DRB-Hicom is really committed to it. Some clear statements need to be made soon about a medium-term business plan (if there is one) and where the new product development plan now stands. The longer we go without some clarity on that, the greater will be the speculation and uncertainties that are not in the interests of Lotus.
DRB-Hicom has certainly acted decisively and Bahar’s sacking follows a review of operations. But that decisive action raises questions that need answering and the owners have a responsibility to do that. It is also in their interests, as custodians of a company and much revered brand with plenty of value, to provide some clarity as soon as possible.
See also: UK: Lotus confirms CEO Bahar dismissal
MALAYSIA: Proton reiterates: no plan to sell Lotus
UK: Lotus chief suspended ‘to facilitate investigation into conduct’
