Group Lotus recently announced it will sponsor RenaultF1 in 2011, meaning there is a very real prospect of two Lotus-branded teams on the 2011 F1 grid, and the latest controversy for the 'Lotus' name and livery rights between Tony Fernandez's racing team and the Lotus stock car branch Group Lotus has emerged numerous announcements by their fellow partners and it seems that the solution will be actually given by the court before the end of the season.Yet, Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar has decided to report his own point of view about the dispute by revealing that his company was actually keen to work alongside with Team Lotus but negotiations were cut short by "ridiculous" demands from Tony Fernandes.
Bahar joined Group Lotus with the aim of aggressively promoting the Lotus brand again through motorsport, but was not part of the company's original deal with Fernandes to license its name in Formula One. Earlier this year Group Lotus made clear it would revoke its license from Lotus Racing at the end of the season, forcing Fernandes' outfit to buy the unused Team Lotus name from David Hunt.
However, Bahar has now revealed that his latest decision as Group Lotus CEO to use RenaultF1 Team to promote its cars instead of Team Lotus was because talks with Fernandes broke down.
At a media lunch Bahar told reporters:
"We tried, but when the counter proposals are so ridiculous, there is no point to continue to talk. [RenaultF1] was one third of the cost. We would not have the courage to build a new team from scratch," he said, "So we took the more conservative approach. We want to fight at the top end of the grid. We understand that for the next two years we need to learn about F1, the car will be a Renault and so on, but then when we have a new Concorde Agreement, hopefully [in 2013] we can possibly change the name, we'll see where we are and learn over two years."
He confirmed that Group Lotus does not want "anyone [else] to call their car Lotus because the Lotus car is our brand. We are just a car company trying to come up with a new Formula One programme".
He also reiterated RenaultF1's comments early this week that the new Lotus Renault GP was not laying a claim to the history of Colin Chapman's Team Lotus.
"We don't claim to be Team Lotus, and we don't want to be. It has a glorious past, but Team Lotus should be kept where it was, it should rest in peace."
He also revealed that Group Lotus was keen to manufacture its own F1 engines in the future after the company recently announced it would supply powerplants to Indycar racing from 2012.
"We have plans underway to think about our own engine family in our road car programmes for the future. The fact that we have announced that we will be developing an engine for Indycar for 2012 shows already that we are heavily interested in becoming an engine manufacturer with our own brand."
However, Fernandes claimed Autosport.com that no such negotiations took place and has called for an end to the damaging war of words between the two factions.
"There was no such thing as an offer. There is an understanding that Lotus' involvement with Renault is worth £20 million, which would therefore mean that I was seeking £60 million - which is a complete fabrication. We never got past an initial dinner meeting. Dany Bahar and Riad Asmat [CEO of Team Lotus] met and that was it. No offers were ever exchanged.
We were very open to equity sharing, working together and other combinations. We wanted it to work for the good of the Lotus brand - and it made sense to combine."
He added that the dispute over the Lotus name had gone on too long and is concerned it may end up damaging the brand.
"It has got too much. Over the last few days I have had attacks from Dany Bahar, Eric Boullier and Gerard Lopez. Personally I think it has got a little bit out of hand and a lot of it is fabricated. How Eric Boullier can say we have fooled fans - I think that is an insult to fans. Fans will make up their own mind. If we are not up to the mark they will not give us any support. You cannot fool anyone."
