Group Lotus did not offer Team Lotus a deal – Tony Fernandes
Team Lotus and Group Lotus have been involved in a lot of controversies since the past couple of weeks. The two organizations have literally been fighting against each other and it seems that both of them cannot stand each other at a point. Especially after
Group Lotus announced that they have decided to join forces with Renault, the two organizations began to confront each other quite openly.
Recently, Renault announced that they have officially changed their name to Lotus Renault GP. Team Lotus issued a statement that Tony Fernandes had bought the rights to the name Lotus but Group Lotus bluntly denied this statement.
Dany Bahar, the CEO of Group Lotus stated that Tony asked for three times more than what Renault F1 offered the car company for a joint venture. However, it was recently revealed that Tony Fernandes denied the fact that he insulted Group Lotus’ partnership
by demanding large sums of money from them.
“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,”
Fernandes told the media.
He stated that there is no way the team had asked for three times more money. However, Group Lotus stated that they just wanted to be with a more successful team and it is quite understandable why they wanted that.
“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,”
Tony added.
Tony believes that the conflict regarding the name Lotus has gone on for a bit too long and Team Lotus does not claim the legacy of the legendary team Lotus that departed from the sport in 1993.
“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,” said Fernandes.
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