Mike Johnstone's charcoal suit matches neatly the tasteful modern walls of Group Lotus's new showroom in Piccadilly, central London, across the road from the Ritz Hotel. The bearded, clear-eyed, late-40s Brit meets us downstairs in a spacious meeting-cum-conference-room basement, with gleaming cars on sale a floor above.
A little over a year ago, Johnstone joined Group Lotus from Volvo as global vice-president in charge of commercial operations. Before that, he had six years with Skoda, having arrived in the automotive business via motorcycle marques that included Harley-Davidson, for which he launched the all-electric (but problematic) Livewire spin-off. Today we're talking about the life and times of the enigmatic Chinesecontrolled Lotus organisation, newly branded by its proprietors as 'Born British, raised globally'.
Johnstone needs a bit of prompting to talk about himself but cheerfully agrees that leading Group Lotus's global commercial operations is a big challenge- although he insists he still sleeps well at night. "I've got a global team of about 700 people to help me," he says. "Together we're responsible for sales, marketing, comms, aftersales, user experience and product strategy. I'm based in London; we're about to open a new office for our central team of 200. And we have offices in the US, Amsterdam and Dubai. Plus Shanghai, obviously." Why choose London for the headquarters? Because there's a great pool of talent here already and talented people from other capitals will come here for the right job. The Lotus of today is quite different from the perpetually strife-torn British sports car maker that existed before Geely took a 51% interest in 2017 and changed everything. Broadly speaking, there are now two Lotus divisions, and they contrast heavily in size.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 17, 2024-Ausgabe von Autocar UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 17, 2024-Ausgabe von Autocar UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
HONDA E:NY1
How do you like the sound of a version that's better in almost every way for £15k less?
GWM ORA 07
Lightning Cat is poised to leap into the UK's electric saloon market
Renault fills final gap in SUV line-up
Captur spawns more practical, hybrid-only Symbioz as £30k Nissan Qashqai rival
AMG lines up turbo V8 for CLE 63
Performance arm U-turns on unpopular PHEV power for coupé range-topper
Moss hits 246mph in MG's Roaring Raindrop
AT THE BEIJING motor show, MG unwrapped an attention-grabbing new concept car in celebration of its centenary: an electric hypercar named the EXE181, with an ultralow profile and a single, central seat.
MCLAREN ARTURA
Our car's back up to full speed, but can it chase down a 750S?
VOLKSWAGEN TOUAREG
Big 4x4s with big diesel engines: things to forget or preserve? We intend to find out
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
Everrati's electric luxury restomod business is picking up pace. Stephen Dobie drives its latest model, a Mercedes SL Pagoda with twice the original power
JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE
Can the American SUV brand's new flagship mix it with the plug-in hybrid big guns?
A110 signs off with £200k special
Alpine readies Cayman GT4 RS-baiting track-focused 'ultimate' model with 330bhp