Matt Windle leaves Lotus

I know this was covered as an update to the thread titled “Matt Windle Promoted,” but easy to miss there, and seems significant enough to deserve its own thread.

Exclusive: Lotus to name new Europe head following shock departure of boss after just few months in post | Autocar

Company's Chinese HQ takes a tighter rein as Europe boss Matt Windle steps down after four months

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[geoffbland]

I have always loved lotus for the racing heritage and engineering. Design was always an afterthought or “good enough” until the Evija and Emira. These are legitimately class leading cohesive stunning designs. Perhaps the original espirit is the only other stand out design wise.

Presumably when you say design you just mean the styling of the body. I think admirers of the Elite, Elan Mk1 and Elise (at least) would argue with you here. Even the Europa has something going for it.

 

[Hobiedick]

My expectation was too high that I thought Matt Windle cared about his customers.
My expectation was too high that I thought Matt Windle wanted to grow the business.

Good riddance.

I totally agree good ridance, his performance is linked to Lotus poor perfmance and should have been fired long ago.

 

[F1 SML8R]

Wrong, and it's insulting to the Lotus team to say this.

I have met most of the people who designed the Emira . . . at Lotus, in Hethel.

Jon Statham led the interior design team. Jennifer Andriamamonjy came up with "Espirit inspired" interior design theme. Harvey Rabenjamina did most of the seat and steering wheel design. Josh Router was the sole studio engineer on the interior.

Daniel Durrant led the exterior design team (he also did the exterior of the Evora 400, 410, 430 Cup). Obviously Russell Carr was closely involved in the exterior design too.

The really sad part is that I don't think a single one of them still works at Lotus! At least two of them, Harvey and Jennifer, have gone to Gordon Murray Automotive.

Thanks for clarifying this. I agree it's an incredible design and they deserve all the credit. Unfortunate most are gone now.

 

[Hobiedick]

Thanks for clarifying this. I agree it's an incredible design and they deserve all the credit. Unfortunate most are gone now.

I think the design team and factory staff did a great job, I too have been to the factory and met some very good people as well as at Goodwood. My opinion is that Matt Windle let them all down, including the customers!!!!

 

[F1 SML8R]

Maybe it's Matt, maybe it's ownership. Here's the real scoop, "we (i.e., forum members)" will never know and frankly the bad mouthing is a bit exhausting.

I will tell you this. I've been to the Lamborghini factory twice now over the last 7 years and have gotten to speak to low level management about the VW/Audi takeover while I was there. They all said the same thing that as very telling. They all said they initially believed the company would be stripped of its heritage and that they would eventually die as an Italian marquee brand.

However, within just 2-3 years of the takeover, they realized the Germans knew something they didn't, "how to build cars efficiently" even for largely customized sports cars. Now, the factory runs like clockwork and 95% of that factory employs young Italians (20 - 40 years olds) that are passionate about their job and they respect the other 10% which is largely German management. Why? Because they know (and now openly admit) Audi not only saved them, but got them to a point where their cars (some) are almost as sought after as the evil empire down the street.

It's a long winded way of saying, do you really think "the British" are actively sabotaging themselves at Lotus? I don't think so. My theory is they have simply had really crappy owners that try to milk them for their heritage and then realize the investment to make them profitable is a lot! Somehow, I don't see Geely as Lotus' savior. I see them as another heritage sucking entity that will likely either shut down all operations in the UK or once again sell it off to the next blood sucker. I hope I'm wrong as I would hate to see this Marquee slowly bleed out.

In my perfect world, Mercedes, Toyota or BMW buy them and turn them into the trophy brand that they should be. I know, it's a pipe dream, but dreaming is allowed...

 

[seriously]

Wrong, and it's insulting to the Lotus team to say this.

I have met most of the people who designed the Emira . . . at Lotus, in Hethel.

Jon Statham led the interior design team. Jennifer Andriamamonjy came up with "Espirit inspired" interior design theme. Harvey Rabenjamina did most of the seat and steering wheel design. Josh Router was the sole studio engineer on the interior.

Daniel Durrant led the exterior design team (he also did the exterior of the Evora 400, 410, 430 Cup). Obviously Russell Carr was closely involved in the exterior design too.

The really sad part is that I don't think a single one of them still works at Lotus! At least two of them, Harvey and Jennifer, have gone to Gordon Murray Automotive.

Thank you for correcting me. My first post was completely uninformed and reflected my consumer experience of a brand’s design language elevated and reborn through the evija and Emira.

Naturally I turned to ChatGPT and found that yes the Lotus Design Team is responsible for the design. How they produced different results is explained largely by the Geely acquisition. This gave the design team access to new young talent (some mentioned above), completely new tooling and digital capabilities and more luxury aligned material and parts suppliers. So the Evija and the emira represent a kind of lotus unleashed. What lotus could do if it had access to all the same resources other top manufacturers have access to.

And they should be proud of the design. It competes with the best. My apologies to the lotus design team! I love their work. Take my insult as a kind of backhanded compliment of just how massively they surpassed expectations.

 

[dgrace]

Windle gave a podcast interview a few years ago where he claimed to have just come up from the design studio with the Type 135 mockup and was just stunned at how good it looked. I wish we could see that design, even if it will never make it to production now. Lovely things are worth appreciating.

 

[Jinba ittai]

Wish I could buy one.

 

[geoffbland]

Wish I could buy one.

They do look nice if they ever come about https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/first-official-pictures/lotus/type-135-electric-sports-car/

 

[Beachbum]

They do look nice if they ever come about https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/first-official-pictures/lotus/type-135-electric-sports-car/

I seriously doubt they will
Virtually all manufacturers have pulled back from their original EV plans, so I cant see Lotus/Geely sticking with theirs.
If governments change their minds AGAIN, then maybe in a few years something might appear, but I have doubts anything significant is going to change in the next decade.

 

[LotsOfTriumphsUsuallySexy]

They do look nice if they ever come about https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/first-official-pictures/lotus/type-135-electric-sports-car/

That green car looks gorgeous but don’t be fooled; it is an artist’s impression based on the vague shadow image below.