Chinese CEO to led Geely-owned Lotus

KUALA LUMPUR: Geely Holding, Britain’s celebrated sports car manufacturer, announced a new Chief Executive Officer for the Lotus Group with immediate effect. Succeeding Mr Jean-Marc-Gales is Geely Auto Group ex-Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, Mr Qingfeng.

The newly appointed Lotus CEO said, “ I am honoured to have been appointed to lead this iconic British sports car group”. He further added, “With Geely’s global synergies and total support I am confident that Lotus has an exciting opportunity to achieve its full potential as a luxury sports brand, based around its engineering legacy and its future product pipeline."

Daniel Donghui Li, the Chief Financial Officer of Geely, approved of the new appointment and expressed his support on the grounds of Mr Feng's expertise in sports car engineering and lightweight materials. According to Daniel, both these qualities are the core of Lotus. Daniel believes that the company is now fully ready for the next expansion phase that’s backed with a few new projects.

Industry experts were predicting this shift in the management ever since Geely acquired a majority of shares in the Group Lotus. Geely previously bought Lotus Group shares via their acquisition of the Malaysian car manufacturer Proton from HICOM Bhd.

With the new CEO, Geely now looks forward towards planning and introducing new projects. The ex-CEO Jean-Marc Gales will retain the role of Chief Strategic Advisor to Lotus Chairman and CFO, Daniel Donghui Li. Mr Gales has been appointed as the new CEO of JD Classics, a car company that specialises in restoring vintage automobiles.