Group Lotus have appointed Gordon Murray onto their Lotus Advisory Council. Murray will work alongside Bob Lutz (former vice chairman of General Motors), Tom Purves and Prof. Dr. Burkhard Göschel (former BMW executives) and Frank Tuch (former Lotus chief operating officer who left Lotus last year) to advise Group Lotus on current and future developments.
Gordon has been responsible for designing many Grand Prix winning cars and has a reputation as a leading innovator and pioneer of new technologies. During his Formula 1 career he worked for Lotus rivals, Brabham. He was also part of the team responsible for the McLaren F1 and Mercedes McLaren SLR.
His appointment looks to be less on the design side and more to advise on business matters. So don’t expect Murray and Lotus to suddenly come up with a spiritual successor to the F1.
Commenting on the appointment, the ever enthusiastic Group Lotus Chief Executive Dany Bahar said:
Gordon has never been afraid to trail blaze, take risks and do things differently, these are attribute that we are very familiar with and very proud of at Lotus. With his incredible and unique motorsport and design experience he will complement the existing council line up perfectly. We’re very much looking forward to working with him.
Gordon Murray said:
For years I’ve been a huge admirer of Lotus, I have great respect for the legacy that Colin Chapman created and I think what Dany and the team are doing is a really good thing for the brand. He’s taking the strength from Chapman’s principals and taking the business to the next level whilst still keeping the general ethos – not an easy task! I’m really looking forward to contributing to Group Lotus during this exciting time.
[Picture: Skiddmark]
