Geoffrey Pellows: As Expected, Lotus is up for Sale

Two weeks ago, we all had an LOL and OMG moment at the expense of Lotus, as a member of the failing company, which we assume to be head honcho himself, Dany Bahar, went berserk on Facebook. We all rant sometimes, but it was truly a high school-style ?Wah? fest about who said what and so on.

As we put it after reading said Facebook post, which is still on Lotus?s site, the company that recently inherited Lotus from Proton, DRB-Hicom, would not likely deal with this immaturity too long. It rings especially true when you take into account that Lotus never turned a profit for Proton and currently has more than $316 million in debts.

Well, guess what? Reports have emerged that DRB-Hicom is actively shopping Lotus, and its money sucking black hole, to various Chinese companies. Things are obviously getting serious, as the U.K. government even put a hold on the �10 million (about $16 million) grant that it issued to aid in Lotus? anticipated expansion out of fear of losing the struggling sports car builder to a Chinese company.

The question that begs to be asked is who in their right mind would purchase Lotus for anything more than a few spare tires and a couple boxes of spark plugs? Of course, at this point DRB-Hicom just might find a better use for some spare tires and spark plugs than it can for Lotus.

There is likely some company in China that will pick up Lotus for just enough to cover its debts, then maybe attempt to revive its name. We will continue to monitor this situation as it unfolds and update you as new information comes down the pipe.