JLR Veteran Phil Popham Now Boss of Lotus Cars

With the sudden resignation of Jean-Marc Gales in June, Geely immediately chose Feng Qingfeng as Lotus’ new boss. But he couldn’t handle some things alone, he was needing a reliable executive co-worker, which made Lotus appointed former Jaguar Land Rover executive Phil Popham as senior vice president of commercial operations for Group Lotus and CEO of Lotus Cars.

From now on the automaker’s daily operations will be monitored by Popham from its headquarters in England. He will also make regular reports to Feng Qingfeng in China. Popham said he is happy to be part of Lotus, which has an “amazing history” fitting the category of a British “pioneering” brand.

Chinese Geely, which is now the parent company of Lotus, has an important strategy that it believes only with Popham’s help the strategy will work. So the recent decision to appoint him literally came after a pretty-long search.

Geely looks serious about its plans for Lotus. In fact, it’s ready to spend 1.9 billion for the British marque so that it can roll out three new models consisting of two sports cars in 2020 and a SUV around 2022.

So who is being aimed with Lotus? Porsche, of course. The prestigious German automaker has been able to offer with its cars a unique driving experience that would make every customer stick to it. Lotus wants to match that, and gain more prestige as well.

If things run smoothly, Lotus’ spirit might flare up that it could even revive the legendary Esprit. This was actually something that Gales would like to do before his resignation. Now with a Jaguar Land Rover veteran like Popham having a seat in the company, the future seems to be bright for Lotus.