DRB Promotion Event - Westfield?
Discussion
I had no idea DRB also represented Westfield. Anyone know about this connection?
Good to see DRB getting out there and promoting their brands. With the new Malaysian showroom they do seem to want to make a go of Lotus.
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v6/newsbusiness.php...
Good to see DRB getting out there and promoting their brands. With the new Malaysian showroom they do seem to want to make a go of Lotus.
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v6/newsbusiness.php...
DRB are very good at building other people's products. Deals with Isuzu, VW, Mercedes, Suzuki, Yamaha et al.
The Potenza/Westfield deal was announced a while ago : http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.uk/News Pages/article64.html
The Potenza/Westfield deal was announced a while ago : http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.uk/News Pages/article64.html
Hedgerley said:
I had no idea DRB also represented Westfield. Anyone know about this connection?
DRB were looking for a low cost (cheap) sportscar to manufacture and assemble in Malaysia that would be offered for sale primarily in the Asia -Pacific region.Parts made in Malaysia will also be exported back to the UK to be used in Westfields sold in Europe.
My feeling is that DRB are getting into bed with Westfield in an attempt to thwart Tony Fernandes / Caterham by offering a similar product in their "home" market.
It could also be a signal that Lotus cars may yet be assembled in Malaysia, which apparently was a Proton plan in the mid 2000's , but was abandonned, ending up with the EuropaS being built in the UK.
Building Lotus products cheaply in Malaysia may ultimately be the only way the company will return to profit, no I dont like the thought of a Malaysan Lotus , but maybe there are others who would buy an Lotus If it became priced lower?
WayneB said:
It could also be a signal that Lotus cars may yet be assembled in Malaysia, which apparently was a Proton plan in the mid 2000's , but was abandonned, ending up with the EuropaS being built in the UK.
There were S1 Elises built in Malaysia in the late 90's: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1309&dat...Also shown in the assembly plant (11th digit) in the VIN, H for Hethel, B for Shah Alam.
About 100 Elise MK1s came out of Shah Alam, around 1998, they were destined for the Jap market, which as you will know is a big market for classic Elans etc, the Jap's did not want them and they were sold in Malaysia for around 30K pound at the time, which was cheap, the last one sold about 3 years ago, so you could buy a New Mk1 Elsise from Lotus in 2008/9. There was a story that they were shipped to Japan and returned, but I think the truth is they found out they could not sell them before that and just kept them in Malaysia.
The MK 2 Elise/europe sells in Malaysia for around 80K Pounds and you see the MK 1 for sale today for around 25k, there is one on Mudah.com know for 108,000Rm, which is 22K.
Lotus Asia Pacific gave fantastic support to the Malaysian cars, I know people in the North who had them collected and shipped to Kl free for servicing.
The Dbh tie up with Westfield has been going on for a few years, I saw the first chassis shipped in at a workshop where it was stripped down to look at manufacturing in Malaysia, they currently run a Westfield race at Sepang as part of he Malaysian Super series, this came about very quick when tony Farnadis announced he was planning to run a Caterham Academy series at Sepang.
If you know anything about Malaysian industry you will appreciate that Company's do not compete they copy, Look at the Peradua Myvi and then at how quickly Proton made the Savy to compete in the same market segment, it is a joke in Malaysia that someone opens a coffee shop on the side of the road, makes money so the next door neighbor opens the same thing, they make half the money then the next door neighbor, and so on until everyone goes bust.
I said on here before look at he proposed lotus Model range all competing with each other.
The Westfield is about 25K pound as a built up kit for racing, but when I looked at it it was something like 750Kg, which is a joke, and as with the Elise there is no one to service the engine., although on a race weekend Lotus Asia pacific appear to send out mechanics to the track to support the series
The MK 2 Elise/europe sells in Malaysia for around 80K Pounds and you see the MK 1 for sale today for around 25k, there is one on Mudah.com know for 108,000Rm, which is 22K.
Lotus Asia Pacific gave fantastic support to the Malaysian cars, I know people in the North who had them collected and shipped to Kl free for servicing.
The Dbh tie up with Westfield has been going on for a few years, I saw the first chassis shipped in at a workshop where it was stripped down to look at manufacturing in Malaysia, they currently run a Westfield race at Sepang as part of he Malaysian Super series, this came about very quick when tony Farnadis announced he was planning to run a Caterham Academy series at Sepang.
If you know anything about Malaysian industry you will appreciate that Company's do not compete they copy, Look at the Peradua Myvi and then at how quickly Proton made the Savy to compete in the same market segment, it is a joke in Malaysia that someone opens a coffee shop on the side of the road, makes money so the next door neighbor opens the same thing, they make half the money then the next door neighbor, and so on until everyone goes bust.
I said on here before look at he proposed lotus Model range all competing with each other.
The Westfield is about 25K pound as a built up kit for racing, but when I looked at it it was something like 750Kg, which is a joke, and as with the Elise there is no one to service the engine., although on a race weekend Lotus Asia pacific appear to send out mechanics to the track to support the series
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