Happy Chinese Gong xi fa and Tibetan New Year Losar

Different cultures have different New Years... All the best to everyone celebrating this now.
For me this is another opportunity to put my wish for this proposed project to gain traction!

I saw a picture which was Linked to Tengku Djan's facebook.

This is Tengku Djan (Head of Sales and promo for Lotus in Malaysia) with Dr. Mahathir (Chairman of Proton and Lotus).
I was kind of hoping that Dr. M is asking Djan... "So what do you think of that Motorsport Uni proposal? Is John Mansfield OK?"
And of course Djan answers in the positive!

Stranger things have happened!

Once again A Happy New Year to anyone celebrating it.

Proton and new local competition. Perhaps they could consider an additional revenue stream?

Lotus, who I am hoping to interest in my proposal... Are owned by a Malaysian company DRB Hicom, who have many divisions, Defence, Post, Automotive etc...
Proton was started by Tun Mahathir, and was recently owned by the Government. It is now privately owned.
Up until now taxis in Malaysia were mostly Protons. Now that is about to change. Toyota products have now received official blessing.
Toyota Innova MPV officially unveiled as TEKS1M cab - (Paul Tan)

Tun Mahathir is now the Chairman of Proton and Lotus. I cannot speak on his behalf, but I suspect that he will not welcome the competition!

Protons Malaysia market share in the past 10 years has dropped considerably, this won't help.

In England, my local garage stopped selling Protons a couple of years ago.

Proton, have agreements in place with Honda and Suzuki to share platforms and technology, and their new vehicles will reflect that...

Lotus will be building their next new vehicle, an SUV in China. Here is a small portion of todays Malaysian Reserve article:
The market presence of Lotus cars in China was done via Goldstar Lotus Automobile Co Ltd, a JV company between the three parties. Proton, Lotus and Goldstar will own 40%, 10% and 50% respectively in the JV company, which will cost up to 10 billion yuan (RM6.15 billion).

I am not an insider... So I don't know for sure if this is being based on an existing platform, Proton Exora being the most obvious, or with the Lotus Toyota connection, they use their engines, possibly a Toyota platfom, or as Proton have agreement with Honda and Suzuki possibly something they currently use...

Building from scratch would only make sense if it were to be a global platform possibly, selling it back to one of their OEM partners. Car Makers do that, but I'm not sure that is going to happen. You would really need an agreement up front to do that. The Platform would then have to be designed around your needs and that of the sharing OEM.

I certainly wish them all the best!

It would be nice if they could leverage their brands, particularly Lotus in a more out of the box way. My proposal does that... However, it seems a lot of people think I'm out of my box proposing it!

Here's a video showing a couple of losers talking about something similar.

Alastair Campbell was Tony Blair's media man, and Brian Barwick was the CEO of the FA.
The College is now a physical entity, here is a promo Video.

Lastly, I saw this video on youtube: I attended an ASLI conference with Alex. He was the most photographed man there!

I know a couple of other drivers from my time in Malaysia who would love to driving in this!

 

My thoughts on the new Lotus plan... SUV and Sedan

I read that Proton and Lotus Management have met to discuss the way forward.
The plan may be to design and build an SUV and a Sedan car.
OK.
The last time Lotus designed a new car, the Evora, it competed with Porsche. Porsche did not notice any impact on its sales. I assume the R&D plus tooling costs for the Evora have not been effectively amortised in the sales.

So, is this the same thing, design an SUV which competes against Porsche?

The money for all this R&D will probably come from Malaysia. Certainly not from any profit Lotus makes.

So who is paying for this?

The Malaysian Government. Proton will ask for a grant.
Or
Petronas (Malaysian Government owned).

These two bodies will ask... "Whats in this for us?"

Convincing them that this will give long term employment to "Malaysian" engineers and will be highly profitable raising their profile internationally, and locally will be difficult. IMO.

Both DRB Hicom and Petronas have bona fide Universities, as standalone businesses.

Petronas has a large Motorsport budget/prescence... You can see where I am going with this!

If Lotus Styles and designs and new platform or two. Use this R&D work to produce saleable educational modules.

When the business case is made and successfully implemented, produce saleable "Entreprenuer" educational modules.

Package the homologation process into saleable educational modules.

Marketing the products can be modulised and sold as educational products.

I won't go on. I'm sure you can see where I am going.

This would be a Unique selling point.

University students are normally government funded (cheap loans or free) and often spend enough per year of study to pay for a small car.

So if we said a three or four year spend per pupil would equate to a car sale we wouldn't be to far away.

In America, Phoenix University has about 1/2 million students.

If we (yes I want to be part of this) target 1 million clients globally, lets say this would be like selling 250,000 cars per year.

This global exposure would give Lotus/Proton/Petronas a positive exposure.

It is potentially, financially sustainable. It is ethical. However, it requires a little bit of "Outside the box" thinking.

I'm sure the Proton/Lotus board would be more than capable of selling it to "Potential Investors".

Caterham. Funding a project... Even successful businessmen get this wrong.

Today, I see that Caterham F1 has been sold.

I'm not an F1 insider, and I don't know Tony Fernandes. I have worked for Lotus engineering as a contractor in Malaysia.
I have added a few links and quotes after my thoughts so you can see where I'm coming from.

Tony is a very successful businessman. I assume he (or a team of professionals) does a business plan before entering a new business. He has access to accountants, and industry professionals.

IMO, Tony entered F1 in the hope of using it to promote his other business interests. Air Asia is the Ryan Air of Asia, and Tony had shown an interest in becoming involved with Group Lotus (Cars, Engineering services, blah blah).

In 2010 F1 proposed a cost cap of £40million.

The cost cap never happened. Tony ended up buying Caterham cars, and renaming his team.

The cost for all this was high. The return was obviously (at least in F1 terms) disappointing.

So does this make Tony an incompetent? No, very obviously not. However, Caterham F1 obviously hasn't met his expectations.

I have annoyed many people with my Motorsport Uni plan. Would it cost a lot?  Would it make money... Yes... and I think so...

Do I have the track record of Tony?... Absolutely not.

However, this project has been my baby for many years. I refuse to give up on it. Given the resources, and I'm confident I can deliver.

My plan has some parallels with Tony's.

I would like to get involved with Group Lotus. I would like to get involved with Motorsport.

Instead of using it (Motorsport) as a promotional tool, I would like to use it to support an educational project.

I was told by many people in Group Lotus that they NEVER make money with 'Training'.

Maybe they could just become vendors.

Phoenix University in the USA, presently has about 1/3million students. It has a healthy revenue stream, and is run at a profit. (The polar opposite of Group Lotus)

The University would have to be ethically run and monitored in order to be approved and its clients able to access government grants. Failure to meet government criteria effectively kills the revenue stream.

Article about Phoenix University.

DRB-Hicom now own Lotus. They have an approved University. The are not scared of entering the 'Training' arena.

This project has the potential to be global. Governments world wide finance and support education.

I hope that the new Chairman and CEO of Group Lotus look at my proposal with fresh eyes.

It could be vehicle that drives Lotus and its partners to new commercially sustainable heights.

I'd like to be a success. I'd like this project to be a success. Given the funding and support, I'm sure that this project can be a real game changer.

DRB-Hicom should give this serious consideration. Nothing is guaranteed in this life (other than death), but I honestly believe this could be one of the best investments you could make.

Education is a core business for DRB Hicom.




The Telegraph (UK) made this statement.

Fernandes had originally been seeking around £350million, but it is thought that Formula One's slowest team was sold for around one-tenth of that price. Sources suggested that an offer also fell through after the Monaco Grand Prix, when the team were dealt a severe blow by Marussia's ninth place.

 Tony Fernandes

SKY SPORTS made this statement:

Back then, they were known as Team Lotus and if Fernandes was already starting to take a dim view of the sport, those feelings would have intensified when he became embroiled in a court battle for the right to use the Lotus name.  
Rather farcically, two teams bore the Norfolk marque's name in 2011 after Fernandes' plans to buy Lotus outright were thwarted when owners Proton instead appointed Dany Bahar, formerly a marketing boss at Red Bull and Ferrari, to take charge.

The Guardian wrote:

After four and a half years on the Formula One grid without a point to their name, and after spending more than £250m on the organisation, Fernandes has sold Caterham to a consortium of Swiss and Middle Eastern investors.

In 2009 Formula1.com wrote:

Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has revised its budget cap plans for 2010. Teams signing up for the optional cap must limit their spending to £40 million per year (£10 million higher than originally proposed) in exchange for greater technical freedom. This will not include driver salaries or, for 2010 only, engine costs.

Thirteen teams will be accepted for next year’s championship and all must apply by May 29, 2009, stating whether they wish to compete under the budget cap or not. New constructors will be eligible for a participation fee and assistance with travel expenses from commercial rights holder Formula One Management.

Letter to Skiddmark

The Skiddmark writer Steve Davies is visiting Group Lotus this week.
He has asked people to send him questions.
I sent him this letter:
http://skiddmark.com/2012/05/lotus-what-happened-to-the-truth/

Contact Us

Got something to say, or a suggestion to make? Get in touch with us using the form below, or by sending

 us an email atsupport@skiddmark.com

Message Sent

Name: John Mansfield
Email: john.mansfield@motorsportuniversitymalaysia.com
Website: http://www.motorsportuniversitymalaysia.com

Message: Attention Steve Davies regarding Whatever happened to the truth..? article.

Steve, I sent a reply

in the comments portion. I am not sure if you got it.

I worked for Group Lotus in Malaysia. Whilst there

I made a proposal for a new training unit.

This involved Lotus working with Universities, UK and local.

They would hold classes at a circuit (Sepang... now Johor) and other circuits/race tracks.

I have presented at ASLI (Asian Strategic Leadership Institute) and contacted

several Lotus CEO's plus others

. Recently, I contacted UKti and shared the same presentation with the DRB-Hicom MD.

I notice that the Business and Innovation dept and someone in the

Houses of Parliament have been following my blog.

Vince Cable recently visited Group Lotus and spoke to the DRB-Hicom MD.

Did they discuss the synergy between UK education suppliers,

ICAM the DRB-Hicom University and Lotus? This proposal does not involve

putting 4 wheels and a drive train on a car

and is therefore a little bit out of the box.

However, I feel that being involved in a private education proposal

as a tier one supplier of Knowledge and hardware is not too out there.

There is no reason it can not be profitable.

And just to keep the marketing people happy, they could print tee shirts.

Students globally would be introduced to the brand etc.

Thanks for listening to me.

Please ask about this when your in Lotus next week.

John Mansfield

www.motorsportuniversitymalaysia.com

www.motorsportuniversitymalaysia.blogspot.com

DRB-Hicom MD meets Vince cable in Group Lotus HQ

In today's EDP24
http://www.edp24.co.uk/home/vince_cable_holds_lotus_talks_with_drb_hicom_boss_1_1368182

I see that DRB-Hicom have met with Vince Cable.

Business secretary Vince Cable yesterday discussed the future of Norfolk car maker Lotus in a face-to-face meeting with the boss of new owner DRB-Hicom stating the government stood ready to “reactivate” a £10m pledge to support the firm’s development plans.
Hicom’s group managing director Dato’ Sri Haji Mohd Khamil Bin Jamil flew into the UK for the talks which were organised in the past week and come days after the Malaysian owners, who bought parent company Proton in January, insisted they would seek a “win-win” solution for the company’s 1,200 staff and the wider community when deciding the future of the car maker.

  I hope that Vince and Dato' Jamil talked about my Motorsport University proposal. I am of the belief they both are aware of it.

I have written to DRB-Hicom, presented at the Asian Strategic Leadership Institute, and have been interviewed by Bernama. Plus I have been in contact with UKti and people with Proton and Lotus.

I hope both of these leaders discussed the proposal. If they like it, then others will follow.

Here is the Bernama TV interview.

Local Norfolk MP Richard Bacon voices concerns over Lotus in Parliament

In my last posting I talked about my gut feeling that Lotus would come out the other side of this DRB-Hicom takeover in good shape.
I am an outsider. I have worked for Lotus in Malaysia. I am not in contact with any Lotus insiders.
I trust my gut.
However!
Several News outlets (BBC/ITV other) have covered the local Norfolk MP Richard Bacon.
He expressed doubts in the House of Commons.
I have taken this from the ITV coverage.

http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2012-04-25/new-sale-fear-for-lotus-cars/

South Norfolk MP, Richard Bacon has told Parliament about his fears for the future of Lotus Cars.

He led a debate last night in which he claimed that Lotus has appointed professional services network, KPMG with a mandate sell the group, possibly to a Chinese business.

"The fact that KPMG has been appointed with a mandate sell Group Lotus to the Chinese is not an enoucraging sign.

"Nor is the fact that the Malaysian banks want their money back from Proton.

"I fear that proton will say it has decided to keep Lotus - while negotitating with the banks for as long as possible to write-off or reduce debt - and then hand what is left of Group Lotus to the Chinese or liquidate it."

– RICHARD BACON MP, SPEAKING IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS Let the dust settle and see what transpires.My Charity project 'Innocence lost in the ice cream forest' is now being formatted for hardback.I have a little more control over this, than the future role of Lotus in the Motor industry.The book will be available on Amazon. All royalty payments go directly to charity.At the end of all this I still have the Motorsport University project. My gut feeling ... The book... The Motorsport University project... and Lotus will all be successful.(I never said I was bright!)

My gut feeling regarding Group Lotus

This post is based on my gut feeling.
Regarding Group Lotus.
I have no idea if the present management will remain in place. Proton are going to put in a Senior Manager.
This is not surprising. DRB-Hicom stated they were surprised at the autonomy Hethel enjoyed.
They have not named the Proton man. When I worked in GM Ruesselsheim, GM always had an executive who reported back to Detroit.
Proton will have an executive who reports back to Shah Alam in Malaysia.

When I attended the ASLI auto conference in 2009, I was joined by a local Automotive celebrity.
This person now has a role with Caterham. I got the impression he felt that Proton would like to sell Group Lotus.
So when I saw that Dany Bahar will get 5% enterprise value of any sale,I was not surprised. At the time Proton hired Dany Bahar, they probably wanted to get Group Lotus in a healthy position, so they could walk away with heads held high.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/9219816/Lotus-chief-Bahar-gets-bonus-if-sports-car-maker-is-sold.html

Mr Bahar’s contract, seen by The Daily Telegraph, says he is entitled to 5pc of the enterprise value of Group Lotus if it is sold or 5pc of the value of its shares if the car maker is floated on a stock market anywhere in the world.

The potential payment comes on top of a guaranteed annual payment of at least £1.2m, including a £600,000 salary and performance-related bonuses.

Mr Bahar joined Lotus in 2009 and he was offered the new contract extension in December last year, a month before DRB-Hicom announced its investment in Proton.

Things change:

One thing is DRB-Hicom has synergies with Group Lotus. They have a University. A private University.
The proposal to open global Motorsport University campuses could benefit both Malaysia and the UK.

Second, whilst being a private concern (DRB-Hicom), they have strong links with the Malaysian Government. If the Malaysian Prime Minister asks them to seriously investigate any and all potential synergies with a view to keeping Group Lotus Malaysian, with a strong but regulated base in England, they will comply.

David Cameron recently visited Malaysia. He asked the PM and DRB-Hicom to keep Hethel open.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/9212526/David-Cameron-monitoring-Lotus-very-closely-over-fears-it-will-leave-UK.html
Mr Cameron said: "I raised this issue with the Malaysian Prime Minister and with the new Malaysian owners of Lotus's parent company. Lotus makes a key contribution to the UK automotive sector. The sector is doing well and I want to see Lotus succeed and to have a secure future. We are in contact with the company, monitoring the situation very closely and ensuring that it knows about the regional growth fund money that is available."


If DRB-Hicom unload Group Lotus now it would be messy. They (Group Lotus) would be viewed as a basket case. Invest more... WISELY... and it could be a win win for everyone.

My gut feeling is common-sense and political pressure dictates a healthy and profitable future for Group Lotus.

I hope so anyway.

UKti to discuss Malaysia British trade tomorrow

I see in today's STAR newspaper.

Talks to boost KL-London trade and investments

According to the article David Cameron's visit to Malaysia will be followed up by a meeting with the Malaysian Ambassador in London...

KUALA LUMPUR: A review of British Prime Minister David Cameron's visit to Malaysia will top the agenda in a key meeting with the UK Trade and Investment (Ukti) agency in London tomorrow.

The discussion between the agency's top brass and Malaysia's High Commissioner to Britain Datuk Seri Zakaria Sulong will be an immediate follow-up to Cameron's visit, the first by a British prime minister to Malaysia in almost 20 years.

I have sent a PDF with some video attached to the UKti in KL. It was related to my proposal. MUM a Motorsport University. I know it was received and viewed.

I do not know if it went any further! I've tried anyway.

This weekend was the Grand National in Aintree (near Liverpool). Two horses died. Sad. 

The BBC will not be covering the race next year. Also sad. They will be the media partners for the OPEN University, which seems to be gathering strength, and is advertising in the national newspapers.

Maybe they should look to broaden their educational coverage?

Something for tomorrows UKti meeting (maybe).

Here is portion of an article I have just read:

http://keepingbrandshuman.com/2012/04/05/the-open-university-see-great-success-with-itunes-u-app/

The Open University see great success with iTunes U app

The Open University is the first school in Europe to reach one million active subscriptions through the iTunes U app and the OU says it is seeing more than 40,000 new downloads each day.

“With more than 50 million downloads to date, we know that students value our high-quality learning materials, and that is really underlined by the speed with which we have reached one million iTunes U app course subscribers,” said Martin Bean, Vice-Chancellor of The Open University.

Birthday time.

Today is my nieces birthday. Congratulations Kate. Mine is on Wednesday the 10th and Siti who is a friend in Malaysia is on the 27th, coincidentally the same day as my brother who is no longer with us.
Today I see an article on the Telegraph website.
It is about the lotus Range extender.
This technology was on show some years ago at the Geneva Motor show.
At present, the downside is that the Emas has a top speed of 60mph, which would mean mixing it with the trucks, but the supercharged version of the engine would address this with a cruising capability of 70-75mph.
I must say I hope the Emas city car can do at tad more than that top end.
At the show the Lotus guy who showed me the engine said that this was the technology that would save Lotus!
This was in Mike Kimberleys time.
I never convinced Mike to support THE MOTORSPORT UNIVERSTY CONCEPT.
Hopefully over time I can convince the new management team.
This concept is really the way forward for Lotus.

Burnley University opens for business. If Football can do it... Why can't Motorsports?

UK university to offer only football business degrees -BBC Audio file link.
Today Sky sports (UK) showed an interview with Brian Barwick, the former FA chief asking him why no-one else has ever thought of this!
Sky Sports News Video link
He seemed to be quite proud that he and his partners were such ground breaking thinkers.
Burnley is charging £6000 per year for it's services. The degrees will be transferrable to other disciplines outside of football.
Sounds good to me!
Another site http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/  Has the following quote:

Brendan Flood, who sits on the board of directors at Burnley FC, is one of the chief investors in the new project, and he has put together a high profile board of advisors.


The non-executive board includes Brian Barwick, former chief executive of the Football Association, Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association, and Burnley fan and former Downing Street press advisor Alistair Campbell...

"Football involves more than just the game, off the pitch there is the media and marketing, supply chain management, logistics, business and finance and we want the UCFB graduates to leave with transferable skills that they could just as easily take to Mars or Deutsche Bank as a football club," Wilson (chief executive of UCFB) said.


The centre will offer three-year courses, accredited to a leading university:


BA (Hons) Football Business & Finance (three years)


BA (Hons) Football Business & Marketing (three years)


BA (Hons) Football Business & Media (three years)


Hopefully, one day I can get some high profile investors to join with me in a Motorsport University.
Obviously, I am hoping to combine physical campuses with online learning to target one million students.
 
Now that other people have started to do this maybe people will be less sceptical about the idea.
 
Time will tell. Enjoy the weekend.