Ferrari brand guru Dany Bahar poached as new Lotus CEO?
Dany Bahar presenting the new Ferrari 458 Italia
Ferrari has announced some changes in senior management, including the appointment of Sebastiano Rio as its new industrial director. But the real news that has people talking is the departure of Dany Bahar.After years as Red Bull chief Dietrich Mateschitz's right hand, Bahar moved to Ferrari two years ago to head up its new Global Brand Department, working in parallel with the racing team and road car divisions to put those little prancing horses on everything from pencils to laptop computers. His resignation from Ferrari has generated reports that the marketing guru is moving over to Lotus to take the chief executive position vacated this past July by Mike Kimberley.
If the reports prove accurate, it would be the second senior executive to leave the Ferrari family for a competing British sports car-maker, following the departure of designer Frank Stephenson to head up the newly formed McLaren Automotive's design department. We'll have to wait for an official announcement from Lotus for confirmation, but in the meantime you can read Ferrari's after the jump. And get ready for Lotus baseball caps to flood the market.
[Source: Ferrari and Autosport]
PRESS RELEASE
Ferrari: Sebastiano Rio – new industrial director
Maranello, 31st August 2009 - Sebastiano Rio is Ferrari's new Industrial Director and will have responsibility for all production and purchasing activities. Having previously worked for several years with Whirlpool, Rio replaces Andrea Bozzoli who, after 10 years with Ferrari, has decided to take his career in a new entrepreneurial direction.
There are changes too in the Commercial and Brand Department: Dany Bahar has left his position and his responsibilities will be taken over temporarily by the Chairman and CEO.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jake 9:04AM (9/02/2009)
Body by Ferrari; hair by Billy Ray Cyrus.
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DCragtop 9:09AM (9/02/2009)
exactly what I was thinking; I actually thought it WAS BillRay
RowFive 10:20AM (9/02/2009)
LoL so did I... I did a double-take before reading the tagline.
Venom 9:09AM (9/02/2009)
Damn you Billy Ray Cyrus.
Taking all the jobs.
Is Hannah Montana not enough for you?
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dumblikeyou2 9:10AM (9/02/2009)
No, that IS Billy Ray Cyrus! And he's going to make Miley the lead designer. Achy breaky Ferrari.
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dukeisduke 9:24AM (9/02/2009)
I halfway expect him to start off the address with, "How y'all doin'?".
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Imag 10:08AM (9/02/2009)
I hope Mike Kimberley is doing well. It's a shame he isn't still at the helm. Hopefully he managed to get the Esprit set up correctly before he left...
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ultimatemxcn 11:31AM (9/02/2009)
I hope that doesn't mean that now lotus will burst into flames like ferraris
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RX-8 2:51PM (9/02/2009)
This might be a little more of a challenge. Ferrari and Red Bull can run around with a blank check mentality since their product has a 1000% mark-up and sells out as quickly as it can be produced. Lotus on the other hand has has had quite a few financial struggles over the past 60 years.
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