Lotus Group has made changes to its senior management as part of a shakeup at the British niche sports carmaker launched by new CEO Dany Bahar, Ferrari's former sales chief.
As part of the changes, Paul Newsome is the new product engineering director for Lotus Cars. Newsome moves to his new job from his previous role as managing director of Lotus Engineering.
Newsome's role will be to oversee the engineering of a range of new Lotus cars.
Robert Hentschel joins the group as director of Lotus Engineering from German engineering and design company EDAG.
Hentschel's task will be to lead the expansion of Lotus Engineering's third-party consultancy work and to further develop its lightweight architectures, driving dynamics, efficient performance and electrical/electronics.
Hentschel was most recently chief operating officer for North American operations at EDAG.
Lotus Engineering has new projects with three Chinese clients for 2010.
Bahar said the appointments are part of his plans to strengthen his executive team at the maker of high-performance sports cars such as the Elise.
"This year will see some very exciting developments to the Lotus product line-up," Baher said in a statement.
Bahar, a Swiss national, took over as Lotus CEO on Oct. 1, succeeding long-time Lotus CEO Michael Kimberley, who retired.
Previously Bahar was senior vice president at Ferrari, responsible for global car sales. He also oversaw marketing for Ferrari's car and Formula One businesses, as well as licensing and merchandising.
Donato Coco became director of design at Lotus on Jan. 4, moving from Ferrari, where he was director of design and development and worked on cars such as the 458 Italia, the F430 and the California.
