Setting the record on Lotus NYO

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Lotus NYO, the passenger car making arm of Lotus Group, launched its models in Beijing just over 10 days ago. Chinese media reports, and coincidently China Car Times and other Chinese focused automotive news websites reported that Lotus China had been forced to use the Lotus NYO and a new Chinese name due to a trademark dispute with Youngman Auto.

Youngman Auto has a joint venture with the Malaysian car making company, Proton which acquired Lotus in 1996. Youngman initially started producing Proton’s economy models under the Europastar brand but moved over to the Lotus brand as the Lotus brand was already known with Chinese auto sports affectionardos. However, Youngman are planning to redefine the Lotus brand, which they call Lian Hua in Chinese to further differentiate the brand from the Lotus NYO name and separate the economy models from Lotus’ high end sports range.

So why did they choose NYO? According to Lotus China’s PR man Mr. Yang Cheng, Lotus NYO sounds like new in Chinese and will go some way to separate the two brands. Mr. Yang was eager to point out that there is no issue with Youngman using Lotus.

Lotus NYO will sell three models in the Chinese market, the Elise, Evora and Exige but sales will be limited to just 200 models in the first year. Lotus NYO are aiming for a slice of the supercar pie that has already been divided up by Porsche, Ferrari, and Lamborghini when Lotus sales begin in October 2011, over the next three years Lotus NYO are aiming to expand aggressively with up to 18 dealerships opening their doors across China.