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Lotus Cars Ltd, the sportscar division of Group Lotus plc, is
pleased to announce the appointment of Quadis, for the retail of
Lotus cars in Spain.Quadis will open its first dealership in Sant
Quirze del Vallès in Barcelona. The new showroom and service
facility, to be called “Lotus Barcelona” will be opened on 09
November 2006. The full range of Lotus cars will be available from
launch: the phenomenal Lotus Elise, the award winning race-bred
Lotus Exige and brand new Lotus Europa.
Mike Kimberley, CEO of Group Lotus plc comments “I would like to
welcome Lotus Barcelona to the Lotus family and brand and we are
pleased to have teamed up with such an enthusiastic and professional
organisation. We already sell into 17 countries in Europe and I
believe that the Spanish market will grow in importance for us over
the next few years as we are expand our model line-up to include 3
all new cars in the next 3 years. This can only mean good news for
Lotus fans and driving enthusiasts!”
Mr. Xavier Gaspar, M.D. of Lotus Barcelona said: “We are
delighted to have secured the franchise for Lotus in Barcelona. Our
corporate brand strengths are built around customer service and the
ability to sell high profile brands into the discerning Spanish
market. We sell nearly 50,000 cars a year so the Lotus brand will
add an exclusive niche to our portfolio and will have access to our
infrastructure and networks. The new facilities will all be in line
with the corporate image and training standards set out by Lotus
Cars. We are keen to launch Lotus by highlighting the brand’s
philosophies in building lightweight, agile and innovative
performance
cars and its British engineering and manufacturing heritage.”
The Lotus range will be priced in Spain as follows:
Elise S 38.063
Elise R 46.234
Exige 49.545
Exige S 56.508
Europa S 53.120
All prices include tax but exclude transport, registration and
delivery charges.
Lotus Barcelona is at
QUADIS AUTOCENTRE VALLES
C/R. CARRASCO I FORMIGUERA NO. 22
08192 S.QUIRZE DEL VALLES (BARCELONA)
Tel: 00 34 93 720 61 70
Web: www.lotusbarcelona.es.
Email:
Notes:
About Quadis
Quadis is the biggest distributor of cars in Spain and currently has
more than 100 showrooms and 70 workshops dealing with servicing for
all motorcars and commercial vehicles. Its wide range of brands,
which covers all segments, includes ALFA ROMEO, FIAT, LANCIA, ASTON
MARTIN, AUDI, BENTLEY, CHRYSLER, JEEP, DODGE, FERRARI, MASERATI,
GALLOPER, JAGUAR, KIA, LAND ROVER, MITSUBISHI, MERCEDES-BENZ,
NISSAN, PEUGEOT, SEAT, SKODA, SMART, VOLKSWAGEN and now LOTUS.
It is this wide range, combined with the quality of its sales and
after sales services, as well as the professionalism of its team and
the commitment to its clients that has made Quadis one of the
leaders of mobility services in Europe. In 2005 Quadis sold 41.200
cars and had a turnover of 1,005 million Euros but it is the more
than 500.000 satisfied customers that demonstrate its high quality
standards both in the buying process as in servicing the vehicles.
To be able to cover all of the services related to vehicles,
Quadis also has three vehicle centres with more than 1.000 cars
in stock, specialising in the sales of semi-new and used cars of all
brands and models on the market:
FORMULA Q BARCELONA
FORMULA Q MARESME
FORMULA Q VALLES
Shortly, a new, similar centre will be opened in Castellòn.
Quadis has also created a new concept to offer all services
concerning vehicles to its clients. This concept is the QUADIS
AUTOCENTRE where various dealers share premises to give the customer
a greater choice. At present, Quadis has three such centres in
Barcelona, Maresme and Vallés and it is in the latter that the new
official dealership LOTUS BARCELONA will be based. Two more QUADIS
AUTOCENTRES will be opened in St.Boi and Cornellà in the near future.
History of Quadis
To come this far, Quadis has come a long way. It started in 1940
when Juan Soler Güell opened GARAJE CENTRAL, a workshop of 6 persons
dedicated to sales and servicing of tractors and lorries as well as
the production of “Gasogen”, a product that permitted the few cars
on the road to run without petrol, which was in short supply.
In the 1950s, the company moved to Barcelona, where they became one
of the first distributors of the new Seat 600 that in 1957 was
offered for 70.000 pesetas.
The beginning wasn’t easy, but the vision of the business founder
proved to be right and the vehicle park grew from 9.812 vehicles in
1940 to 482.000 in 1972 and from there to 6.5 million at the end of
the seventies. It was at that moment that Juan Manuel Soler Pujol,
son of the founder, joined the company management. The new
generation took over and pushed the company towards more rapid
growth through the incorporation of new makes and dealerships to the
current level.
It is all this experience and infrastructure combined with the
quality of our staff that Quadis has to offer to this project that
starts today: Re-establishing the distribution in Spain of the LOTUS
brand, a brand that is also full of history and big projects for the
future.
Historical Background to Lotus
The first Lotus car was built in 1948 by Colin Chapman (1928-1982)
who was an innovative engineer and passionate racer. In 1952, the
Lotus Engineering Company was created to manufacture simple sports
and racing cars at a North London facility. Success came swiftly and
within 15 years the company moved to its current headquarters in
Hethel, England. Between 1958 and 1994 Lotus campaigned one of the
most successful motor racing teams in Formula 1 history, winning 79
Formula 1 Grands Prix, seven Formula One Constructor’s Championships
and six Formula 1 Driver’s Championships. Lotus has also had class
wins at Le Mans, has won the World Rally Championships, received a
gold medal at the Olympics Games (with the Lotus Bike) and won the
prestigious Indy 500 in the USA.
Lotus in Spain
Lotus has a spectacular racing history in Spain, having won the
Spanish Grand Prix 6 times:
Year Circuit Driver Car
1968 Jarama Graham Hill Lotus Type 49
1972 Jarama Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus Type 72D
1973 Barcelona Emerson Fittipaldi Lotus Type 72E
1977 Jarama Mario Andretti Lotus Type 78
1978 Jarama Mario Andretti Lotus Type 79
1986 Jerez Ayrton Senna Lotus Type 98T
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