Ex-Ferrari Executive To Lead Lotus

Another step has been taken in the resurrection of the sports cars maker. Lotus has hired the ex-Ferrari North America chief to lead its sales efforts in the North American market when it launches its new range of cars in the coming years.Maurizio Parlato, who worked for Ferrari for more than two decades, has been named as the new Lotus U.S. head. He will have to strengthen Lotus dealerships in order to be able to sell the new range, which features a basic model costing $78,000 all the way up to the top of the line models which cost $180,000.Parlato started his new job almost three months ago, however Lotus delayed the announcement up until now.This week, the Lotus-Renault F1 team hired former Ferrari F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen to join the team for the 2012 season. The team has a long term sponsorship contract with Lotus Cars.In addition, Lotus Cars, which is managed by Danny Bahar, the former Ferrari brand manager, hired Donato Coco, designer of the Ferrari F430 Scuderia and 458 Italia.