Dany Bahar | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality | Swiss |
| Occupation(s) | Founder and CEO of ARES |
Dany Bahar is a Turkish-born Swiss business executive and the founder of luxury automotive retailer ARES. His involvement in the automotive andmotorsports industries began atRed Bull, where between 2003 and 2007 he led the launch of theFormula One teamsRed Bull Racing andScuderia Toro Rosso. From 2007 to 2009 he was Senior Vice President Commercial and Brand atFerrari, after which he became CEO ofGroup Lotus, a term which ended in 2012 after the parent company was taken over. In 2012 he founded ARES, an Italian company modifying high-performance cars.
Dany Bahar was born inIstanbul,Turkey, in 1971 and grew up in the Swiss ski village ofSilvaplana, near the Italian border. He studied marketing at the Kaufmännische Handelsschule (commercial school) inWil,Switzerland.[1][2]
Dany Bahar began his career as a sports marketer for Coni Altherr, a Swiss inline skating company and the founder of the Swiss Inline Cup.[3][4] He later moved toRome where he worked for Sabatino Aracu, president of theInternational Roller Sports Federation. In 2001, after a time inDubai as a project coordinator for an IT firm, he worked for two years as an asset manager forFritz Kaiser, a wealth management entrepreneur based inVaduz,Liechtenstein.[2][3]
While working for Fritz Kaiser, Dany Bahar metDietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull's Austrian co-founder and a partner of Kaiser.[2][5] He subsequently worked with Dietrich Mateschitz at Red Bull, responsible for its entry into Formula One with the launch of Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso, as well as into US-basedNASCAR.[1][6][7][8] Alongside auto racing, Dany Bahar also oversaw Red Bull's purchase of football clubs inSalzburg,New York City andGhana in a series of acquisitions that saw the New York MetroStars rebranded as theNew York Red Bulls.[9][10] He was Red Bull's chief operating officer from 2003 to 2007.[11]
During negotiations to supplyFerrari engines to Red Bull Racing in 2006, Dany Bahar came into contact with his counterparts at Ferrari. In 2007 he was hired with the title Senior Vice President, Commercial and Brand, heading the manufacturer's new global brand department.[8][9] In this role he implemented a licensing and merchandising campaign and expanded the number of Ferrari retail stores.[10]
At the 2009Geneva Motor Show he was approached by Malaysian car makerProton – owner of British manufacturerLotus, which had been operating at a loss for 15 years.[12][13] He became CEO of Group Lotus in October that year and launched a five-year plan intended to target emerging markets likeChina.[14][15] At the 2010Paris Motor Show, Lotus unveiled five new cars in a bid to move away from its low-margin model and move upmarket to rival Ferrari,Aston Martin andPorsche.[16] Later that year Lotus returned to Formula One with the relaunch of the Renault F1 Team asLotus Renault GP.[17][18] In 2011 Lotus opened its first showroom inBeijing, offering fourcoupes.[19]
Following an internal investigation, amid allegations that he was misusing company funds for extravagant expenses, Bahar was dismissed from his role as CEO in June 2012.[20][21] That August, he suedDRB-HICOM and Lotus for £6.7m, alleging Lotus dismissed him to avoid paying five percent of the company's value he was owed as a result of the recent acquisition of the company by DRB.[15][22] Lotus later sued Bahar for £2.5m in an effort it said was to recoup some of the money he had spent.[21] An out-of-court settlement was reached in May 2014.[23]
In 2014 Dany Bahar founded ARES – aModena-based automotive atelier specialising in bodykits, interior upgrades and performance and power improvements.[12][13][24]
Dany Bahar lives in Dubai and is married with three children.[2][13]