Lotus' chassis expert joins Aston Martin

Ending a 26-year long affair with Lotus, Matt Becker, who currently heads the firm's vehicle testing and development, will be taking the role of Chief Engineer VAE (vehicle attribute engineering) at Aston Martin, which encompasses the areas of vehicle dynamics, refinement, aerodynamics and durability. Majority of Becker's career at Lotus, went working with his father, Roger Becker, who retired in 2010 after 44 years at the firm.

Joining from January 5th, Becker's key responsibility will be the signing-off of the much-anticipated DB9 replacement, which is set to arrive in 2016, as well as the fine-tuning the handling of new generation of sports cars from the this year-happened AMG partnership. He will report to firm's head of product development- Ian Minards, as well as to Andy Palmer, Aston Martin's new CEO.

While Becker's coming on-board will give a boost to Aston Martin’s aspirations in leveling with the German competitors that have moved ahead with advanced modern platforms, the move comes as a big setback for Lotus, as the sports car manufacturer is also planning to expand its current product portfolio. Becker's role at Lotus, will now be filled by Dave Marler, Chief Engineer, Development and CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) as well as Gavan Kershaw from the Lotus motorsport department.

It's been a season of management shifts, today itself, Albert Biermann joined as the new Head of Vehicle Test & High Performance Development at Korean automotive group Hyundai, leaving his BMW M's Chief Engineer post. Click here, to know more