Team Lotus has confirmed that GE has signed a deal to be a premium partner of the team. The deal is believed to be for three years and is reckoned to be worth in the region of $30 million a year. As part of the partnership, the GE branding will be seen on the Lotus T128s and across the team’s entire race and factory structure from the British Grand Prix in July 2011. The partnership with GE provides what the team calls “extensive brand and business benefits to both parties, giving GE a high-profile global platform to showcase advanced technologies and providing Team Lotus with leading edge technological, R&D and manufacturing resources that will help accelerate the team’s progress, on and off track”.

“This is a resounding endorsement of the remarkable development of our team that we have unveiled a partnership of this significance with one of the world’s most eminent organisations,” said Tony Fernandes. “We are already exploring a number of initiatives that will bring the GE-Team Lotus relationship to life across the spectrum of GE’s interests, from future automotive electrification technologies, materials sciences, design processes and core engineering competencies to the showcasing of GE’s world class e-infrastructure capabilities throughout the global business and government communities in race and non-race markets alike. In short, we have a huge array of platforms to work across driven by passionate people in both organisations who can’t wait to put their collective imagination to work.”

GE chairman Jeff Immelt says that the company has worked with Fernandes for many years in the aviation business and is now looking forward to exploiting “the global appeal and popularity of Formula 1” which he reckons will provide a unique opportunity for GE.

GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide.