Lotus launches its last gasoline car and begins to chase Porsche Reuters

Author: Nick Carey

Hessel, United Kingdom (Reuters)-Lotus launched its last petrol car on Tuesday, a milestone for the British sports car brand to become an all-electric and larger carmaker at the end of the century.

Lotus and its Chinese owner, Geely, hope to transform the small company that now produces about 1,500 sports cars a year into an electric car manufacturer that produces tens of thousands of high-end cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs).

“We recognize that we need to increase revenue, and the sports car sector is limited,” Lotus managing director Matt Wendell told Reuters. “Therefore, we hope to provide a full range of Lotus products to different people at different stages of life.”

The expansion plan is no different from that of Volkswagen’s (DE:) sports car brand Porsche, which has expanded substantially since the Cayenne SUV was launched in 2002. Porsche sold more than 90,000 Cayennes last year, nearly three times the best-selling sales to date. Sales of its most famous car, the 911.

The Lotus project started with Emira. It was inaugurated at the Hethel factory in an old air force base in the east of England. It plans to produce about 4,800 sports cars per year—if demand is high, it can produce more.

Starting at around £60,000 ($83,000), Emira is the first new gasoline Lotus model in more than a decade, but it will be the last model to be powered by fossil fuels.

Lotus designed it to resemble Evija’s siblings. This is an electric “supercar” that produced only 130 cars-the 130th model in Lotus’s 73-year history-priced at approximately £2 million ( 2.8 million USD)) each.

Russell Carr, head of design at Lotus, pointed to Emira and Evija, who were side by side on the floor of the car manufacturer’s studio, and said that he was looking forward to “sprinkling some fairytale dust” on the company’s new “lifestyle” model.

Geely purchased a 51% stake in Lotus in 2017, ending the company’s years of financial difficulties under the leadership of multiple former owners and forcing it to shelve the release of some new models.

Lotus is now part of the growing empire of the Chinese automaker, which owns Sweden’s Volvo Cars and is the largest shareholder of Germany’s Daimler (OTC).

Dynamic growth potential

Li Shufu, the founder of Geely, aims to create a brand-centric global company that shares technology from a Chinese supply base under a unique skin. To a large extent, he details how the brand will execute the strategy in the hands of local managers.

Another shareholder of Geely and Lotus, Malaysia’s Etika Automotive is investing more than US$2 billion to expand production, including a new plant in Wuhan, China, where the first batch of new Lotus lifestyle models will be built.

Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, said: “Lotus has the potential for dynamic growth. “But they must be careful to downplay the name of Lotus, because if their new model is not seen as worthy of the name, it could damage the brand globally. . “

Carr, the design director, said that as a member of a large automotive group, Lotus can use technologies that are difficult to obtain, such as Emira’s dashboard touch screen.

In response to changing consumer habits, this new sports car will be equipped with Lotus for the first time: a cup holder.

Managing Director Windle also said that Geely has approved Lotus’s requirements for new SUVs and cars, which will be manufactured on a platform designed by the British company, rather than sharing the basis with Volvo or the all-electric Polestar.

Windle said this will enable Lotus to continue to operate as a supplier and engineer to other automakers, which Lotus Engineering has been doing for many years. He said that several automakers have shown interest in the Lotus electric vehicle platform.

Geely hopes that Lotus Engineering will become a unique technical organization in its broader group of companies, pursuing its own autonomous driving, smart and electric mobility technologies.

Lotus is currently working with the following organizations to develop an electric sports car platform Renault (PA:) For the French company’s Alpine brand, the framework will also be provided to other automakers.

Windle acknowledged that there are risks involved in SUVs and cars.

“This is a challenge, and it is moving away from what we are used to in history,” he said. “But I will argue that our business case has not worked historically.”

(1 USD = 0.7234 pounds)