Lotus offers lifeline to troubled UK car plant

{"text":[[{"start":7.65,"text":"Lotus has thrown a lifeline to its UK manufacturing plant a year after threatening to cease production at the facility, saying it was the “best option” for building its first-ever hybrid supercar. "}],[{"start":19.55,"text":"Feng Qingfeng, chief executive of Lotus Group, also slashed its ambitious sales target to just a fifth of the original figure, telling the FT that a new strategy was needed to revive the struggling brand controlled by China’s Geely. "}],[{"start":34.45,"text":"“In the past, we moved too fast,” Feng said in an interview ahead of his appearance at the FT’s Future of the Car summit, adding that its focus was “the pursuit of profitability and sustainability of the company”."}],[{"start":46.45,"text":"The revised target to sell 30,000 cars a year by the end of the decade is a sharp downgrade from a previous aim to sell 150,000 vehicles annually by 2028, which was set in 2018. Lotus last year sold only 6,520 vehicles as it was hit by US tariffs. "}],[{"start":66.85,"text":"Despite a vision to compete against the likes of Porsche, Lotus struggled with product delays and cost overruns as its bullish plan to turn fully electric backfired amid sluggish demand."}],[{"start":78.39999999999999,"text":"At the centre of Lotus’s new plan is its first plug-in hybrid model, the Eletre X, which has received more than 1,000 orders since it was launched in March in China. The vehicle, which is based on Geely’s hybrid platform, will be sold in Europe later this year."}],[{"start":95.35,"text":"Feng told the FT last month that it was aiming for a near-term product mix of 60 per cent hybrids with EVs making up the remainder. "}],[{"start":104.39999999999999,"text":"Lotus is also building its first supercar, dubbed Type 135, equipped with a V8 hybrid power train. Feng said the model, which is expected to be launched in 2028, could be produced at the Hethel plant in the UK."}],[{"start":119.1,"text":"“Hethel would be our best option,” he said. “However, we need to think about the supply chain availability, operational efficiency and also cost discipline.” "}],[{"start":128.65,"text":"The Hethel plant was also in the running to build a plug-in hybrid version of its Emira, which was intended to be its final sports car with a combustion engine, Feng added."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":138.1,"text":"Lotus last year made an abrupt U-turn over plans to end manufacturing at Hethel, raising questions about the long-term future of the Norfolk facility. It also announced 550 UK job cuts, equal to about 40 per cent of its local workforce. The plant currently employs roughly 600 full-time workers."}],[{"start":157.54999999999998,"text":"Feng has denied making any threat to cease production at Hethel, according to one person close to the company, and has since expressed his commitment “to do everything” it can to safeguard its future."}],[{"start":169.29999999999998,"text":"Feng said Hethel was now an important export hub following the trade deal that cut tariffs on some UK cars sold to the US. The Eletre X, which is built in China, will not be sold in the US due to ultra-high tariffs."}],[{"start":183.89999999999998,"text":"But Feng added that more effort was required to bolster Hethel’s cost competitiveness, as he called for further UK government support to expand the industrial supply chain for plug-in hybrids. “We have to make it work,” Feng said."}],[{"start":197.49999999999997,"text":"Lotus joined the Geely empire — which also includes Volvo Cars, Polestar and Zeekr — in 2017 as part of a broader investment in Malaysian owner Proton. When Geely listed its Lotus Technology arm on Nasdaq in February 2024, its market valuation briefly soared to more than $9bn. "}],[{"start":216.94999999999996,"text":"But the company, a pioneer of Formula 1 racing, has struggled to match its ambition and is now worth less than $800mn. It is also saddled with $3.3bn in liabilities, most of which include loans from Geely. "}],[{"start":232.94999999999996,"text":"Daniel Li, Geely executive vice-chair who chairs the Lotus Technology board, said the Chinese group remained committed to giving Lotus the resources it needed. “Geely has believed in Lotus from the beginning, and that belief has not wavered,” Li said in a statement."}],[{"start":249.79999999999995,"text":"Longtime fans of Lotus have questioned whether the company had strayed too far from its historic roots of making small, lightweight internal-combustion sports cars with its shift to the large and relatively heavy EVs it had predominantly made under Geely ownership."}],[{"start":265.74999999999994,"text":"The company also said it was open to options, such as a new share issuance and additional external investors, to strengthen its finances."}],[{"start":274.94999999999993,"text":"However, Feng said the new plug-in hybrids would retain the Lotus DNA. “No matter how the car looks from the outside, we will never lose the spirit of Lotus,” he said. "}],[{"start":290.94999999999993,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1778558671_9883.mp3"}