Lotus's new owner, Chinese automotive heavyweight Geely, says it is considering building the lightweight sports cars in China, casting doubt over the viability of maintaining UK production.
The comments came from Geely chief Li Shufu, who admitted he is considering producing Lotus sports cars in China. They were published in Automotive News with additional reporting from the Reuters news agency.
'We hope to help Lotus penetrate the global market,' he added.
Will Lotus cars still be built in Hethel?
It's too early to say yet - but Shufu's comments will spread alarm in Lotus's Norfolk HQ. With current production levels at only a few thousand a year, it seems unlikely that Lotus can sustain having two production bases.
Geely will be crunching the maths on the relatively high cost of building cars in the UK versus the economic gains of switching production to the far east.
Why Geely is buying Lotus
In May 2017 news emerged that Lotus was being bought by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, the owners of Volvo and the London Taxi Company. The deep-pocketed conglomerate bought a 49.9% stake in Group Lotus owners Proton from its previous keepers DRB-Hicom for 460.3 million ringgit ($107.37 million), including a 170.3 million ringgit cash injection.
In turn, it also takes a 51% controlling stake in Group Lotus, bought for £100 million, according to DRB-Hicom managing director Syed Faisal Albar. That includes both Lotus Cars and the Lotus Engineering consultancy firm, which works with most car makers on a behind-the-scenes consulting basis.
There are still I’s to be dotted and T’s to be crossed, but the deal is expected to be inked in late summer 2017.
What does this mean for Lotus?
Geely bought Volvo from Ford in 2010, with an initial investment of $11 billion. Since then the Swedish car maker has seemingly flourished, with capital for new platforms, a new engine family and autonomous technology.
The long-mooted Lotus SUV project could be a goer under Geely, using the upcoming Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform it will share with Volvo for models including Volvo's small XC40 SUV. Lotus boss Jean-Marc Gales described the SUV as ‘work in progress’ when CAR spoke to him at the end of 2016. ‘We need technical partners, which we are currently looking for,’ he said.
Source: carmagazine.co.uk
'We hope to help Lotus penetrate the global market,' he added.
Will Lotus cars still be built in Hethel?
It's too early to say yet - but Shufu's comments will spread alarm in Lotus's Norfolk HQ. With current production levels at only a few thousand a year, it seems unlikely that Lotus can sustain having two production bases.
Geely will be crunching the maths on the relatively high cost of building cars in the UK versus the economic gains of switching production to the far east.
Why Geely is buying Lotus
In May 2017 news emerged that Lotus was being bought by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, the owners of Volvo and the London Taxi Company. The deep-pocketed conglomerate bought a 49.9% stake in Group Lotus owners Proton from its previous keepers DRB-Hicom for 460.3 million ringgit ($107.37 million), including a 170.3 million ringgit cash injection.
In turn, it also takes a 51% controlling stake in Group Lotus, bought for £100 million, according to DRB-Hicom managing director Syed Faisal Albar. That includes both Lotus Cars and the Lotus Engineering consultancy firm, which works with most car makers on a behind-the-scenes consulting basis.
There are still I’s to be dotted and T’s to be crossed, but the deal is expected to be inked in late summer 2017.
What does this mean for Lotus?
Geely bought Volvo from Ford in 2010, with an initial investment of $11 billion. Since then the Swedish car maker has seemingly flourished, with capital for new platforms, a new engine family and autonomous technology.
The long-mooted Lotus SUV project could be a goer under Geely, using the upcoming Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform it will share with Volvo for models including Volvo's small XC40 SUV. Lotus boss Jean-Marc Gales described the SUV as ‘work in progress’ when CAR spoke to him at the end of 2016. ‘We need technical partners, which we are currently looking for,’ he said.
Source: carmagazine.co.uk
Latest News
