Lotus has assured its dealer partners and customers that it would remain a British brand with its headquarters and sports automotive production within the UK.
It responded to reports that it’d close its base in Hethel, Norfolk, with a press release that the UK is the “heart” of the brand and it stays its largest latest automotive market in Europe, and it added that it’s “continuing normal operations” and has no plans to shut any factory.
Some industry observers imagine the article within the Financial Times on the weekend, which quoted unnamed sources from Lotus, had a desired effect, because the UK’s business secretary Jonathan Reynolds held an urgent meeting with Lotus and its majority owner Geely to realize assurances it was committed to the UK automotive plant.
The federal government says it now plans to work with Lotus and other UK carmakers, cutting manufacturers’ energy costs and providing £2.5bn of much-needed capital and research and development funding. These measures fall under Labour’s industrial strategy, announced last week.
Hethel has been the house of Lotus since 1966 and is its only manufacturing base within the UK. Focused on Lotus sports cars, it has the capability to construct 5,000 cars per 12 months.
The electrical SUVs within the Lotus range are inbuilt China at Geely’s Wuhan plant.
In its response to the FT’s report, Lotus said it was “actively exploring strategic options to reinforce efficiency and ensure global competitiveness in an evolving market”.
“We now have invested significantly in R&D and operations within the UK, over the past six years,” it added.
Since Geely bought its majority stake in 2017 it has funded production facilities at Hethel for the Emira two-seater sports automotive plus for the £2 million, 2,000bhp electric Evija ‘hypercar’.
In November the carmaker’s latest chief executive for Europe, Dan Balmer, told told Automotive Management that the manufacturer was simply “reading the room” in adapting its latest automotive strategy because it revealed Lotus dealerships will begin selling ‘hyper hybrid’ versions of its luxury cars because the carmaker shifts from its exclusively electric vehicle strategy on account of consumer reticence.
Like various other brands which had got down to be on the forefront of the zero emissions vehicle market, according to governmental policies, it has needed to react to the slower-than-expected adoption of EVs globally.
This Article First Appeared At www.am-online.com
