Carmaker Lotus has revealed it’s cutting 550 jobs within the UK “to secure a sustainable future” as global aspects are leading its Vision 80 technique to falter.
The China-owned company, which has its headquarters and a sports automotive factory in Norfolk plus an engineering and technology base in Warwickshire, said the step is vital, however it stays committed to the UK.
After it was bought by China’s Geely Holdings in 2017, and it announced its Vision 80 plan to ramp up automotive sales and profits before its eightieth birthday in 2028, it has launched a series of latest models, a few of that are inbuilt China and which goal prestige SUV and saloon customers, not only sports automotive buyers.
But Lotus stays within the red. Despite growing recent automotive sales to greater than 12,000 units in 2024 – greater than half of which were the China-built ‘lifestyle’ models – it recorded a $786 million operating loss.
It employs around 1,300 people within the UK currently, having already made almost 100 redundancies in 2023.
It has recently handed over its flagship brand centre in London’s Picadilly to AM100 dealer group HR Owen.
An announcement from the group on the 550 job cuts said: “We consider that is vital in an effort to secure a sustainable future for the corporate in today’s rapidly evolving automotive environment, which is seeing uncertainty with rapid changes in global policies including tariffs.”
After Europe, its next biggest markets are China and the USA. Some industry observers have speculated that Lotus will look to construct cars within the USA, because of president Trump’s protectionist agenda.
Some suggest that in the long run the UK could see a repeat of what happened to Britain’s MG brand, which was bought in 2005 by China’s Nanjing Auto Corporation and inside a decade all production had moved to China.
Under the ‘Vision80’ transformation plan outlined in 2019 the firm had planned to be selling 100,000 cars annually by the point of its eightieth anniversary in 2028.
But Lotus’s statement today added: “The brand stays fully committed to the UK, and Norfolk will remain the house of the Lotus’ sports automotive, motorsports and engineering consulting operations.”
It added that it “actively exploring future growth opportunities to diversify Lotus Cars’ business model, including through third-party manufacturing”.
Prior to now, third-party firms equivalent to Valmet Automotive in Finland have been contracted by the likes of Mercedes-Benz and Porsche to construct cars.
In 2024 Lotus told Automotive Management that slow global demand for electric cars was leading it to revise its strategy and develop plug-in hybrids, which it can launch in 2026.
It had hoped to extend worldwide sales to 30,000 units in 2026, on the trail to its 100,000 goal in 2028.
Geely, owner of Lotus, also owns other vehicle brands which historically were European, equivalent to Volvo and LEVC, in addition to its own brands launched in China which are actually entering Europe.
This Article First Appeared At www.am-online.com
