Luxury sports automotive and EV maker Lotus accomplished its SPAC merger last week within the U.S. and its stock was publicly traded for the primary time on Friday. It’s an interesting turn of events for the Geely-backed automaker now often known as Lotus Tech given the uncertain EV market, but one which will prove an exception to the struggles of other pure-play EV makers.
Trading under the ticker LOT on the Nasdaq, Lotus Tech will concentrate on the upper end of the EV market with its Eletre SUV and Emeya sedan, which is able to not only be offered within the US but additionally in Europe and, more importantly, China.
“What’s most significant here is that we’re definitely going to more markets at the identical time through more models and thru more stores,” said Lotus Tech CFO Alexious Lee to Yahoo Finance from the Nasdaq market site.
By the tip of the yr Lotus could have 4 vehicles in production, three of them EVs. “These 4 models are currently available in Asia Pacific and a part of additionally it is available in UK and EU,” Lee said. “We’re having the brand new [Eletre] SUV model coming into the U.S. within the third quarter of this yr, so different markets have different strategies and different product offerings and different conditions.”
Lotus is in a position to go to market in various territories as a consequence of the backing of its majority owner, Chinese auto giant Geely. However it also raised a substantial sum of money through its SPAC merger. Lotus Tech said it raised greater than $880 million in pre-closing and PIPE financing commitments, with a targeted valuation on listing day of nearly $7 billion.
Lotus Tech also had an interesting partner with its SPAC merging, combining with L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp (LCAA), which is backed by French luxury conglomerate LVMH.
As Lotus targets the posh segment with its vehicles — the Eletre and Emeya might be playing within the $80,000 to $150,000 ballpark — having a partner like LVMH, with its deep connections and insights into the posh consumer, may very well be hugely useful.
“Now what’s more necessary here is Anish Melwani, who’s the CEO for LVMH North America, might be on the board of Lotus Tech,” Lee said. “It is a huge opportunity for us to develop a possible partnership by way of co-branding, co-marketing, and others in a approach to help Lotus execute a technique and develop our full potential within the fast-growing, underserved EV luxury segment market.”
While the LVMH partnership is a pleasant feather within the cap for Lotus, competitors reminiscent of Mercedes, BMW, and Polestar would beg to differ that the worldwide luxury EV market is underserved. One thing of course, nevertheless, is that these legacy brands are pulling back investments and rollout of their EV plans while Lotus goes full bore.
Plus, Lee sees the posh segment actually growing over the subsequent decade.
“If I take a look at Oliver Wyman’s research, you will see that this particular segment [$80,000-$150,000] is the largest volume contributor in the entire luxury space. At the identical time, it’s totally underserved,” Lee said. “Now, based on this market research, this particular segment is gonna grow about 35% CAGR [compound annual growth rate] for the subsequent 10 years.”
With a technique tailored to the high-end luxury market, financial backing by China’s Geely, and a brand new partner in LVMH with its SPAC merger, Lee believes Lotus is ready up for achievement. The massive query is whether or not Lotus’s pricey luxury offerings will resonate with high-end buyers.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You’ll be able to follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
