Electrifying the Future: Why Lotus is Sticking with Geely and Going All-In on EVs

Tatsuya Otani: Automotive writer

Lotus technology?

Dan Buhmer is Lotus Technology’s head of operations for the Asia-Pacific region.

Even for long-time Lotus enthusiasts, the name Lotus Technology is probably unfamiliar to them. Incidentally, when I attended an international test drive of the Lotus Emeya at the end of June this year, all the key members who were there were from Lotus Technology.

On the other hand, Lotus’ affiliated companies include Lotus Racing, which is involved in motorsport activities, Lotus Cars, which is responsible for the development and production of mass-produced cars, Lotus Engineering, which supports product development for automakers, and Lotus Classic, which supports historic car racing. What is the relationship between these companies and Lotus Technology?

“Currently, the main company within the Lotus Group is Lotus Technology. Its major shareholders are the same as those of Lotus Cars, but organizationally they are considered separate companies. For example, Lotus Technology is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, and 20% of its shares are traded on the stock market. On the other hand, Lotus Cars is still not listed, and is a strictly private company.”

Even though it is a private company, Lotus Cars is still not owned by the family of founder Colin Chapman. After Colin’s death, the ownership of Lotus Cars has passed through various companies, including GM, but now China’s Geely holds a certain percentage of the company. The same is true for Lotus Technology, whose management rights are entrusted to Geely. Also, although the percentage of shares held varies by company, it seems that Geely has some capital in Lotus Engineering.

In this way Geely loosely ties together the entire Lotus Group.

“Cars” and “Technology”

As mentioned in the Emeya test drive report, Lotus is currently trying to transform itself into an EV-focused automaker. The Emeya and other EVs are developed and manufactured by Lotus Technology. Meanwhile, the Emira, the only Lotus car still in the lineup with an internal combustion engine, is developed and manufactured by Lotus Cars.

Lotus Emira

However, the correct interpretation seems to be that Lotus Cars’ role is not to develop and produce engine cars, but to be in charge of two-door, two-seater sports cars. In fact, Lotus has decided to jointly develop a two-door, two-seater sports car with France’s Alpine in the future, but it will be Lotus Cars, not Lotus Technology, that will be in charge of this.

On the other hand, Lotus Technology is mainly responsible for four-door models that they call “lifestyle models.” Therefore, in addition to the aforementioned Emeya, its sister car, the SUV Eletra, is also within Lotus Technology’s scope of responsibility.

Lotus Emeya

Lotus Elettre

With this in mind, Lotus’ true identity today is one that makes full use of the resources the group possesses.

For example, the members of Lotus Cars, based in Hethel, England, are the ones who are most familiar with the handling of sports cars within the group. Therefore, they not only work on sports cars, but also cooperate in the development of lifestyle models. Meanwhile, the main office of Lotus Technology is in Germany, which is the base for developing lifestyle models. However, when it comes to the production of EVs, it is no exaggeration to say that China is now the world’s number one. This is why lifestyle EV models are produced by Lotus Group companies in China.

What does Xeelee do?

Lotus Engineering is probably closely involved in these activities, but according to Buhmer, “Most of what Lotus Engineering does is kept secret.” This is because many of the projects they work on have clients, and it is up to the client to decide whether a project can be made public or kept secret.

“However, some of you may have seen the Lotus bikes at the Paris Olympics, which were developed by Lotus Engineering,” Palmer adds.

Lotus has been developing racing bikes for many years, and the track bikes used by the British team at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics were developed by Hope Technology and Lotus Engineering. The photo shows the model used at the Paris Olympics.

I found the capital relationships and organizational structure of the Lotus Group extremely interesting. If Geely Group, the major shareholder of the Lotus Group, had wanted to, it could have bought the entire group and made it a wholly owned subsidiary. It would not have been impossible to then extract only the necessary functions, absorb them into a newly established company, and use them efficiently as a single organization. However, Geely has chosen not to do this, and instead seems to respect its traditional companies by keeping them in their original regions. I think this shows Geely’s respect for the Lotus brand.

Before participating in the international test drive of the Emeya mentioned above, I had doubts that Geely had acquired Lotus to promote their EV. However, when I actually test drove it, I noticed that the steering, drivetrain, and other components were all perfectly aligned as a high-performance car, and it seemed to me that Lotus’ tradition was definitely alive in that respect.

When I understood that much, a hypothesis was born in my mind. That was, “Did Geely acquire Lotus in order to preserve the brand for future generations and to push forward with the EV route?”

If that is the case, it makes sense that Lotus Cars would continue to exist and develop and produce lightweight, compact sports cars in the future (even if they become electric). So I decided to ask Barmer if my hypothesis was correct.

“Volvo, which is also under the Geely umbrella, has been steadily increasing its production volume as it moves towards EVs. It’s likely that the number of EVs produced has doubled or even tripled. However, Lotus’ traditional sports car models have only sold around 1,500 units per year. Even if this number were to double or triple, it would still not be enough to support a global automotive business. That’s why we are investing in next-generation technologies with a long-term perspective.”

It turns out that this was the case. Lotus’ survival was a priority for Geely. And what’s more, even the lifestyle model, which many Lotus fans will find odd, was actually a nod to Colin Chapman’s last wishes.

Colin Chapman (1928-1982) ran a used car business while he was a student, and he modified an unsold Austin 7 to create a racing car, which became the prototype of Lotus. This was made into the Mark 1, and the Mark 3 was a real success, and the company later expanded its business into the commercial automobile sector.

“Colin Chapman was a Range Rover fan and had plans to develop a four-door grand tourer in his later years, so it was not an unnatural progression for Lotus to build the Eletra SUV or the Emeya four-door GT.”

There are many companies in the world that disregard history and tradition for the sake of their own profits, but Geely seems to set itself apart.