British sports activities automotive maker Lotus has denied reviews it’s contemplating closing its solely UK plant, and shifting to the US.
A number of publications, together with the BBC, Automotive Information and the Monetary Occasions, are reporting Lotus is considering closing its plant in Hethel, about 20 minutes south of Norwich.
Lotus and mum or dad Geely initially refused to touch upon the reviews, however on Saturday Lotus put out an official press assertion: “Lotus Vehicles is constant regular operations, and there are not any plans to shut the manufacturing facility. We’re actively exploring strategic choices to boost effectivity and guarantee international competitiveness within the evolving market.
“We now have invested considerably in R&D and operations within the UK, over the previous six years. Lotus stays dedicated to the UK, and its clients, workers, sellers, suppliers, in addition to its proud British heritage.”
The corporate additionally mentioned “the UK is the center of the Lotus model”, whereas additionally noting it’s its “largest business market in Europe”.
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Hethel, the corporate’s solely manufacturing facility within the UK, at the moment produces the Emira coupe (under) on the market around the globe. If Hethel is mothballed, Emira manufacturing could also be moved to the Volvo’s plant in Charleston, South Carolina, which at the moment underutilised.
In a name with traders final week, Feng Qingfeng, CEO of Lotus Expertise, mentioned “localisation [of production in US] is a possible plan” given President Trump’s consistently altering tariff coverage on foreign-made vehicles.
Manufacturing at Hethel has been paused to since mid-Might to handle provide chain points associated to US tariffs, and a halt in cargo of Emiras to the US.
The Monetary Occasions believes closure of Hethel may occur as early as 2026, and would see round 1300 individuals lose their jobs. The corporate’s rising losses noticed it already hearth 270 individuals in April this 12 months, following on from a number of rounds of job cuts over the previous few years.
Regardless of these job losses, Geely and Lotus mentioned they had been dedicated to the UK.
Shifting manufacturing from the UK to Volvo’s plant within the US would enable Lotus to keep away from the wildly fluctuating tariff scenario within the US, one of many model’s key markets.
Earlier this 12 months President Trump introduced tariffs on UK-built vehicles would rise from 2.5 per cent to 25 per cent, however this was shortly dropped to 10 per cent, however just for the primary 100,000 autos per 12 months, after the 2 nations accomplished a commerce deal.
Based in 1952 by Colin Chapman, the corporate’s ethos of simplifying and including lightness has seen it produce many celebrated sports activities vehicles, however the agency has teetered on a monetary knife-edge for many years. After Chapman’s dying, Lotus has been successively owned by GM, Romano Artioli (who on the time additionally owned Bugatti), and Malaysian automaker Proton.
Present possession of the storied sports activities automotive model is slightly sophisticated. Chinese language automaker Geely — which additionally owns Volvo, Polestar, Lynk & Co, Zeekr, LEVC and Good — purchased a 51 per cent of Lotus from Proton in 2017.
Geely then cut up the model in two, with UK-based Lotus Vehicles chargeable for the marque’s sports activities vehicles, and a brand new agency Lotus Expertise, primarily based in Wuhan, China, in command of increasing the model into electrical SUVs and sedans.
In February 2024 Lotus Expertise was floated by merging with a particular goal acquisition firm backed by LVMH, the posh conglomerate that owns Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, Dior, Bulgari, TAG Heuer, and plenty of others.
This April, the businesses introduced Lotus Expertise would purchase out Geely’s 51 per cent stake in Lotus.
Though the model’s new EVs helped develop the model’s gross sales to 12,134 final 12 months — a 74 per cent improve over 2023 — Lotus Expertise has bled lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} in pink ink, and its shares are down 84 per cent.
Final 12 months the 6862 Chinese language-made Eletre SUVs and Emeya sedans (above) discovered new properties, whereas gross sales of the Emira had been up 102 per cent to 5272.
If Lotus does finish manufacturing in Britain, it should comply with different automotive makers in closing factories within the UK. In March this 12 months Vauxhall closed its Luton manufacturing facility, which as soon as made Bedford autos, and most just lately made the Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro, Citroen Dispatch, and its many siblings.
Previous to this Honda closed its Swindon plant in 2021, and Ford closed its engine manufacturing facility in Bridgend, Wales in 2020.
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