Lotus - Q3 results

https://ir.group-lotus.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lotus-technology-reports-unaudited-third-quarter-and-first-0

Couple of things worth noting:

-- Only 1,298 Emiras were sold in the first nine months of 2025
-- EV sales are holding up better than I expected, but mostly in China. 3,314 EVs sold so far this year. Then again, the original plan was to sell 70,000 units a year!
-- The PHEV (hybrid) vehicle will be launched in the next few months. Probably a hybrid Eletre? I'd be surprised if the TYP 134 (Macan competitor) is ready for launch

This comment made me worry about the future of Hethel: " . . . the Company maintains active cooperation with Lotus UK and is methodically and prudently developing detailed integration plans to ensure a smooth transition and maximize synergies"

 

[Six Speed Stephen]

Eh? Why would Hyundai's upmarket brand have anything to do with Lotus?

Here's a little GIF i made overlaying them. Pretty striking similarity. The wheelbase on the GT looks a bit longer and the car looks a bit wider as well. Many similar lines including the door/window cut line, front fender arch/cut line, the roof, front fender, rear haunches, etc. I'll make a GIF of the front another time.

Even the same style of engine vent by the rear glass is also in the same position.

Maybe this is what Lotus meant by them exploring a V8 option

 

[Foxy87]

Looks pretty much totally different…

 

[FEGuy]

There’s honestly nothing unsurprising about this. A lot of people two to three years ago on this forum were saying that 5000 units a year was a pipe dream because it always kind of was. It’s very unrealistic for the brand.

I also don’t think it’s accurate or appropriate to say tariffs played any role in the US decline. There has not been nor does there appear to be any chance of an inventory shortage on Emiras in the United States. There are a ton of them available and have been all year.

I think tariffs were a convenient excuse for Lotus to stop importing new units when dealers had plenty of stock to sell. What’s happening now is starting to feel like inventory flooding the market, which despite the new higher MSRP, is going to force dealers to discount cars aggressively because the market will only bear with the market bears (I struggle to think people will line up to pay 120k). This, in turn, will destabilize the US market and cause a pretty healthy step down in used Emira pricing.

I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news. There are economic realities that were maybe delayed because of tariffs and delayed because the car was so new and still had a lot of pent-up demand. As the tariff excuse fades away and as the demand gets satiated, there’s only going to be more inventory and lower prices. I had a dealer friend pull MMR on my car the other day and I’m actually surprised at how high it was. MMR was like 86-87 or something like that, which seems really high. It’s higher than I expected when I bought it and I think that’s the part that that’s really going to come down this winter.

 

[Lotus64]

I also don’t think it’s accurate or appropriate to say tariffs played any role in the US decline.

The Trump tariffs caused Lotus to stop shipments due to pricing uncertainties. Lotus wasn't the only manufacturer that stopped shipments as several did, including Subaru and Land Rover who all reported losing millions of dollars.

Additionally, the tariffs caused price increases which ate into profit margins and softened demand due to said price increases, further eating into profits. The tariffs have decimated several industries due to price increases and have killed consumer confidence. Have you been to a grocery store lately? The economic data is there in our faces.

These are facts and It's not up for debate. It was well known the tariffs were going to cause economic pain before the fact for the alleged greater good. Own that!!! Don't run away, deflect, act offended or try to re-write history.

 

[FEGuy]

The Trump tariffs caused Lotus to stop shipments due to pricing uncertainties. Lotus wasn't the only manufacturer that stopped shipments as several did, including Subaru and Land Rover who all reported losing millions of dollars.

Additionally, the tariffs caused price increases which ate into profit margins and softened demand due to said price increases, further eating into profits. The tariffs have decimated several industries due to price increases and have killed consumer confidence. Have you been to a grocery store lately? The economic data is there in our faces.

These are facts and It's not up for debate. It was well known the tariffs were going to cause economic pain before the fact for the alleged greater good. Own that!!! Don't run away, deflect, act offended or try to re-write history.

I’m not rewriting history. I’m simply pointing out that at no point did the US inventory of Emiras get to a sub 6-12 month supply. The decision to stop shipments was because of inventory levels, conveniently disguised as a tariff issue.

I don’t disagree with any of your other points. I just think it’s important to point out that when a company says something, it doesn’t mean that’s the actual reason. This isn’t a political thread, so I was not making it one, but I’m the furthest thing from a supporter of that president nor do I think tariffs are anything other than one of the stupidest policies ever enacted. I think you may have misinterpreted my post and that’s why I hope to clear that up without actually getting political.

Back on topic, there has been an absolute ton of inventory on the ground in the US and that has not changed. All the pre-price increase cars that landed in the spring are still for sale at US dealers (heck there are dozens of MY24s still new on the ground - V6M specifically but obviously i4 as well since the demand for those is completely satiated at this point). My point, and I’m quite sure it’s factually accurate since my dealer had already stopped ordering inventory cars months before any tariff announcement, really wasn’t a tariff issue so much as a car company realizing it had a 12+ month supply of inventory and a convenient excuse to stop shipments for a couple months to hopefully sell through some of that product.

Yes, tariffs probably contributed to the broader economic sentiment that likely had some negative effect on Emira sales this year but you’re missing the forest for the trees if you think dramatically slowing year two sales are a function of that alone and not the normal market behavior for any specialty car. They didn’t help it, no, but that is not why Y2 sales tanked, not even a little.

 

[Lotus64]

Yes, tariffs probably contributed to the broader economic sentiment that likely had some negative effect on Emira sales this year but you’re missing the forest for the trees if you think dramatically slowing year two sales are a function of that alone and not the normal market behavior for any specialty car. They didn’t help it, no, but that is not why Y2 sales tanked, not even a little.

Thanks for the clarifications... Correct me if I'm wrong, but Emira shipments stopped between around April to August, and then came back with a huge price hike right? We agree that had a negative effect on Emira sales, the question is how much of a negative effect? It's hard to quantify, but it wasn't minor.

 

[centerpunch]

Interesting to look at historic sales of other remarkable cars: the Elise/Exige and the Acura NSX. Each sold in (relatively) big numbers the first two years, then dropped off to almost nothing. My 2001 NSX is one of only 166.

Below are charts of US production for both. I put together the NSX chart for the NSXprime forum, and the Elise/Exige chart is from this Lotustalk thread. https://www.lotustalk.com/threads/lotus-elise-exige-u-s-production-figures-2005-to-2011.146442/
.

 

[FEGuy]

Thanks for the clarifications... Correct me if I'm wrong, but Emira shipments stopped between around April to August, and then came back with a huge price hike right? We agree that had a negative effect on Emira sales, the question is how much of a negative effect? It's hard to quantify, but it wasn't minor.

Car sales in general have not suffered that meaningfully yet. I think we agree that it had some impact on Emira sales but I would actually argue the impact was extremely minimal (so far). If anything, it may have helped initially as sales presumably improved with people knowing shipments had stopped and a price increase was coming (it helped sales for many other brands, to be fair). That was what I was getting at above. If viewed with a strictly short term lens, the stopped shipments and price increases helped Lotus/US Dealers tremendously.

I think the sheer number of MY24 / 25 cars still unsold from the old pricing model suggests that these factors didn't have much impact. Until those are all sold I find it difficult to assign much of the slowing sales to tariffs/price increases.

What I do think is going to happen, and isn't great news for anyone who owns these (myself included) is that used prices are set to tumble. I think tariff fears made more people look to the used market and price increases have done the same, propping up used values. I also think we will see more used supply if the economy continues to be challenged due to tariffs, etc., further exacerbating the slide.

Interesting to look at historic sales of other remarkable cars: the Elise/Exige and the Acura NSX. Each sold in (relatively) big numbers the first two years, then dropped off to almost nothing. My 2001 NSX is one of only 166.

Below are charts of US production for both. I put together the NSX chart for the NSXprime forum, and the Elise/Exige chart is from this Lotustalk thread. https://www.lotustalk.com/threads/lotus-elise-exige-u-s-production-figures-2005-to-2011.146442/
.
View attachment 73542View attachment 73543

Exactly. I had seen both those charts before that that's exactly what I meant when I said the Y2 sales decline is normal and expected.

I think price increases and tariffs have actually helped mask this somewhat. Counterintuitive as it seems, both those elements pushed people to pull their purchases forward this year - provided they were in a position to do so.

 

[Emira Fan]

IMO - Lotus had big eyes with their original projections. Lotus is a boutique brand with a small dealer network in the US. Based on chart above the Emira blew away previous sale year(s) by a large multiple. They should be happy.

As with any new model, that literally took 3 years to deliver the first cars the US, caused the large bump in the first year. Now that all the people interested have their car, demand has fallen off.

Again just my opinion, The Lotus brand marketing team stinks. They let the car magazines (in the US) eval basically an early demo car with loads of issues (360Hp turbo car) and may people lost interest. (DCT issues, low power, etc). They should have waited vs allowing crap articles that live forever on the internet.
Lotus was also foolish to put initial pricing at $77k (was never going to happen) diminishing the premium brand and setting improper expectations.

Last once the revised Turbo landing in the US Lotus Marketing didn't --push-- all the magazines to re-eval...such morons (or they don't have Marketing budget).
Only C&Ds 'Drivelines' team published a one-pager in the back of magazine. Just sad.

This was the only article, since the revised car entered the US market.

Personally, I like that I don't see Emira's on the roads ... compared to Porsches at every other stop light. Downside, is with such a low volume of cars in the US the dealer network is going to suffer.