Matt Windle promoted, says he wants to build more cars at Hethel

Hot off the presses!

Lotus has a new European boss – and he wants to build more cars at the firm's Norfolk factory | Autocar

Production at the brand's UK base could be broadened, says Matt Windle, potentially to include the Polestar 6

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[B r I a n]

My concern is they promoted the person that oversaw brand elevation in the high-end EV market for the last 3 years.

 

[Lotustoronto]

Just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting that Mao created Vision 80. She is apparently taking over Matt's role, so I thought people might be interested in her background.

I totally agree that the Brits led the implementation of Vision 80, but I suspect Phil Popham was hired with clear instructions from Geely: "put together a plan for a luxury EV business, with vehicles to be built in China, that leverages the Lotus brand and its performance DNA."

You're 100% correct - Geely almost certainly said in 2018 "The automotive world is going electric, build us a strategy until 2030". Every single auto manufacturer at the time was doing the same. Even Porsche developed an EV hyper car with the mission X to compete with Evija. They never developed another ICE hyper car like Ferrari F80 and Mclaren W1. I can't blame the 2018 Vision 80, at the time they were on the correct path / idea - mostly led by Governments trying to go emissions free in Europe. (and still are) EV adoption is still on the rise and everyone is still developing EV platforms. The Chinese / Norway have proved to an extent that some mass adoption is possible. (with MASSIVE investment in infrastructure)

Then came COVID and the meteoric rise of Chinese led OEM's and electric vehicles. Breaking ring time records with brands that no one outside of china has ever heard of. This has every manufacturer and government (that builds Auto's) concerned. Adoption / rules begin to change to favour the legacy ICE auto makers. Our media plays a huge part in this. I feel for Lotus because I think they were caught in an anti-Chinese EV storm that current ICE automakers created to buy time for a transition. Not to transition completely away from ICE, because I don't think it will be 100% possible - but to develop and create a competitive product to what the Chinese are offering.

I get that Lotus fans may never have bought a Lotus EV SUV - but if a regular buyer is thinking of purchasing a BMW iX, why not look at the Eletre? It looks better than an iX, has better technology, and performs way better. They sold 89,000 iX SUVs in 2023 and 2024 worldwide. Audi sold 77,000 SQ8 E-tron models in the same time period. The Lotus Eletre is a way better vehicle than both - yet sold a small fraction against them. Why didn't large auto mag's do the correct comparison tests and promote the better vehicle when it was launched? All the headlines were "it's not a proper Lotus". As if the BMW iX is a proper BMW? Or is the Porsche Macan EV a proper Porsche?

Even Ferrari is concerned with the Chinese EV's - They bought a Xiaomi SU7 Ultra to benchmark. Think about that, Ferrari bought a Chinese EV sedan to benchmark it for their EV they are building. 10 years ago they would have laughed at that idea.

Chinese EV Spotted at Ferrari Headquarters—Could It Be a Benchmark?

Someone caught photos of a Xiaomi SU7 Ultra leaving Ferrari headquarters in Maranello. Could Ferrari be benchmarking it for its upcoming EV?

www.motor1.com

 

[B r I a n]

The Eletre may have better technology, and performance then it's competitors, the dealer and service network (at least in North America) that will prevent much of the mainstream from considering and test driving.