Today's Financial Times | Carmaker Lotus plans to end production in the UK

Is this confirmed news ?
https://www.ft.com/.../dc5948e6-6645-405b-a556-df06b1ad26be

 

[cryptovince]

Nope. That's not what the CEO said in the investor call earlier this week. This is the product pipeline he presented. You can see that the "new model" TYP 134 is set to debut later this year and go on sale in Q1 2026. He described it as a "world first hyper performance PHEV".

View attachment 66616

Facelift for the Emira in '27, eh? I can't be the only one curious as to what that entails.

 

[DerTheDer]

Also keep in mind they may be shuttering, but it could be to have a exit plan by 2028 or something. May not be instant and most likely not.

 

[MickOpalak]

Facelift for the Emira in '27, eh? I can't be the only one curious as to what that entails.

Think Evora 400 to Evora GT. Slightly freshened with new bumpers, perhaps better seats. A modest power bump. Probably nothing significant. More “special editions” and limited colors.

 

[Lotustoronto]

more news...

Lotus Plans to Keep Making Cars in UK After Plant Closure Report

Automaker Lotus said it has no plans to end production in the UK following an earlier report that it will shut its plant in the country.

financialpost.com

 

[Rainier]

Lotus Cars has 'no plans' to close any factory

The manufacturer has admitted it is "actively exploring" options amid talks of a move to the United States.

www.bbc.com

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

Photo from the article about the possible factory closure in Pistonheads. So what's with the orange wheels? Is this a Halloween special edition?

 

[Eagle7]

Photo from the article about the possible factory closure in Pistonheads. So what's with the orange wheels? Is this a Halloween special edition?
View attachment 66629

That's an old photo from April 2022 of prototype cars. Those wheels were just ones they had at the factory that were used to move the cars around.

 

[Eagle7]

Yes but many folks are having issues with their Emiras. It's hit and miss.
And sorry but body panels, electronics, paint... that doesn't explain clutch failures and power steering failures.

Again, we are talking about a car with a price tag of nearly 120k USD for some version / trim / colors.

Lotus *should* have done what other boutique brands do, and that is use *well known* and working electronic components from larger manufacturers that are completely issue free, like what Aston Martin does, for example.
I am only speaking from the reality of this brand. We all love it or we wouldn't buy one. I have nearly $200k invested in lotus vehicles.

It seems to me Lotus did not do enough testing on the Emira before selling it, and it's showing.
Pair that with the fact lotus really bent over a majority of their clients with this 4 cylinder version car, which is the only option in some countries was (at least to me) a terrible decision.

Saying they did so because of emissions regulations falls short in my eyes. I think (just my opinion) Lotus chose that because of cost. Mercedes is offloading their engine that *nobody wants* onto lotus.

Clutch failures and power steering failures are a supplier issue, not a Lotus is screwing up failure. They DID use well-known and working components and sub-assemblies, or they thought they were. All those decisions and contracts with suppliers were made before Covid and everything that happened afterwards which, as you know, really threw a monkey wrench into theirs and everyone else's plans and efforts, including their suppliers.

The car was never intended to be a $120k car, it was designed to be a £60k car. The FE was simply that car with all the options as a launch spec promotion. The 4 cylinder model was for those countries (like China) that have brutal surcharges for engines with larger displacements like the V6. They weren't trying to screw anybody over. At that time, they truly believed the ICE era was coming to an end, and the Emira was going to be their last ICE vehicle, an 'end of an era' send off for the history of Lotus cars. Now THAT has changed in a big way, and they're having to adjust again accordingly.

The prices we have today are the result of economic changes and things that have happened that Lotus had and has no control over. The fact that they've hung in there this long and are working to steadily resolve issues with the Emira is something I give them credit for. Did they do everything perfectly? No, in fact they really bungled some things, but the ONE THING they've not given up on is the Emira itself. It's steadily getting better, issues are and have been resolved, and Geely has indicated they aren't throwing in the towel.

I've always wanted them to succeed, and I still do. Hopefully things will stabilize economically, and they can get things sorted out.

 

[Eagle7]

I think the Chinese were planning the same direction as most other manufacturers.
What no manufacturer could have predicted was Trump shaking up everything.

The world was shifting to EVs, but now Trump is trying to shift away from that, and america is one of Chinas main market.

Trump?? The entire EV thing was already collapsing before the election even happened. He had nothing to do with that. It was collapsing because of simple economics; EV's were too expensive, brutally expensive to repair, the cost of battery replacements were insane, people were discovering they had half the range they were advertised as having, ridiculously long charging times, the availability of charging stations, and on and on.

It was simple reality and economics that broke the camel's back. Dealers couldn't sell them. There was NO resale market. Manufacturers had fields of them they couldn't ship to dealers because the dealers didn't want them. There were issues with them catching fire, burning down multi-level car parking facilities, and them being banned in certain places because of how bad their fires were. Fire departments were reporting it taking 25,000 gallons of water to put out one EV fire, etc. The bad press of real world experiences torpedoed governments trying to force everyone to switch over whether they wanted to or not. They chose 'not' with their wallets, and that's what changed things before Trump was even elected. Don't blame Trump for what happened, he wasn't in power then, but now that he is he's trying to balance and stabilize things economically, and so far it appears to be working.

 

[Nick in Sydney]

Copied from Pistonheads.

Don't blame Trump for what happened, he wasn't in power then, but now that he is he's trying to balance and stabilize things economically, and so far it appears to be working.

I think both things can be true. EVs were already struggling to sell in most markets because the infrastructure isn't ready, they're too expensive, resale values suck, and so on . . . but also, the introduction of US tariffs is negatively impacting car manufacturers, especially Chinese car manufacturers.

 

[geoffbland]

View attachment 66597

I was thinking about this announcement. All they needed to say was the reports in the press were incorrect and they have no plans to stop manufacturing at Hethel.

Instead they have taken the time to express how important the UK is to the brand. Maybe there are people there in management who do understand the heritage (I know the guys on the factory floor do) and realise what we owners and customers want. It would be interesting to know if this came from the Lotus UK or from the Geely side of management. Also I am being optimistic that this is really meant by them and not just PR fluff.

When I bought my Elise many years ago I thought I was just buying a great fun sports car, I didn't realise that instead I was joining a community of owners and enthusiasts. All the clubs, events, runs, meetups - even this forum - are part of that. I'm not sure many other brands have anything quite like this.

 

[Orchardbike]

“There were issues with them catching fire, burning down multi-level car parking facilities, and them being banned in certain places because of how bad their fires were. Fire departments were reporting it taking 25,000 gallons of water to put out one EV fire, etc. “

To be clear, I’m not an electric car fan however, statistically an ICE car is more likely to go up in flames than an electric car.

For sure, the number isn’t zero, but it’s been blown out of proportion by people with a vested interest in their failure and/or people not wanting to let go of their ICE cars. In the UK, a car fire at Luton airport was widely quoted, and spread on social media as being an electric car fire and yet it wasn’t it was an ICE Land Rover.

 

[Black Ice]

To be clear, I’m not an electric car fan however, statistically an ICE car is more likely to go up in flames than an electric car.

For sure, the number isn’t zero, but it’s been blown out of proportion by people with a vested interest in their failure and/or people not wanting to let go of their ICE cars. In the UK, a car fire at Luton airport was widely quoted, and spread on social media as being an electric car fire and yet it wasn’t it was an ICE Land Rover.

Yes, I think less likely to catch fire but harder to extinguish when they do is an accurate assessment.

 

[Lotus64]

Lots of great discussion. My 02 cents...

Heritage matters, especially in a sports car, but It's not everything. Foreign made products do tend to have more allure. Yet, if any manufacturer wants full access to a market, they need to manufacture there.

Lotus needs manufacturing in the USA like BMW / Mercedes if they're serious about growth here as opposed to remaining boutique. Ideally, sports cars would stay in hethel, but PHEV and volume sellers would come to the US, potentially alongside Volvo for economies of scale. Offering something like the Porsche / BMW track experience would bring some heritage, legitimacy and brand awareness to the operation.

Regarding the Trump tariffs impact on the situation, the manner in which they were rolled out negatively affected all car manufacturers and the associated global supply base financially. Prices immediately increased across the board and further squeezed global operations. Lotus wouldn't have hemorrhaged millions of dollars reevaluating their operations and this thread would not have existed. Can't dance around that.

Finally, Lotus has to step up the marketing if they're serious about growth. I've never seen the Emira mentioned anywhere, unless I've sought it out. No one knows what the Emira is or that Lotus is even active, depsite several years having been on sale. No superbowl commercial, movie or music video placement, not even an AI generated social media ad. The anonymity is a great characteristic for a cult following and cool for the ownership experience but not good for growth.

 

[geoffbland]

Finally, Lotus has to step up the marketing if they're serious about growth. I've never seen the Emira mentioned anywhere, unless I've sought it out. No one knows what the Emira is or that Lotus is even active, depsite several years having been on sale. No superbowl commercial, movie or music video placement, not even an AI generated social media ad. The anonymity is a great characteristic for a cult following and cool for the ownership experience but not good for growth.

Agreed with the rest. But thankful that no-one has seen the recent Lotus advertisements (here), they are painfully classless; "Are you a driver or wot!?!", makes me cringe, I asked one of my sons about them too - just to check it's not just because I am too old. There was another post on this forum where they did a video of their Emira (here) - this was so much better.

 

[Last ICE]

A couple of weeks ago I heard that Lotus are planning to move the design function from Coventry (UK) to Europe and production is going to be moved away from Hethel, apart from special projects (but with no timescales). However despite the above, and the recent media reports, like most of you I remain waiting with extreme interest to see what transpires,
(I live 6 miles from Hethel).
p.s. I feel that the Lotus brand will be virtually worthless if it moves from it's historical roots. It has already been devalued by production of the Eletre and Emeya in Wuhan, the ancestral home of Covid, although apparently they were designed by Lotus UK. Can you imagine people buying Ferraris if they were manufactured in the US rather than Maranello?

Candidly, Hethel and the British car heritage were part of the allure for me.

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

Agreed with the rest. But thankful that no-one has seen the recent Lotus advertisements (here), they are painfully classless; "Are you a driver or wot!?!", makes me cringe, I asked one of my sons about them too - just to check it's not just because I am too old. There was another post on this forum where they did a video of their Emira (here) - this was so much better.

And coming from a Brit, your feedback is even more meaniful. Made me think their ad dept was descending into Jaguar hell or I just wasn't getting British humor. Thanks for pulling me back from the brink.

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

Candidly, Hethel and the British car heritage were part of the allure for me.

Agreed. Would be hard to think of my car the same if it had been churned out in a repurposed Volvo plant in South Carolina.

 

[Last ICE]

I think the only “issue” with the I4 is that it’s supposed to sit below the V6, but in reality doesn’t.

As a UK buyer I opted for the I4 as it just seemed like a better package. There’s nothing exotic about a manual gearbox in the UK, and having owned Fords with superb manual ‘boxes I was concerned the manual Emira would be a backward step. Similarly, whilst I like the V6 engine (and it certainly sounds better than the I4) it’s not really special in my opinion. It’s a means to an end, and the M139 does (most of) it better.

Full disclosure: I’ve never owned a car with a DCT before so perhaps I see a novelty value that others don’t, but the I4 appears to be pretty popular over here (I think?).

Interesting reminder regarding manuals in the UK. You’re probably aware of the relatively small but passionate crowd on this side of the Atlantic on a campaign to save the manuals, and the notion in some quarters here that a manual can be one sign of an enthusiast. Since the time I started driving, I’ve always gone out of my way to get a manual whenever offered on the car I was getting. I imagine that’s a common thread amongst folks on the forum.