Not long ago, Lotus launched its first electric supercar sedan, Emeya, and officially announced its Chinese name "Fanhua". The model is available in four versions, with a range of 66Between $80,000 and $1.18 million.
The Lotus EMEYA excels in performance configuration, using an 800V EPA all-electric high-performance platform, equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous dual motor and a two-speed gearbox, achieving 2It accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 78 seconds, accelerates to 200 km/h in less than 9 seconds, and can reach a top speed of 256 km/h.
Recalling that during the 2023 Guangzhou Auto Show, EMEYA opened reservations, and orders exceeded 300 units in just three hours.
Despite this, Lotus is still under pressure in terms of sales, with 1,566 units sold in 2021 falling to 576 units in 2022, with specific figures for last year yet to be released.
Financially, Lotus also faced challenges, recording £86.6 million in 2021 and £1 in 2022A pre-tax loss of £4.5 billion. Under Mao's leadership, Lotus has spent its first full year as the world's first hypercar brand to fully invest in electrification and intelligence, with Mao's goal of introducing Lotus into the mainstream of all-electric luxury. However, the Eletre, the first electric supercar SUV launched last year, did not meet the expected market response and caused some controversy.
Now, Emeya has taken on the responsibility, and it remains to be seen whether Lotus can deliver the prosperity it expects.
The glory is gone. Once a Lotus car, now Lotus, its history is like a story of the ups and downs of the aristocracy.
In 1948, this brand was born on a par with Ferrari and Porsche, before Lamborghini was founded.
Lotus' fame is due to its prowess in motorsport, with its founder, Colin Chapman, not only a racing driver, a pilot, but also an engineer. His first car, the Mark 1, made a splash on the track, earning Lotus its first prize money.
The subsequent Mark 2 and Mark 3 also won repeatedly, accumulating accolades for the brand.
In 1952, Lotus officially entered the commercial world, founding Lotus Engineering and two years later forming its own fleet. The team has won Lotus seven F1 Manufacturers' Championships, six Drivers' Championships and 81 F1 races. However, despite its outstanding performance on the field, Lotus was unable to withstand the impact of the recession, and its business began to decline, and financial problems forced it to take a stake.
In 1983, Toyota bought a stake in Lotus, followed by General Motors and other buyers.
In 1996, Malaysia's Proton Group became a major shareholder in Lotus. Although there was a brief period of stability for Lotus under Proton, the hope of a brand revival did not materialize.
In 2011, Lotus entered the Chinese market, hoping to bring new life to the brand, but sales were still not satisfactory.
In 2017, Lotus changed hands again and was acquired by China's Geely Holding Group.
Despite this, Lotus sold only 1,566 units in 2021 and 576 units in 2022. Although the order book has increased in the first half of 2023, the final sales results are still unknown. Whether Lotus, once on par with the top sports car brand, can achieve a revival in the Chinese market, no one can say for sure.
Transition controversy. Along the way, Lotus's road to revival has been fraught with hardships, with a single product line and a lack of everyday practicality being its main challenges.
Between 2008 and 2018, Lotus did not launch a new model, and the previous EVORA, EXIGE, and Elise, although they had excellent driving performance, were criticized for their narrow space and lack of comfort.
Between 2019 and 2021, two new cars, the Evija and the Emira, were launched, but the high price and sports car positioning did not help Lotus achieve a breakthrough in sales.
In order to reinvigorate the brand, Lotus decided to go all-in on electrification and intelligence.
On the occasion of celebrating the brand's 75th anniversary last year, Mao Jingbo, President of Lotus China, announced that Lotus will become the world's first fully electrified and intelligent supercar brand, and its product strategy will also shift from the track to the road, and finally enter the field of life cars.
Deliveries of the first production car, the Eletre, also began in China at this time, and Lotus hopes to open the door to electrification and enter the mainstream market of pure electric luxury.
However, the launch of the eletre did not go as smoothly as expected, and soon after delivery, it was mired in controversy over test drive deliveries and downsizing. Lotus responded by acknowledging management lapses and personnel failures, and promising to improve and provide better service to consumers.
Now, Lotus' hopes are pinned on the newly launched emeya, an all-electric supercar sedan, which has a lower entry** than the Eletre and is expected to attract more consumers. Now it seems that the name of Emeya symbolizes a dream of flowers, representing the lotus element of the Lotus brand, and it is still unknown whether the dream will come true.
IPO financing. Lotus, once a racing aristocrat, is now facing the double dilemma of sluggish sales and financial pressure.
For example, the single product line is not suitable for daily use, and the long period of time without a new model is one of the reasons why it is difficult to revive. Although the brand has launched new models such as the Evija and Emira in recent years and is determined to fully transform to electrification and intelligence, the delivery controversy and the reduction of the first production car, the Eletre, have dealt a big blow to the brand image.
In terms of funding, Lotus's financial situation is not optimistic.
The company has faced huge losses over the past few years, and while it has improved with Geely's support, the pre-tax losses for the past two years are still in the hundreds of millions of pounds. In order to support the electrification transition and global expansion, Lotus is looking to go public and raise funds, hoping to obtain more financial support through the capital market.
Currently, Lotus Technology has entered into an M&A agreement with LCAA, a special purpose acquisition company, and is expected to list on the Nasdaq in the second half of 2023.
If the IPO is successful, it will bring new development opportunities for Lotus, but until then, the pressure on the management is still not small.
Whether the newly launched pure electric supercar EMEYA can become the key to Lotus's revival remains to be tested by the market, so let's wait and see!