On February 23, Lotus Technology held a bell ringing ceremony on the NASDAQ exchange in New York to celebrate its successful listing. At this moment, Feng Qingfeng in the crowd couldn't hold back his excitement and raised his arms and shouted.
Three days ago, on the day Lotus Technology announced its listing on the NASDAQ on February 23, Feng Qingfeng had already boarded a plane to the United States.
It is completely conceivable that Feng Qingfeng and Lotus are eager and have mixed feelings. In January last year, Lotus and special purpose acquisition company LCAA announced that they had reached a definitive merger agreement. However, Lotus Technology did not go public at the end of last year as scheduled, and the company did not disclose why. It wasn't until early February this year that the timing of Lotus' listing became clear again.
But even in a matter of months, the global capital markets have changed dramatically. With the intensification of market competition, the financial situation of some car companies, especially new power car companies, is not optimistic, and the enthusiasm of the capital market for electric vehicles seems to be gradually receding. Even Vinfast, Rivian, and Fisker, who were once the most in the limelight, are now struggling with funding. Seeing that the valuation of pure electric vehicles is declining, Ampere also canceled the listing plan in due course.
Lotus successfully entered the capital market at this time, which is not only the first car IPO in the United States this year, but also the largest IPO of Chinese concept stocks in two years, which undoubtedly gives a positive reference and positive incentive to electric vehicle manufacturers around the world, especially in China.
For Lotus itself, the listing of the dream of revival is also a key step for it to accelerate its development and expand its brand influence. As Feng Qingfeng said, this is an important milestone ...... Lotus's 76-year historyIt will open a new chapter in the future of Lotus's vigorous future.
The only way to open the road to revival
In June 2018, Feng Qingfeng, who has worked for Geely for nearly 20 years, became CEO of Lotus Group. As Geely's recognized all-round executive who understands both technology and marketing management, Feng Qingfeng was responsible for Geely's overall R&D at that time, including manufacturing engineering, quality management and global resource management, such as the Geely Sino-European Technology R&D Center established in Sweden and the R&D center jointly established with Volvo. In large part, it is about empowering Lotus with the group's resources. Especially after witnessing the predicament experienced by Lotus after several changes of ownership, Geely determined that there must be more resources and energy to support Lotus in order for Lotus to develop, rather than just buying it back and waiting for it to make its own blood.
This line of thinking is very evident in Geely's first fuel car, EMIRA. Prior to EMIRA, Lotus had not launched a new fuel vehicle for more than a decade. In order to create the latest extreme sports car, Geely used its best resources in the world, including technical products from Volvo and Daimler, as well as driver assistance systems that Lotus did not have before.
EMIRA is the ultimate masterpiece of Lotus's gasoline vehicles, and it is also a representative of Lotus's strategic turning point. In 2018, soon after taking office, Feng Qingfeng proposed the Lotus vision80 ten-year brand strategy and revival plan, that is, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Lotus brand in 2028, the brand will complete the comprehensive transformation to electrification and intelligence, and strive to become the first pure electric luxury brand.
In fact, for most people at that time, the development trend of new energy vehicles was not clear, and it is conceivable how difficult it was for Feng Qingfeng to make such a firm strategic decision. Feng Qingfeng revealed that it was not easy to make this decision, and Geely also discussed it for a long time, but finally unanimously decided to follow the general trend of the times. Of course, for Lotus itself, Feng Qingfeng believes that this transformation is also a "life and death choice".
As a luxury sports car brand born in the United Kingdom, Lotus was once as famous as Ferrari and Porsche, and was known as the world's three major sports cars. Feng Qingfeng is not shy about saying that this is the glory of the brand in the past, and now in the field of traditional sports cars, Lotus's competitiveness is being lost. Electrification and intelligent transformation are the only ways for Lotus to open the road to rejuvenation, and if you don't choose this path, you can only wait for death.
Therefore, the solution given by Feng Qingfeng is that since the brand influence can no longer be compared with Ferrari and Porsche, then act quickly and catch up through intelligence, such as intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving, and improve the user experience through first-mover advantage, so that consumers can recognize Lotus earlier.
According to the vision80's "3+3" product matrix plan, Lotus will launch three sports cars and three life cars. In addition to the Emira, Lotus launched its first all-electric supercar, the Evija, in 2019. In 2022, the first pure electric SUV model, the Eletre, was launched, and became the absolute main force behind Lotus's overall sales increase. In 2023, the EV EV sedan will be the first to be launched in the United States. And the next few new models have been put on the agenda.
From the perspective of product rhythm and mix, Lotus is indeed following the established plan to advance, and is gradually forming a scale effect.
But this requires more funding. Judging from the automotive industry in recent years, in the process of development or transformation of car companies, especially high-end luxury brands, even if they have better technology and advanced design concepts, there is no shortage of lessons from the past that have fallen into trouble due to insufficient funds. Even Porsche and Ferrari have successively sold themselves to car groups such as Volkswagen and Stellantis, asking for a big tree with their backs.
Although Geely has previously provided Lotus with 26.3 billion financial support, and Feng Qingfeng also said that it is necessary to insist on transformation investment in smashing pots and selling iron, but for Lotus, which has not yet made a profit and has not broken through in sales, it is obvious that more funds are needed to support it to go further.
At present, the vision80 is halfway through, according to Feng Qingfeng's "three-step" plan, the second half of Lotus focuses on the acceleration of globalization, including the globalization of products and brands, and further integration into the global capital market to accelerate technological innovation. Therefore, whether it is from the strategic layout or the practical challenges, the listing at this time is indeed a valuable opportunity for Lotus.
How to reinvent a luxury car brand
In 2001, Geely, which had just gained a foothold in the field of vehicles, launched its first urban sports car, the Beauty Leopard. The result is known to everyone, although the beauty leopard soon withdrew from the market, Li Shufu's dream of sports cars, or rather, the dream of Chinese car makers for sports cars, has never stopped. Lotus from the United Kingdom, to a certain extent, carries the dream of Li Shufu and even the Chinese people's domestic sports car.
As a sports car brand known for its lightweight design and pure driving pleasure, in the process of coming to China several times and embarking on the road to rejuvenation, with the development of the times and changes in consumer demand, how does the brand reposition? What to change and what to keep the same?
In many conversations with Che Yun, Feng Qingfeng mentioned that since Lotus comes from the track, the track gene must remain the same, and "for the drivers" is a strong symbol of Lotus that will be continued. Now backed by Geely, Lotus has stronger accumulation and confidence. In addition to the traditional Lotus aerodynamics, lightweight and chassis tuning and other leading technologies, it will also be blessed by intelligent driving, and is still not afraid to compete with other luxury cars on the track.
But Feng Qingfeng believes that this is not enough, because in addition to the track, there is also life related to cars. Feng Qingfeng mentioned the general lack of some life scenes in traditional sports car design, such as no place to put a mobile phone after getting into the car, no place to put a suitcase, and so on. Therefore, the new Lotus should have a more people-friendly design concept, take into account some life scenes, let more people accept and recognize, and fundamentally create a new luxury car atmosphere.
This can better understand Feng Qingfeng's "Sino-British twin engine" globalization strategy, in which Lotus UK leads the development of sports cars, while Lotus China is more oriented towards technology, sales and marketing in the civilian market, each with its own focus but integrated with each other, maximizing the value of global resources.
Based on this, for the path of Lotus's brand revival, Feng Qingfeng believes that it is no longer necessary to follow the traditional way of sports cars, and simply do the competition of parameters such as configuration, endurance, and acceleration of 100 kilometers, but should return to the essence of luxury and stimulate users' emotional and spiritual identity from the value level.
Feng Qingfeng has repeatedly mentioned the enthusiasm of local users and fans for this UK-born sports car brand and the deep car culture displayed in it when he attended the event in the UK. This deeply infected Feng Qingfeng at the same time, but also made Feng Qingfeng determined to bring the car culture represented by Lotus to China, let users realize what a real luxury car is, pay attention to the fun of driving, and of course, re-identify the value of Lotus, so that Lotus can regain its vitality.
But that's not the end of Feng's thinking about the revival of the Lotus brand. At last month's CES show, Lotus did not bring its coolest new car to the global stage, but instead showed off Lotus's cutting-edge technology through intelligent robots. Feng Qingfeng explained to Cheyun that this is the other side of vision80, that is, how to implement product strategy through intelligent technology. In fact, this is what Feng Qingfeng has always said: strategy is execution.
In Feng Qingfeng's conception of intelligence, the goal of intelligence is to liberate human physical strength, improve efficiency, solve all problems in life and work, and empower all things. For automobiles, it is not only the intelligent technology of the car itself, but also the intelligence between people and vehicles. For example, as soon as you get in the car, it will adjust everything according to your personal needs, and through the sensors in the car, it will know your height and weight, and give corresponding solutions, so that the car can understand you better, which is part of the intelligence of people and vehicles.
Based on the reconstruction of the relationship between people and vehicles, the recombination and innovation of means of production, the ubiquitous intelligent interaction, the wider application of technology, and the overall ecological synergy, Feng Qingfeng has outlined the outline of the future of Lotus and distanced himself from the traditional luxury car brand.
An IPO is a critical step
However, the road of "China's million-level pure electric luxury car" is obviously not easy to walk, especially under the premise that there is no successful precedent and experience at home and abroad, and there is also a lack of a sufficiently mature market environment, as the "first to eat crabs", Lotus is facing even more unimaginable pressure and challenges.
At present, in addition to Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Bentley and other world-renowned ultra-luxury sports car brands, the time for the launch of their first pure electric models is basically concentrated between 2025 and 2030. Obviously, this is not the initiative of car companies, but more of a helpless passive move in the face of the global ban on fuel vehicles. Compared with its competitors, Lotus's electrification and intelligent transformation is indeed the most proactive and thorough, and the product launch is also very fast.
This lead in timing and strategy gave Lotus confidence in their chosen track. When eletre was released, Lotus mentioned in its external publicity that eletre had no competing products, so Lotus would have a window period, which was enough to support Lotus to become the "No. 1 brand of million-level pure electric luxury".
However, judging from the 2023 million-level luxury car sales ranking, no electric model can enter the top ten, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Cayenne, Defender, Panamera ......These well-known luxury brands and models still firmly occupy the top position on the list. This also shows that so far, users who can afford to buy luxury cars still have a more traditional model in their brand mentality.
Looking at the more subdivided million-level pure electric luxury sales ranking, in addition to popular brands and models such as Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model X, Yangwang U8 and U9, Hongqi LS7 and other brands and models also show strong fighting spirit.
With the huge brand advantage of the world's old luxury cars in front and the domestic cutting-edge brands catching up in the back, the competition in the pure electric luxury car market will be more fierce in the future, and Lotus is facing huge challenges.
But in any case, at this time, Lotus finally got its wish to complete the listing, which is of great significance to the development of Lotus and will help it return to the global first-line luxury brand camp to a large extent.
Historically, luxury sports cars have performed well in the capital markets. For example, when Porsche went public in 2022, it set a record for the largest IPO in Europe in the past 10 years with a market value of 75 billion euros. While Lotus can't match Porsche's market capitalisation for the time being, the future of Lotus is just as imaginative.
In addition, LCAA, the world's largest consumer private equity firm, said after the completion of its business combination with Lotus that it will "continue to build this luxury electric car brand with the help of LCAA's in-depth consumer insights around the world and our strategic partnership with LVMH."
Feel free to imagine that in luxury channels such as LV, Dior, and Bulgari, you can see luxury cars from Lotus; More female luxury users are starting to pay attention to and buy Lotus; Lotus appears ...... in more luxury scenesEverything is worth looking forward to.