A few days ago, Lotus Technology was listed on the NASDAQ exchange in New York, ** as "LOT", which means that the luxury electric vehicle manufacturer has officially become a listed company. With the successful listing of Lotus on the NASDAQ, it is one step closer to becoming the first traditional luxury car brand to achieve 100% electrification of its entire product line by 2027 and the leading provider of sustainable luxury all-electric smart mobility by 2028.
According to Feng Qingfeng, CEO of Lotus Group, the Chinese market still has great potential in the field of pure electric vehicle products priced at more than 80,000 US dollars. "Currently, the UK EV market accounts for up to 30% of these price ranges, compared to 7% in China. Feng Qingfeng said.
This year, the Lotus CEO has become a top priority for the Lotus CEO, including accelerating its entry into key luxury car markets such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, strengthening its product characteristics such as sports car performance and track genes and improving the level of intelligence, as well as brand linkage with the help of the LVMH Group after listing.
The heart of Lotus' differentiator: the blessing of sports car performance
In Feng Qingfeng's view, in the face of fierce competition in the Chinese market, as well as the complexity and diversity of overseas markets, Lotus must take a unique path, and the traditional labels of track genes and sports car performance cannot be abandoned.
Feng Qingfeng said: "The essence of the 'volume' in the domestic automotive industry is homogeneity, since there is no difference, and it must be cost-effective, then it has to be 'volume'. I think that once we enter the homogeneous market, we can only go shopping, so Lotus must take the path of differentiation. ”
In terms of market segments, we do 80,000-14The $90,000 segment is not going down. Of course, opening this market is still full of challenges, if Lotus is different from others, it is that we want to make life cars, electric vehicles, and smart cars with sports car performance, which comes from our DNA and heritage. Now that we have this DNA, our heritage and our historical assets, we need to make the most of them. Feng Qingfeng emphasized.
Taking the just-launched pure electric supercar sedan Emeya Fanhua as an example, in order to highlight its sports car performance, the car provides adjustable suspension height and soft and hard dual-cavity air suspension, 48V active stabilizer bar that can effectively avoid vehicle roll, and a maximum of 3There are many other features such as a 5° rear-wheel steering system.
Feng Qingfeng believes that China's pure electric vehicle market, compared with the United Kingdom, the United States and other European and American countries, the growth potential is huge, "there are more than 400 electric vehicles in the world, but more than 80,000 US dollars we can count on our fingers, accounting for the market segment of the product supply or to meet the needs of consumers is not rich enough." In the UK, for example, 30% of the EV market is over $80,000, while China currently accounts for only about 7%. ”
When talking about the difference between the domestic and foreign electric vehicle markets, Feng Qingfeng believes that the overseas market pays more attention to the car itself, while the domestic market has higher requirements for intelligence. "We also need to fully embrace electrification and intelligence, just as there are mechanical watches and other products in watches. I think that in the future, especially when we enter the field of life cars, we must make it intelligent. Feng Qingfeng added.
Lotus will accelerate its entry into the mature luxury car market
After its listing on the NASDAQ in the United States, Lotus will accelerate the expansion of its overseas dealer network.
Currently, Lotus has more than 200 retail stores in three markets: China, the UK and Europe, and this number will increase to more than 300 by 2025.
"Deliveries began in Hong Kong at the end of last year in December, and in the first quarter of this year, we started deliveries in two large markets in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Thailand. Deliveries will also begin in the Middle East, such as Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Shipments are also starting to start for the Australian and New Zealand markets. ”
It is understood that from the third quarter of this year, Lotus will enter the United States and South Korea, of which the United States is the world's largest luxury car market, which will effectively promote the market sales of Lotus pure electric products.
In the U.S. and South Korea, we attract three major dealer groups. We are currently directly operated in China and the UK, and have more than 60 stores in China. We use a distributor approach in Europe and other countries such as the United States. Especially in the United States, the challenge is very large, the laws of each state are very different, and the dealers association in the United States is also very strict in protecting dealers. Feng Qingfeng said.
Feng Qingfeng revealed that by 2025, the proportion of Lotus global sales in China and overseas markets is expected to be "40%: 60%"; At present, the Chinese market accounts for more than 75%.
LCAA, the acquired company involved in the listing, is an investment company owned by global luxury goods giant LVMH. Regarding the issue of the linkage with many luxury brands under LVMH to carry out user operations, Feng Qingfeng's reply was a little cautious: "Regarding LVMH's cooperation, we have several directions now, and more details will be announced in the future." There are many LVMH brands, and we look for brands with similar tones. What's more, LVHM's user consumer group overlaps with Lotus's consumer group very much, so we can co-host some events. Last year, we have tried to hold some small user operation activities, such as the small user operation activities we held with Rimowa last year, and the results are still very good. ”
Relying on the strong empowerment of the parent company Geely
Feng Qingfeng believes that thanks to the strong resource coordination ability of the parent company Geely Automobile, Lotus has unique advantages in many aspects, including: no need to build its own factory, pure electric exclusive architecture - full 800V high-voltage EPA electric performance architecture, and first-class chain management.
For these advantages mentioned above, Feng Qingfeng further elaborated:
Lotus Technology is a lightweight company, and Geely Group has brought three major empowerments to Lotus - technology, manufacturing, and the first chain. ”
The first is from a technical point of view, such as the electronic architecture, which we can share with Geely. The development cost of an electronic architecture is more than five times that of a mechanical architecture, and it is difficult for Lotus to develop an electronic architecture alone. Relying on the Geely system, we can only develop unique parts, such as the full 800-volt architecture, chassis control software, etc.
The second is manufacturing capacity, because in the past, Lotus was a low-volume sports car manufacturer, and in terms of large-scale manufacturing, Geely factories were needed to empower Lotus.
The third is the ** chain, as a sports car brand, in the past, Lotus's spare parts ** chain were all small batches. Lotus Technology operates under an asset-light model, with Geely Holdings' factories producing pure electric living vehicles. The new plant, which is designed to produce 150,000 Lotus BEVs per year, is equipped with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology, allowing Lotus to focus on the development and global sales of its electric vehicles.
In Feng's view, the complementary industrial division between China and the world is a feature of Lotus's corporate operations: "We can continue to leverage our global presence with the advantages of our global operations. We benefit from this global layout – on the one hand, China has a strong manufacturing capacity and ** chain, and on the other hand, we can leverage our global team of R&D engineers and designers, a comprehensive international sales team, and a mature distribution network. ”
Background:
On February 23, Lotus Tech, a luxury electric vehicle manufacturer, and L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp (LCAA), a special purpose acquisition company, completed a merger to list on the NASDAQ in the United States, ** as "LOT".
On the eve of the IPO, Lotus Technologies completed a business combination with LCAA, a special purpose acquisition company of L Catterton, a global consumer goods private equity investment firm. According to Lotus' latest investor relations filings, the merger values Lotus at $6.1 billion. It is reported that since the announcement of the transaction, the company has obtained a total of more than 8$800 million in financing commitments.
"We are pleased to announce that Lotus Technology will successfully list on Nasdaq at the time of the completion of its business combination with LCAA. This was a key turning point in the company's development. We look forward to accelerating our business growth as a publicly traded company and leading the electrification transformation of the global luxury electric vehicle market together with L Catterton." ”
In 2017, Lotus was acquired by Geely Holding Group and launched the "Vision 80" brand revival plan, announcing a comprehensive transformation to electrification and intelligence. Lotus has launched four new models, including the EVIJA, the last all-round road sports car, the ELITRE, and the Emeya, and two more EV models in the future. In 2026, Lotus will stop producing gasoline-powered vehicles and will only produce pure electric vehicles from 2027.