GEELY-OWNED sportscar producer Lotus Automobiles will axe 550 jobs from its UK headquarters – or extra 40 per cent of the location’s personnel – because it “actively explores its choices within the international market”.
The corporate mentioned the choice adopted a evaluate of its enterprise aims in keeping with present market circumstances, citing a retraction within the demand for electrical autos and a quickly evolving automotive atmosphere for the choice.
“We imagine that is mandatory in an effort to safe a sustainable future for the corporate in in the present day’s quickly evolving automotive atmosphere, which is seeing uncertainty with fast modifications in international insurance policies together with tariffs,” the corporate mentioned in a press release.
“The model stays absolutely dedicated to the UK, and Norfolk will stay the house of the Lotus sportscar, motorsports and engineering consulting operations.
“It’s actively exploring future development alternatives to diversify Lotus Automobiles’ enterprise mannequin, together with by way of third-party manufacturing.”
Lotus Automobiles’ newest jobs cuts observe an April announcement that 270 jobs can be lower on the identical facility.
On the time, the corporate mentioned it remained dedicated to manufacturing within the UK following information that it was planning to maneuver to the US in a bid to keep away from tariffs on UK-built autos which have elevated from 2.5 to fifteen per cent below the Trump administration.
The corporate has been severely impacted by muted demand for luxurious electrical autos, which have already pressured it to cease gross sales of its Eletre massive SUV.
The Eletre, together with the Emeya electrical sedan, are in-built Wuhan, China, the place dad or mum firm Geely opened a plant in 2022 to provide battery electrical Lotus fashions.
Lotus has since rolled again its promise to go all-electric and can later this yr unveil its first plug-in hybrid mannequin, anticipated to be a model of the Eletre.
Globally, Lotus gross sales fell 42 per cent to within the first quarter of 2025, marking the primary important decline since Geely rolled out the brand new vary of luxurious fashions to complement the model’s conventional sportscars.
Lotus additionally had a web lack of $US183 million ($A280.3m) within the first quarter, down from $258 million ($A394.6m) in the identical quarter the yr prior, whereas debt climbed to $3.3 billion ($A5.0b).
