Lotus’s rebirth beneath Geely possession has been gradual going. The Emira sports activities automotive confirmed loads of promise, however was hampered by manufacturing delays and a value greater than initially promised. The Emeya and Eletre EVs haven’t confirmed vastly fashionable both, and being made in China, they’re prohibitively costly because of tariffs. Now, Lotus is making large job cuts.
The BBC experiences that Lotus is making 550 cuts at its Hethel, UK headquarters, which has round 1,300 workers whole. In a press release, the automaker mentioned “[we] consider that is vital as a way to safe a sustainable future for the corporate in at this time’s quickly evolving automotive setting, which is seeing uncertainty with speedy modifications in world insurance policies, together with tariffs.”
Lotus did reaffirm its “dedication” to the UK and mentioned that Hethel—which the automaker opened in 1966—will stay the bottom for its “sports activities automotive, motorsports and engineering consulting operations.” As well as, the corporate mentioned it’s “actively exploring future progress alternatives to diversify Lotus Automobiles’ enterprise mannequin, together with by way of third-party manufacturing.”
We’ve reached out to Lotus to search out out whether or not the job cuts are primarily in manufacturing. The automaker beforehand minimize 270 jobs at Hethel again in February. It posted a $200 million loss within the first half of 2024 regardless of some gross sales momentum. And the outlook for the automotive business was quite a bit totally different a yr in the past than it’s now.
The Labour Member of Parliament for South Norfolk, Ben Goldsborough, described this information as a “punch within the abdomen.” Nonetheless, he did add that “the worst case state of affairs has been prevented, which is a whole and utter closure of Lotus UK.”
Regardless of its regard amongst lovers, Lotus has at all times been in some state of monetary hassle, particularly for the reason that demise of founder Colin Chapman in 1982. Geely’s initially profitable and hands-off stewardship of Volvo acquired many feeling optimistic when it acquired Lotus in 2017, however now, the longer term appears to be like bleak for the long-lasting sports-car model.
Similar because it ever was.
