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Lotus plans to finish manufacturing within the UK after greater than 70 years, placing 1,300 jobs in danger within the newest blow to the nation’s automobile trade.
The British sports activities carmaker, managed by Chinese language carmaker Geely, has struggled to pay its suppliers in current weeks, based on two individuals with data of the discussions, bringing manufacturing to a brief halt at its Hethel plant in Norfolk for a couple of month.
The lossmaking firm is planning to cease manufacturing for good on the plant — its solely manufacturing base within the UK — as quickly as subsequent yr, the individuals added.
In an announcement to the Monetary Occasions, Lotus stated it had paused manufacturing from mid-Might to handle inventories amid provide chain points associated to US tariffs. The corporate and Matt Windle, the top of Lotus Automobiles Europe, declined to remark additional on “a hearsay”. Geely additionally declined to remark.
Feng Qingfeng, chief govt of US-listed Lotus Expertise, which has a controlling stake within the UK enterprise, instructed buyers this week that it needed to construct extra vehicles in America to reply to President Donald Trump’s larger tariffs on imports of foreign-made vehicles. The corporate has paused shipments of its Emira sports activities automobile to the US.
“We consider localisation is a possible plan,” he added.
Geely took a 51 per cent stake in Lotus in 2017, as a part of a deal to put money into Malaysian proprietor Proton. Geely’s funding was seen on the time as a lifeline for the corporate, which was based in London in 1948, after years of losses. The Chinese language group invested round £3bn into new know-how and manufacturing facility gear, however switched its focus to a brand new plant in Wuhan.
The Chinese language automobile group final yr listed Lotus Expertise — the model’s electrical car operation — within the US by way of a merger with a shell firm based by an LVMH-backed funding group. In April, Lotus Expertise stated it might purchase Geely’s 51 per cent stake in the UK business, after the Chinese language firm exercised an choice to promote the stake.
For the April-to-June quarter, Lotus Expertise reported an working lack of $103mn, in contrast with a lack of $233mn from a yr earlier, whereas it delivered 1,274 autos, down 42 per cent.
Li Shufu, the billionaire founder behind Geely, which additionally owns Volvo Automobiles and Polestar, has been unloading his international property and streamlining his core enterprise since final yr.
With Geely’s assist, Lotus has for years tried to revive the historic British model however it struggled with its pivot in direction of high-end EVs. That led to a sequence of administration modifications, with Windle taking up as its European chief in Might after his predecessor, Dan Balmer, left after lower than a yr. Chief business officer Mike Johnson additionally left the corporate in 2024.
Since its IPO in February of final yr, shares in Lotus Expertise have collapsed by 84 per cent. The inventory fell by as a lot as 8.5 per cent on Friday after the Monetary Occasions’ report.
The top of manufacturing on the Hethel plant, which was based by Lotus in 1966, would come as an additional blow to the UK’s automobile manufacturing, following different closures by Honda and Ford over the previous decade.
UK car manufacturing collapsed to the lowest level since 1949 in Might after Trump’s tariff struggle compelled Aston Martin and different British carmakers to halt their shipments to the US.
