Lotus produce record number of sports cars in H1 of 2023

Lotus produces record 2,200 sports cars in first half of 2023

British carmaker also gearing up for sales of new Eletre electric SUV under Chinese owner Geely’s expansion plans

www.theguardian.com

Lotus achieves record H1 2023, surpassing previous business years - Lotus Cars Media Site

media.lotuscars.com

 

[Nick in Sydney]

Really encouraging to see annual Emira production heading towards 5,000 cars.

 

[digilotus]

Agree, the factory seems to be running smoothly now with predictable volumes coming out the door. I think the target was around 4,500 per annum so they seem to be on track for that.

 

[TomE]

Tricky for them to announce this after publicising 200 job losses two weeks ago, but encouraging that production volumes are up.

 

[Aero]

Meanwhile in North America.

 

[Nova]

There is a few pieces of interesting info in this article:

• 17,000 combined global orders for the Eletre and Emira. I'm guessing these are "deposits" and not actual orders.
• There is going to be a new electric saloon. Type 133 based on my research. This was news to me.
• Lotus is considering building a factory in the US, to take advantage of the US Inflation Reduction Act.

 

[JimH]

There is a few pieces of interesting info in this article:

• 17,000 combined global orders for the Eletre and Emira. I'm guessing these are "deposits" and not actual orders.
• There is going to be a new electric saloon. Type 133 based on my research. This was news to me.
• Lotus is considering building a factory in the US, to take advantage of the US Inflation Reduction Act.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/lotus-type-133-be-904bhp-porsche-taycan-rival - to be made in the Wuhan factory - launch due by the end of this year and on sale in 2024....

Also coming -
Type 134 - a smaller electric SUV - Wuhan built - 2025?
Type 135 - Electric Sportscar - Hethel built - new factory, logistics and office buildings designed and waiting for planning consent to expand the Hethel site for the Type 135 production line - 2026/7?

 

[JimH]

Tricky for them to announce this after publicising 200 job losses two weeks ago, but encouraging that production volumes are up.

Didn't they already clarify that the the 200 roles weren't production jobs though?

 

[valentinewang]

evija-918
emira-911
132eletre-cayenne
133-panamera
134-macan
135-718

 

[donskibeat]

Didn't they already clarify that the the 200 roles weren't production jobs though?

Yes they did confirm this, and also have it confirmed from sources working at Lotus

 

[981KMAN]

Nice, yet they need to add more Dealers in the US of A if they want to sell and service more vehicles! 37 Dealers just does not make it!

 

[Eagle7]

Nice, yet they need to add more Dealers in the US of A if they want to sell and service more vehicles! 37 Dealers just does not make it!

Supposedly they're adding another 10 in the U.S., but even that's not enough. They should have at least one dealer in every state, and that's a bare minimum.

 

[981KMAN]

Supposedly they're adding another 10 in the U.S., but even that's not enough. They should have at least one dealer in every state, and that's a bare minimum.

Well, these 10 new Dealers are coming to the US about as fast as the Emira.

One in every state, and one with-in a 1.5 hour drive of a major Metro area is what will be needed if they want to sell 150,000 per year.

 

[Lotustoronto]

Well, these 10 new Dealers are coming to the US about as fast as the Emira.

One in every state, and one with-in a 1.5 hour drive of a major Metro area is what will be needed if they want to sell 150,000 per year.

I suppose it depends where they want to sell the 150k units. At the moment it seems china is the larger market they want to make those sales in. I think they view N/A as third priority - Asia #1, Europe/UK #2, then N/A #3.... Asia and Europe seems a better bet at the moment for EV sales.

 

[Nova]

Supposedly they're adding another 10 in the U.S., but even that's not enough. They should have at least one dealer in every state, and that's a bare minimum.

I don't know... they can probably ignore some of the less populated but vast states, like Wyoming and Alaska. Next they can ignore some small states that are fairly close to other major population centers, such as Deleware, Rode Island, etc. Lastly, you can filter out other states that have lower concentrations of wealth, like Mississippi, West Virginia, etc. Perhaps an even more logical way to do it, is to just ensure that the multi-millionaire net worth population centers are covered: NYC, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Philly, DC, Miami, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, LA, San Francisco, Seatle, Denver, etc. Some of these would need more than one. For example, the DC area has that new ghetto Lotus dealer in Rockville. They could open one in Virginia, preferably in sterling, with Exclusive Automotive Group, which sells Aston Martin and Bentley. It's a *PERFECT* fit.

 

[981KMAN]

I suppose it depends where they want to sell the 150k units. At the moment it seems china is the larger market they want to make those sales in. I think they view N/A as third priority - Asia #1, Europe/UK #2, then N/A #3.... Asia and Europe seems a better bet at the moment for EV sales.

Great point - I think you are correct..... NA has been a great market for Lotus in the past, yet this new Lotus has a different mindset.

Plus EV adoption in the US still has some associated risks....

 

[nelly111s]

Whilst I was there last week collecting my car, I was told that they had done a "test day" for a full rate 46 cars and got 46 out. This was just before the traditional 2 week summer holiday shutdown. Proof that they can do it and hopefully they'll have learnt what went well / badly and can replicate it in the future.

 

[TomE]

I suppose it depends where they want to sell the 150k units. At the moment it seems china is the larger market they want to make those sales in. I think they view N/A as third priority - Asia #1, Europe/UK #2, then N/A #3.... Asia and Europe seems a better bet at the moment for EV sales.

Exactly this. They are opening multiple new dealerships in China and new dealer partnerships elsewhere in Asia. They are being added more quickly than any other region.

EV uptake is slow in many parts of the US and there are tariff and cultural obstacles to selling Chinese-built vehicles in the US. Geely is looking at establishing a factory in North America, but I suspect they’ll want to see more EV demand before going ahead.

 

[981KMAN]

Whilst I was there last week collecting my car, I was told that they had done a "test day" for a full rate 46 cars and got 46 out. This was just before the traditional 2 week summer holiday shutdown. Proof that they can do it and hopefully they'll have learnt what went well / badly and can replicate it in the future.

Where are all the Emiras going?

Let's assume that Lotus is producing 30 cars each day. My understanding (which may be wrong), is that they run 4 days each week, and 3 days off.
So they would make 30/day * 200 days/year = 6000/year. Sounds similar to what Lotus has estimated in the past.

If they are making 30/day, where are they going? None to North America, formally their largest market. And Lotus has indicated that it will take them 3 months to produce the 700 original FE 1.0 cars scheduled for NA. Yet at 30/day it should take less than 1.2 months (24 production days).

And all of this math is at 30/day, not 46 as mentioned in Nelly111s post.

Are Emiras mostly going to China? I would think the i4 possibly, due to the tax on cars with engines larger than 2.0L. Yet that model is just now coming out.

Volvo, another Geely Brand, has no problems selling in the US, so I'm not buying what TomE stated.....

cultural obstacles to selling Chinese-built vehicles in the US

So maybe they are producing much less than 30/day, and continue to have supply chain issues on certain parts? Or a combination of mostly shipping into China and Production issues??

 

[TomE]

When they build the NA cars they will be building for other markets in parallel, and a mix of V6 and i4. So 700 cars might take 8-10 weeks but the NA cars will take 3-4 months.

My understanding of the US tariffs is they are based on country of manufacture of the individual car, not the HQ of the parent. So US Emiras will get the UK tariff and US Eletres the China tariff. The majority of Volvos for the US are built in Sweden, so have that tariff. There’s a US plant (North Carolina) where they build the S60, so no tariff.

The possible cultural obstacles are more complicated, as some people will consider build country and others will consider company or parent company location.