Lotus , after being acquired last year by the Chinese conglomerate Zhejiang Geely Holding, can breathe a sigh of relief, or at least partially. However, it still has a long way to go to avoid being forced out. The reason for this is that it hasn't posted a profit in its accounts for several years , so if it fails to meet the targets it has set, its new parent company could dismantle and close it down without hesitation.
Now that the brand has secured the necessary capital injection, Lotus's new CEO , Jean-Marc Gales, has confirmed that his engineers are working diligently to bring the SUV to market within three to four years at the latest. However, before that happens, it has been revealed that two other new models will be launched to bolster the brand's current lineup.
Official details about these two new models are scarce, but Gales confirmed that one of them will be the natural successor to a model currently in the brand's lineup. The second clue we have about these mysterious Lotus models is that one (the more affordable one) will use an updated version of the brand's familiar aluminum platform , while the other (the more expensive one) will use a new carbon fiber platform.
In any case, Gilles is very convinced , as he confirms in his statements that
“We are very confident that we can launch these sports models in two years and beat the competition where we want to beat them” […] “We will never be number one in cabin space and trunk capacity, but we will be the best in driving dynamics .”
To recap, the situation is as follows. These two models, about which no details have been known until now, should arrive on the market in one or two years . In a second phase, the British brand's first SUV will make its debut, so its development is progressing well.
Be that as it may, if Lotus manages to achieve its goals, then they could finally start making money . However, given the direction the automotive sector has taken, much to my regret, I would have anticipated the SUV's arrival on the market sooner, followed by the launch of the two new sports cars. But Lotus has its reasons for doing the opposite.
Source – Lotus
