news

lotus, which has just ushered in its second spring of sales, has encountered new troubles in the global market. recently, lotus released its 2024 semi-annual report. the breakthroughs in the global regional markets have more than doubled the sales of this old british supercar brand to 4,873 units, directly driving revenue up to us$398 million (about rmb 2.8 billion), a year-on-year increase of 206%. at the performance meeting, lotus cfo li kunlong bluntly stated that these two items are record-breaking figures in the brand's 76-year history.

lotus, known as the "pure electric supercar", is no stranger to the outside world. founded in 1948, lotus is the world's earliest supercar brand. it was once as famous as ferrari and porsche, becoming one of the world's three major supercar brands. lotus is also known as the lotus sports car.

in the 1980s and 1990s, lotus was in financial crisis and part of its shares were transferred to toyota, gm, malaysia's proton and other companies. on june 23, 2017, geely holding group acquired 51% of lotus cars and gradually increased its stake to 100%.

after the acquisition by geely, lotus started its electrification transformation, launching its first pure electric supercar evija in 2019; the first pure electric supercar suv eletre was officially launched in october 2022; and the pure electric supercar sedan emeya was launched on january 18 this year. according to the plan, two more products will be gradually launched to the market.

everything seemed to be thriving, but the management lowered this year's sales target from 26,000 to 12,000 units before the "golden september and silver october"; at the same time, the sales plan for 2026 was changed from 50,000 to 60,000 units to 30,000. at the earnings conference, lotus global ceo feng qingfeng admitted that the tax increase in the north american and eu markets made it impossible to achieve the sales target in the us market, and the overall sales volume in europe would also be affected by 30%.

according to its plan at the beginning of the year, 40% of lotus' future sales will rely on overseas markets, of which europe and the united states, where high-end electric cars are more accepted, are the "big granaries". in the first half of the year, north america has contributed 26% of lotus' sales, and the european union has contributed 30%, both of which have surpassed china to become its two most important markets.

this means that lotus' global strategy is shrouded in uncertainty. as for the chinese market, feng qingfeng also mentioned that domestic luxury car sales have fallen by 50%. although lotus has maintained positive growth, it has not met internal expectations.

lotus, which is fighting for brand revival, has to adjust its strategy because it is still in the period of "burning money". its adjusted net loss in the first half of the year increased by nearly 20%, to 424 million us dollars (about 3 billion yuan); sales costs tripled, and r&d expenses also increased by 73% year-on-year.

in order to cope with the current fluctuations in the luxury car market, feng qingfeng said that the us product market positioning will be readjusted first, and the suv model electra will be released in north america in september; as for the european market, the new market positioning will be announced in the fourth quarter of this year, and the model will be revised. however, these adjustments will not be reflected in sales until 2025. in order to reassure the secondary market, lotus has also further played the product card.

li kunlong revealed that lotus will launch two new cars next year and the year after, respectively, and start deliveries the following year. they will become the main force for the company's profitability and growth, helping lotus to capture 4% of the global luxury car market in 2028 and celebrate the 80th anniversary of the brand.

feng qingfeng mentioned that the new car to be released in 2025 will become lotus's high-volume model. "the technology used in this car is very advanced, and by 2025 our channels will be very complete. after the new car is launched, it will be quickly rolled out in the market and quickly enter a growth trend."

the plan has been given, but it is not easy to get investors to accept "delayed gratification" next year and the year after. feng qingfeng said frankly, "faced with the severe challenges in the luxury car market, especially the luxury electric car segment, we must be able to find the second and third growth curves."

in times of crisis, geely automobile founder li shufu once again helped lotus.

feng qingfeng said that its wholly-owned subsidiary lotus robotics has begun to provide end-to-end intelligent driving solutions and r&d services to automakers, and geely's lynk & co and remote truck are its first customers.

intelligent driving is a business that lotus has been planning for three years. feng qingfeng said that this is a business with a gross profit margin of more than 60%. this year, lotus's revenue in the field of intelligent driving will reach about 400 million yuan, and there will be higher growth in the next two years. he firmly believes in his own technical strength, "our single unattended autonomous driving mileage has reached a maximum of 533 kilometers, which is equivalent to running from start to finish on a full charge."

however, feng qingfeng also knew that he could not always rely on geely's assistance. in his view, the original lotus engineering company's name had already been well-known around the world, and the intelligent driving business would also go hand in hand to gain ground in overseas markets. this was the advantage of this technological luxury car brand.

"we hope that by 2027, non-geely intelligent driving business revenue will account for more than 70%." feng qingfeng revealed that lotus has currently received orders for three models from a large european automaker, and four more models are being ordered in the future; hyundai, mercedes-benz, aston martin and volvo are also experiencing lotus' intelligent driving solutions.

compared with the past decades of wandering, even if its market value has shrunk, lotus is now rooted in china, in the arms of geely, embracing electrification and intelligence, which is actually a good destination.

beijing business daily comprehensive report