So it's come to this: Lotus mulls Hethel closure
In the face of mounting pressure, Geely is reportedly considering an end to UK production. Say it ain't so...
Are you sitting down? Well, don’t worry: this won’t come as a shock if you’ve kept even one eye on Lotus’s recent history. According to internal sources, the firm is seriously weighing the closure of its UK headquarters - the factory it has occupied since 1966 - and moving all future sports car production abroad, potentially to the United States. If Geely, its majority owner, took that decision, it's thought it would threaten the livelihoods of around 1,300 workers.
Media reports suggest Lotus’s UK employees have not been told of the plans, though on the basis that Hethel has not produced any cars for around six weeks - a pause said to have been triggered by the introduction of US tariffs - and have already been through several rounds of redundancies, they will doubtless be aware of the wider situation. Particularly as Lotus’s most recent quarterly report (released earlier on Friday) suggested that total customer deliveries had decreased by 42 per cent compared to last year.
While the halt in manufacturing and associated supply issues were said to have affected its results, clearly Lotus cannot sustain itself on 1,274 cars sold. Moreover, subsequent reports that the company was considering plug-in hybrid technology for the Emira suggested a company becoming completely unmoored from reality (ditto earlier suggestions that a V8 would be a viable replacement for the Toyota-sourced V6). These predictions returned to earth with a bump when the Financial Times reported late on Friday that Lotus was seriously reviewing the future of Hethel as a production facility, with a view to closing it as soon as next year.
Though disappointing (an understatement) and obviously distressing for its staff, this eventuality has likely been under consideration for some time given Hethel plays little to no part in the manufacturing of the high-powered EVs that are considered the cornerstone of Lotus’s future. Speculation that the Emira production line may be relocated to the US is also best considered with a grain of salt to hand. The strategy was apparently pitched as a ‘feasible plan’ by chief executive Qingfeng Feng on a call to investors, although it’s hard to see how the numbers currently justify the cost of transition, even as a means to avoiding the impact of tariffs.
Particularly when you consider that these are due to drop to 10 per cent on Monday as part of the UK’s new trade agreement with the US. In previous months, Lotus has reiterated its commitment to Hethel, a location that was considered ‘part of our DNA’, and attempted to frame previous job losses - the last round in April - as a restructuring effort that was ‘vital to enhance our competitiveness’. It has thus far refused to comment on the most recent reports that point toward a completely different direction.
For now, there is no indication that a final decision has been made - and it is certainly true that carmakers frequently reassess the suitability of their manufacturing footprint. Clearly though, the factory’s closure would be a tragic loss to the British car industry - and for what it's worth Geely would do well to consider that without Hethel, without a dedicated UK workforce, and without a human and material thread connecting present to past, Lotus would effectively cease to exist as a sports car maker. Or at any rate, it would contain nothing of value to appeal to the buyers who have bought into its expertise and unique ethos over the preceding seven decades. Let’s hope that writing isn’t already on the wall.
It is a very difficult trading environment for ALL car manufacturers at present even without the unwanted tariffs but for a company like Lotus, that never really seems sure, what’s its master plan is, will always be vulnerable to folding (niche products, low sales volumes, high prices, and continued reliability/build issues and poor dealer/manufacturer back up).
It is now most definitely a Chinese car company, like Volvo, Polestar (also Geely owned) if the product will no longer be made in the UK.
Sorry to all the good folks at the factory. Hope they go on to bigger & better days.
100% Jaguar is next.
Lotus without racing, lightweight sporty cars and Hethel is not the Lotus I grew up loving and supporting
It makes me wonder how much longer Aston Martin can carry on before becoming totally EV and also losing touch with their heritage. It looks as though the age of truly British car manufacturing is almost at an end, if it hasn't already gone
We're a breed dying out quickly.
Cars built for enthusiast's need driving enthusiasts to buy them.
To me, Lotus was Sid Vicious. It talked to you with a curled lip over a fag as it looked you up and down and asked "are you really cool enought o join our gang?" I remember when the 2000s Europa came out and there was a video advertising it where they highlighted the fact that you couldn't put a golf bag in the back. "Oh, you play golf do you? Then p
s off! Jaguar's over there, you old fart!" You had the same thing from Tony Crook at Bristol, who would give directions to the Jaguar dealership down the road to customers he didn't think were Bristol's kind of people". Of course, none of them are around today. Bristol managed 66 years, Sid only managed 21. I had Lotus's Geely years pegged as less Sid Vicious, more Johnny Rotten - still doing the act but you know he's taking the corporate shilling and that rather takes the edge off it. But all of these seemed to run less of corporate business models from people in grey suits with spreadsheets, and more on sheer spite. We're doing what we want, f**k you! But with Lotus gone, there's little left for m iconoclast.
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