Friday 29th September 2017

Geely completes Lotus takeover

DRB-Hicom ownership is no more; Lotus now entirely owned by Geely and Etika Automotive

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While the news has been doing the rounds for a while now, today it's official: Geely now holds a majority stake in Lotus.

With 51 per cent of the company with the Chinese firm and 49 per cent owned by Malaysian automotive group Etika, there is no involvement from DRB-Hicom any longer. A new joint board has been formally established to reflect this, with five seats featuring three from Geely appointments and two from Etika - Jean-Marc Gales will keep his position as CEO.

Great to drive already; now can more be expected?

"We now look forward to working with our partners to develop Lotus into a globally competitive brand and a well recognised leader in the sports car market" said Daniel Donghui Li, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice Pres of Geely, as well as now Chairman of the Lotus board. Given how much potential Lotus has shown under Gales with limited resources, hopefully this is the sort of impetus it needs to finally progress further. Think how far Volvo has come since Geely purchased it from Ford...

Lotus has already enjoyed a positive 2017 - with sales up 10 per cent in the first six months compared to 2016 - so it's nice to report on further good news. While of course nothing further has been announced yet, we're waiting eagerly for the next developments from Lotus with some proper corporate welly behind it. As Gales commented in the press material: "We are producing the best cars in the company's history"; we certainly wouldn't disagree with that, and everything is pointing towards that continuing even further in the near future. More news as we have it...

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[griffdude]

That's really good news. As the article said, look at the progression at Volvo with these guy's backing.

[kambites]

It's going to be interesting to see what direction Geely take them in. They've certainly done a good job of revitalising Volvo.

If Geely are after a mainstream sports car brand to extend their portfolio (I don't think they own one?), it could see big changes (and big money) at Lotus; if they're happy to leave Lotus as a relative niche manufacturer, things may stay much as they are. If they do go down the mainstream route, I hope they don't abandon Lotus's roots entirely.

[GranCab]

Rumour has it that Geely will be moving production of this sporty little number to Hethel .....

Edited by GranCab on Friday 29th September 09:39

[suffolk009]

Excellent news. This will certainly secure the future of Lotus. I hope they keep it all in Norfolk.

I am genuinely torn though - I'm hoping to order an Exige 350 next year, but should I wait and see what the new Elise is like? Will the new car be more lightweight and more special, or will it step towards the mainstream, and be a bit more Boxster?

[rodericb]

griffdude said:

That's really good news. As the article said, look at the progression at Volvo with these guy's backing.

Regarding the changes at Volvo in recent years would one say it's due to Geely, or rather being free of Ford? From my experience of resources and utilities, chinese owners have been pretty much hands-off with the exception of influencing procurement in varying degrees to source from chinese vendors.

[GT3-RS]

I know it's nothing new foreign ownership but Chapman will be rolling in his grave his beloved Lotus in Far Eastern hands and more money flooding out of the country you'd think with all the greedy billionaires in Britain like Green, Branson et al that it could've been bought and remained a British brand.......

[kambites]

Lotus hasn't been British owned for decades so it's not really a change. Would it be nice if it had been bought by someone British? Maybe, but Lotus needs enormous investment if it's ever going to be long-term profitable and I doubt that would happen under a British owner.

[Krikkit]

rodericb said:

griffdude said:

That's really good news. As the article said, look at the progression at Volvo with these guy's backing.

Regarding the changes at Volvo in recent years would one say it's due to Geely, or rather being free of Ford? From my experience of resources and utilities, chinese owners have been pretty much hands-off with the exception of influencing procurement in varying degrees to source from chinese vendors.

Geely have ploughed a massive amount of development cash into Volvo, but as you pointed out, have left them to their own devices.

Free from Ford constraints they've done bloody well imo.

[andy_s]

Excellent news for the folks in Norfolk. Gales has done a lot with very little, it'll be interesting to see what happens next chez Lotus now they have enough funds to look seriously at evolving their range.

[Tinykin]

GT3-RS said:

I know it's nothing new foreign ownership but Chapman will be rolling in his grave his beloved Lotus in Far Eastern hands and more money flooding out of the country you'd think with all the greedy billionaires in Britain like Green, Branson et al that it could've been bought and remained a British brand.......

I thought Branson was now a Neckeran

[Europa1]

GT3-RS said:

I know it's nothing new foreign ownership but Chapman will be rolling in his grave his beloved Lotus in Far Eastern hands

He'll be getting dizzy as he'll have been rolling for 20-odd years by now.

[hughcam]

More great news for Lotus!

[GTEYE]

It would be nice to see a genuinely all new car for the first time since what 1996 rather than yet another Elise evolved derivative

Maybe an SUV?

Edited by GTEYE on Friday 29th September 12:34

[Tickle]

GTEYE said:

It would be nice to see a genuinely all new car for the first time since what 1996 rather than yet another Elise evolved derivative

2009 Lotus brought out the Evora

[turbomoped]

TBH this is probably the best thing that ever happened to Lotus.
Seems like they have forever been dicking around with 20-30 year old designs that the press are obviously kind enough to shower praise on for some reason. Imagine vauxhall did that?

[saaby93]

More weight saving using spacesavers

[amgmcqueen]

GT3-RS said:

I know it's nothing new foreign ownership but Chapman will be rolling in his grave his beloved Lotus in Far Eastern hands and more money flooding out of the country you'd think with all the greedy billionaires in Britain like Green, Branson et al that it could've been bought and remained a British brand.......

Good grief?! Branson and Greene, Lotus would be dead by Christmas....!

[Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah]

Foreign ownership has turned around Jaguar, Land Rover, Mini, Rolls Royce, Bentley, just to name a few, so I trust that this can only be a positive step.

[Keith ctr]

suffolk009 said:

I am genuinely torn though - I'm hoping to order an Exige 350 next year, but should I wait and see what the new Elise is like? Will the new car be more lightweight and more special, or will it step towards the mainstream, and be a bit more Boxster?

Since it's got to get the model back into the American market I fear it will probably be a little more main stream, less special and loose some of the Elise's charm/characteristics.

[Helicopter123]

Perhaps Lotus could make a 'limited edition' model to celebrate this news?

It has, after all, been almost a fortnight since the last one...