Geely Is Bringing Lotus Back To Asia

In a marketing video released on Geely’s official Youtube page, the company has announced that it plans to bring the illustrious sports car manufacturer back to the Asian market.

The interview-style video with David McIntyre – Regional Director for APAC and China – at the wheel of a Lotus Evora GT 410 Sport, highlights some of the company’s plans to bring the Lotus name to the region, in particular, Japan and China, which are thriving markets in the premium and sports car segments.

Save for the introduction of the near-2000 bhp Lotus Evija, the first all-electric hypercar from the brand which made its debut at the Guangzhou Auto Show in December 2019 – there has been little news of Lotus marketing and expansion plans since the Zheijiang Geely Holding Group took majority ownership of Lotus in June 2017 from Proton.

Though the video is light on specifics – McIntyre reiterates that Lotus plans to market Lotus as a car “For the drivers” and build brand recognition with their prospective customers where it matters, and where Lotus cars shine – on a racetrack.

He goes on to add that the company have engaged in marketing activities such as track day experiences and on-road experiential drives to engage with customers and bring more likeminded enthusiast into the Lotus fold.

Now under Geely's stewardship, Lotus is going to go through a number of big changes – some of these have been administrative, additionally, early in 2019 Geely announced its plans build a 9 billion Yuan (RM 5.5 billion) factory in Wuhan city, China. Though those plans would have been considerably delayed by the pandemic.

Currently, Lotus sells the Elise, Exige, and Evora models in addition to other special edition models. The Evija will be limited to just 130 units worldwide.