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“Results to date have seen the expansion of our global
landscape, while remaining true to the original intention and foundation of
the brand, namely that we are ‘For the Drivers’. Now it’s time for more
people to enjoy more products and more services from Lotus.” – Mr. Feng
Qingfeng, CEO, Group Lotus
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“Now in its fourth year, our transformational Vision80 plan
is very much on track and we are making great progress” – Matt Windle, MD,
Lotus Cars
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Lotus reveals further details on transforming the
business, revolutionising the product range and delivering results every
year
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Eagerly anticipated new Lotus sports car, codenamed Type
131, is named and will be unveiled on 6 July
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Thrilling new Lotus performance cars will be built on four
new platforms – Hypercar, Sports, Premium and E-Sports – as brand’s
product-led offensive accelerates
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Performance, Intelligent Technology and Sustainability are
core values driving the business forward
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Lotus Engineering consultancy revitalised with new HQ, new
collaborations and all-new technology roadmap – EAS-IP – revealed
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New digital sales strategy revealed
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Watch the Driving Tomorrow presentations here
Four new vehicle architectures, a technology roadmap, a fresh global retail
identity and the name of an all-new car – Lotus has delivered a series of major
news announcements about the ongoing transformation of its business and brand.
Heralding a new dawn for Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering, the news was
broadcast across the world via Driving Tomorrow, a global virtual conference
from Lotus at .
Outlining strategic direction and including new product announcements, it is a
status update on Vision80, the plan launched by Lotus in 2018 soon after the
company’s 70th anniversary. Based on three key pillars – transforming the
business, revolutionising the product range and delivering results every year –
Vision80 commits Lotus to meet its transformational targets by the time of its
80th birthday in 2028.
And the verdict could not be clearer. As Lotus enters the fourth year of that
plan, the transformation is on track and the company has emerged from a
challenging 2020 intact and making great progress.
Matt Windle, Managing Director of Lotus Cars: “Our ongoing Vision80 plan to
transform Lotus is on track. This year is a pivotal one for Lotus, particularly
with our sports cars we reach the end of one era and begin another. The spirit
and passion that gave the world the Elise, Exige and Evora will live on in the
next generation of cars – cars like the all-new Lotus Emira.”
Lotus Emira: making its world debut on 6 July
Lotus has confirmed more details of its all-new sports car, to date known only
by its codename Type 131 and now confirmed to be the Lotus Emira. Pronounced ‘E-meer-a’,
the word features in numerous ancient languages and often translates as
‘commander’ or ‘leader’. It’s highly appropriate as this is the exciting new
sports car leading Lotus on a journey to a thrilling new future.
The Emira will be unveiled on Tuesday 6 July at the Lotus Advanced Performance
Centre, Hethel, Emira’s production home, and will make its public dynamic debut
at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on 8-11 July.
Lotus has also confirmed that, contrary to media speculation, the car will not
be a hybrid. The Emira will be powered by a choice of internal combustion
engines – the last time Lotus will launch an ICE car – with an exciting new
powertrain partnership. The additional powertrain option will be new to Lotus,
highly efficient, use cutting edge technology and be tuned to help deliver that
distinctive Lotus experience.
With a distinctive new sports car design influenced by the Lotus Evija hypercar,
Emira marks the acceleration of the brand’s product-led offensive into a new era
of contemporary design, highly efficient powertrains, and everyday usability
coupled with explosive performance.
More details on the Lotus Emira will follow in July when the car is revealed.
Four new Lotus architectures to deliver thrilling new Lotus cars
The Emira is being built on one of four new Lotus architectures. Working
collaboratively with colleagues in Europe and China, Lotus engineers have
developed a dedicated family of structural platforms for the brand. Exclusive to
Lotus within the Geely group but available to other OEMs through the Lotus
Engineering consultancy, these four architectures will underpin the eagerly
anticipated next generation of Lotus performance cars.
1) Sports car architecture: Referred to internally as the Elemental architecture,
this is the platform on which the all-new Lotus Emira will be built. Flexible,
lightweight and featuring the signature Lotus extruded aluminium technology,
this sports car platform is a massive step-change technically. Every dimension
is different to previous generations of Lotus sports cars.
2) Hypercar architecture: The Lotus Evija is the first vehicle to be built on
this Extreme platform and goes into production later this year at Hethel.
Despite travel restrictions limiting testing opportunities around the world,
progress on the car has not stopped. Several thousand kilometres of engineering
development and validation testing have taken place in the UK. Lotus is also
working with an advanced simulator company, allowing the Evija team to run
endless simulations in the virtual world. This enhances confidence in passing
project milestones with real-world development vehicles and creates programme
efficiencies.
James Hazlehurst is the lead dynamics engineer on the Evija and said the team
has been focused on making this most extreme and unique of cars feel like a
Lotus. James explained: “A key marker for any Lotus is the ’50-metre test’,
where within the first 50 metres of driving any of our cars you can feel the
immediacy of the steering response and the connection to the road. Damping
that’s perfectly balanced between handling and ride comfort, and a powertrain
that responds directly and proportionally to your throttle demand, are key
elements of this. All of this should be before you’ve travelled faster than
30mph or above 0.1g acceleration in any direction.”
Evija owners will be the first Lotus customers to benefit from what3words (W3W)
technology available on the car. W3W divides the world into 3 metre x 3 metre
squares and gives each a unique combination of three words: a W3W address. For
example, ‘hotspots.punters.race’ is the W3W address for the entrance to Lotus HQ
at Hethel. The Lotus Emira will also benefit from this system, which is a far
more accurate location system than the traditional postcode.
3) Premium architecture: The first ever truly global automotive architecture
from Lotus, the Evolution platform will be the basis for an all-new range of
lifestyle vehicles from the company. Building on the launch of the Emira, these
cars will catapult Lotus into a new era of higher retail volumes and significant
revenues. The architecture has been defined and designed in the UK, supported by
collaborative work with teams in China, Sweden and Germany. It is ‘born British,
raised globally’.
4) Electric sports car architecture: In January this year Lotus and Group
Renault’s Alpine brand announced a new partnership. The Lotus Engineering
consultancy is leading development work on a new vehicle platform – known
internally as E-Sports – and from that will come new products for Lotus and
Alpine.
Matt Windle commented: “The E-Sports architecture will be flexible and modular,
and will generate an exciting new sports car for the Lotus brand, with
contemporary styling, class-leading ride and handling, explosive performance and
that unmistakable Lotus character – a pure dynamic experience that is ‘For The
Drivers’. I have challenged our teams to target the same weight as our latest
combustion engine sports cars.”
Lotus in 2021: Performance, Intelligent Technology and Sustainability
The ongoing transformation and expansion of Lotus under Vision80 comes from a
position of confidence in Lotus’ identity as a vital brand with its eye firmly
on the future and global growth. In 2021 there are three core values driving the
business forward – Performance, Intelligent Technology and Sustainability.
Performance
The heart and soul of Lotus has always been driven by a dedication to
class-leading performance, proven wherever possible in the motorsport arena. It
is part of the Lotus DNA and will always guide the company’s progress in
developing new technologies for its cars and for those of other brands.
Performance of Lotus cars has always come from the first principles set down
more than 70 years ago – innovative thinking around light weight, exceptional
ride and handling, and advanced aerodynamics.
Intelligent Technology
Consumer demand for technology is a fact of today’s automotive landscape, and
Lotus is embracing that completely. Richard Moore, Executive Director,
Engineering, Lotus, commented: “Technology is the currency of luxury and
desirability in today’s new cars. Lotus will re-set what it means to be a
British premium automotive brand through development and adoption of innovative
and intelligent technology.”
An all-new technology road map of five principles – dubbed EAS-IP – has been
created by Lotus to guide this work:
- Electrify: A pure electric future for Lotus, as first demonstrated by
the Evija hypercar, has been part of the Vision80 strategy from the start. After
the Lotus Emira, every new Lotus car will be electric.
- Amplify: Lotus is committed to delivering innovative and engaging
technologies. It will dial up the importance and prevalence of technology in its
new product range. In tandem with performance, this will drive the desirability
of future models.
- Simplify: It was Lotus founder Colin Chapman who famously said the key
to performance was to ‘simplify and add lightness’. Nothing has changed. Lotus
technology will be an enabler, and will simplify the driving and ownership
experience for customers.
- Intensify: Lotus is fast developing a reputation as a world leader in
Human Machine Interface (HMI), User Interface (UI), and User Experience (UX).
With every new product launch, the role of innovative new technology will be
intensified.
- Personify: Lotus will use technology to give its new models an identity,
a brand character that will become part of the company’s DNA. Lotus cars will be
customisable through technology, mirroring and adapting to each customer’s
tastes.
Sustainability
In addition to the principles of sustainability in terms of environmental and
corporate responsibility, in which Lotus is making great strides through
accelerated electrification and a journey to net-zero underway with energy
partner Centrica, sustainability as a business is also a critical part of the
strategy.
Thanks to Vision80 and the progress made since its launch, and the support of
its shareholders Geely and Etika, the long-term foundation and sustainability of
the Lotus business is taking shape. As the company progresses towards its 80th
anniversary in 2028, the health, stability and sustainability of Lotus will
successfully deliver the three key priorities of Vision80. Lotus will transform
its business, revolution its product range and deliver results every year. The
growth of Lotus is already sparking a new generation of Lotus cars, which will
lead to an increase in vehicle sales worldwide.
Being part of the Geely group of companies gives Lotus access to a vast range of
skills and expertise. Hubs spread across the globe create the new Lotus map of
the world, allowing the company to draw upon deep resources and skill bases as
part of the Geely group:
- Hethel: The Norfolk site in England is the home of Lotus, the heart and
soul of the business. It is the location of the Lotus Advanced Performance
Centre, where the brand’s sports cars are designed, engineered and manufactured.
- Wellesbourne: Announced last year, the Lotus Advanced Technology Centre
is on the Wellesbourne campus of the University of Warwick. The UK’s Midlands
region is a focal point for automotive and engineering innovation, and is the
perfect location for Lotus’ high voltage development and testing centre and the
home of the Lotus Engineering consultancy.
- Gothenburg: Home of the Geely Innovation Centre Sweden – Uni3 by Geely
Campus, CEVT and of Geely Design.
- Frankfurt: Geely Auto Technical Deutschland (GATD) research and
development facility focussing on new propulsion systems and next-generation
mobility technology.
- USA: The world’s largest market for sports cars, with strategic bases
for Lotus in Detroit and Los Angeles.
- China: The home of Geely, the operational headquarters of the entire
group of companies and the world’s leading market for vehicle electrification.
A new Lotus retail strategy and enhanced multi-channel customer journey
In addition to the development of new Lotus models and technologies, Lotus is
also transforming how it takes its innovations to market.
The most obvious example of this is the launch of a stunning new Lotus retail
identity programme, now being rolled out in showrooms across the world. The
first location to feature this exciting new Lotus look and feel is complete and
open for business in Manama, the capital city of Bahrain, in the Middle East.
Uniquely Lotus and defiantly disruptive, the new retail identity draws directly
on the brand’s design and engineering prowess to create a bold and original new
showroom environment that’s sculptural and artistic in its execution.
The new retail identity is integrated into a 360-degree Lotus digital brand
experience for customers, part of a seamless multi-channel retail strategy.
Working with new retail partners, it will take Lotus to more global markets than
ever before.
Geoff Dowding, Executive Director, Sales and Aftersales, said: “Launching an
all-new visual identity for our retail partners is another hugely exciting step
in our transformation of the Lotus brand. The inherent flexibility of what we
have created will be perfect for all environments, whether they’re solus or
multi-franchise, urban or out-of-town, high street or shopping mall, single or
multi-storey, pop-up, seasonal or permanent.”
By adopting a multi-channel approach in its new retail strategy, Lotus will
embrace the full spectrum of interactions and transactions with the brand, from
the traditional and physical to the modern and digital.
Geoff Dowding explained: “It’s about offering a combination of online and
offline retail experience. Looking, feeling, seeing, interacting and at the same
time having the ability to do this 24 hours a day and maybe even conclude a
transaction in the middle of the night, anywhere in the world. New generations
of buyer and different models of ownership are bringing about this change and
fast, particularly in some of the newer markets for Lotus such as in China. It’s
about layers of choice, over and above what we are offering today – in different
markets, in different cities, in different stores. Our customers will have their
relationships with the brand, and they will have their relationships with the
retailers – multi-channel and all about choice.’
Concluding the Driving Tomorrow conference, Matt Windle said: “Our
transformation is well under way, and this year it really begins to accelerate
through a product-led offensive. Evija goes into production, Emira is launched,
and a new suite of four dedicated vehicle architectures is confirmed to further
catapult Lotus into new markets, new segments and new volume territory. Our
global expansion is continuing at pace, with Hethel still very much the heart
and soul of the brand, but with a whole new Lotus map of the world to draw upon
and to capitalise upon. And finally, new relationships with customers old and
new get underway through the evolution of our retail strategy as we embark on
volumes, markets and segments never seen before in the Lotus business. Lotus has
a famous history of fast-paced exploits and successes on the racetracks. In the
future, that fast pace of change is translated to the roads and to the global
automotive market of tomorrow.”
Images and text copyright Group Lotus PLC
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