Lotus may end UK car production with 1,300 jobs at risk

Lotus may be about to call time on its UK car manufacturing operations. Reports in the Financial Times citing two unnamed sources suggest that car production at the British firm’s Hethel home could be brought to a halt within a month. 

It is suggested that the famous British brand, which has been controlled by Chinese manufacturer Geely since 2017, has been struggling to pay suppliers in recent weeks. Both Lotus and Geely have declined to comment on the new rumours but the firm did previously confirm that production at Hethel had been paused since the middle of May in order to manage supply chain issues resulting from US trade tariffs.

Geely has invested around £3bn in new technology to rejuvenate the Lotus product range and move the brand towards electrification. The all-electric Eletre SUV and Emeya four-door GT have been warmly received but recent market conditions have proven challenging. The all-electric sports car project (codenamed Type 135) has stalled too, so attention has recently turned to the electrifying the Emira with hybrid power. 

Geely’s focus is said to have shifted to its other plant building Lotus cars in Wuhan, China, while in April Lotus announced that 270 UK jobs would be cut at Hethel. The US is a crucial market for Lotus and the recent imposition of tariffs on car imports by President Trump, including a 100% tariff on cars built in China, has encouraged the brand to look at the possibility of a US production base - one possible location would be to use part of Volvo's plant in South Carolina with the Swedish firm also owned by Geely.

On a recent earnings call, Lotus CEO Feng Qingfeng indicated that “localisation” of production in the US is seen as a “feasible plan” for the company.   

Lotus’ Hethel headquarters was established in 1966 by the company’s founder Colin Chapman. It currently employs 1,300 people. 

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