Lotus on track to sell more cars than Ferrari

Lotus boss Matt Windle says the revived British sports car-maker is on track to sell tens of thousands of vehicles annually, thanks to its 10-year Vision80 strategy.

Making the declaration in an interview with the Financial Times, Windle admitted the huge production boost would come from Lotus offering buyers "lifestyle" vehicles – Lotus-speak for SUVs.

Last year, the COVID-19-hit Norfolk-based brand sold just 1378 vehicles.

But thanks to Lotus' ambitious Vision80 turnaround program, Windle says in the short-term production will be tripled to around 5000 cars following the arrival of the all-new Lotus Emira in late 2021 and its first SUV a little later.

Key to the brand's revival, which began three years ago, is an incredible £2.5 billion ($A4.5bn) investment by its parent Geely that has allowed it to replace its ancient line-up (Elise, Exige, Evora) and develop its own technology and architectures.

Crucially, it's also allowed Lotus to upgrade its facilities and UK-based production line that will help it boost quality and crucially transition to a full pure-electric brand.

Speaking of which, as part of its Driving Tomorrow media presentation delivered overnight, Windle admitted that Lotus would become an all-electric brand by the late 2020s.

Perhaps surprisingly for Lotus whose youngest model is the 12-year-old Evora, the company chief also announced that in 2028, as part of its 80th birthday celebrations, Lotus would have an entirely new line-up.

This suggests the new 2021 Lotus Emira will only be sold for six years before being phased out for a battery-powered replacement.

According to Windle, sports car manufacturing will remain at the car-maker's spiritual Hethel home, while production of its lifestyle crossovers and SUVs will be produced at production facilities in a new factory in Wuhan, China.

Repeating previous claims that the upcoming high-riding vehicles will remain the lightest in the segment, the Lotus MD said its SUVs would still be a car "you want to drive".

Windle said he expected lifestyle vehicles to overtake the number of sports cars it makes.

Helping share the cost of development, Windle referenced its technical partnership to create a pure-electric sports car architecture with Group Renault Alpine, but said there were no plans for Lotus to manufacture Alpines in the UK, or for Alpine to build the closely-related Lotus in France.

To help share costs further, both the Alpine-Lotus sports car platform and a second sports car vehicle architecture will be offered to other sports car-makers.

Engineers involved in the creation of both platforms admitted in the presentation that starting from scratch for its architectures was necessary as existing platforms focused on making the best EV they could, while conveniently ignoring what a sports car really is.

One of the ideas set to be implemented for an upcoming Lotus platform is recreating a mid-engine arrangement for a pure-electric sports car that would see the heavy battery pack mounted mid-ship to maximise agility, while providing the driver with unparalleled (for an electric car) levels of engagement.

As part of the media update, Lotus admitted the Evija's development has been limited by a lack of real-world testing during the pandemic.

Already postponed until later this year, Lotus engineers said they've used the time to virtually test the 1470kW hypercar.

Unusually, the result is an extreme pure-electric Lotus that can accelerate quicker than an F1 car but will also be capable of being used every day.

On track, meanwhile, at Lotus' fearsome 4km Hethel circuit, the all-wheel drive Evija is said to be almost capable of defying physics and as quick as many of the car-maker's historic F1 cars.

What's left to develop is high-speed testing to ensure its active aerodynamic aids are effective right up to its circa-320km/h top speed.

Lotus has revealed a second pure-electric sports car will be revealed in 2025 that's likely to be a supercar positioned below the Evija.

As part of the bold plans, Windle stressed that the turnaround's primary aim was to ensure the brand would be profitable and sustainable in the future, something it has always struggled with over its 73-year history, despite selling more than 100,000 cars.