Lotus has officially launched its "Focus 2030" strategic plan. The strategy is built around four key pillars: brand reinforcement, a diversified powertrain roadmap, global synergy, and financial discipline. It aims to establish a more agile and sustainable business model for the brand amidst complex market conditions, ensuring robust resilience. As the world's first and only premier sports car brand to achieve full coverage across three major powertrain systems—internal combustion engine (ICE), pure electric, and super hybrid—Lotus has announced it will launch the Type 135 supercar in 2028. This model will feature a newly developed V8 hybrid system, propelling this unique global advantage to new heights.
Lotus Group CEO Feng Qingfeng stated: "Lotus was born from Colin Chapman's rebellious spirit, a spirit that has never faded. 'Focus 2030' will reshape the brand and business, adhering steadfastly to Lotus's DNA. Lotus is focused on engineering, focused on performance, and committed to creating the ultimate driver's car—these are the very forces driving our business forward."
**Diversified Powertrain Roadmap: Parallel Development of EV, Hybrid, and ICE** Throughout the century-long history of the automotive industry, almost all innovation has stemmed from strategic foresight. Today, Lotus is leading a new wave of comprehensive innovation in driving experience with its forward-thinking strategic layout. In response to varying regulations and consumer rhythms across global markets, Lotus will adopt a more flexible and diversified multi-powertrain strategy, advancing concurrently in ICE, hybrid, and pure electric vehicle (EV) domains. The short-term goal is to achieve a production mix of approximately 60% plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and 40% EVs, charting a user-centric path for multi-powertrain transformation.
As one of the core technological highlights of "Focus 2030," Lotus's Raoyao Super Hybrid technology combines the performance heritage of the ICE with the responsive advantages of pure electric technology. It offers long range, practicality, and the signature immersive Lotus driving experience. This technology has been first applied in the global model, the Lotus For Me. As the first super hybrid SUV developed under the exclusive Lotus Engineering LTS tuning standard, the Lotus For Me has received a warm reception in the Chinese market, securing over 1,000 orders within just one month of its launch. The SE special edition accounted for over 70% of these orders, with a repurchase rate among existing owners reaching 20%. Deliveries in the European market are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The vehicle utilizes a 900V Raoyao Super Hybrid architecture, with a total system power output of 952 Ps. It accelerates from 0-100 km/h in just 3.3 seconds, and even under extreme conditions with only 10% battery remaining, it can achieve 0-100 km/h in 3.5 seconds, with a comprehensive range exceeding 1,400 km. More remarkably, leveraging the systemic advantages and economies of scale of "Made in China," the Lotus For Me, with its disruptive starting price of 508,000 RMB, brings the core capabilities of what was once a million-RMB super SUV into the mainstream price bracket for the first time—transforming the true supercar experience from a collector's item for the few into an accessible reality for many.
**New V8 Hybrid Supercar Type 135: Born for the Ultimate Driver** To inherit the brand's innate innovative genes and maintain the leading edge of its core products, Lotus has announced the launch of the all-new super hybrid supercar Type 135 in 2028. This model will be equipped with a newly developed V8 hybrid powertrain unit from Lotus, redefining the benchmark for top-tier hybrid V8 engines in the intelligent electric era and achieving a historic breakthrough in core powertrain technology. Furthermore, Lotus will continue to explore the potential application of F1-derived technologies, such as the MGU-H electric turbo and pre-chamber combustion technology, in mass production, striving to make this V8 hybrid supercar the pinnacle of the brand's engineering prowess. The Type 135 is planned for production in Europe, with more details to be released later this year.
Concurrently, Lotus has officially confirmed the continuation plan for the Emira sports car. This move reflects its commitment to UK manufacturing and responds to the ongoing demand from users for advanced ICE sports cars. Lotus will release updated information in the coming weeks, aiming to create the most powerful and lightest Emira model yet. Additionally, as part of its strategy to continuously attract new customers and broaden the brand's commercial foundation, the Lotus pure electric vehicle portfolio—comprising the Eletre, Emeya, and Evija—will remain a core pillar of the business moving forward.
**Deepening Global Synergy and Clear Market Strategy** The "Focus 2030" plan sets a clear commercial direction for Lotus: focusing on target sales volume, strengthening profit margins, and emphasizing personalized customization. As the product lineup stabilizes, Lotus is progressively driving annual sales growth towards 30,000 units, laying the groundwork for sustained profitability.
Over the past year, various business units of Lotus Technology (NASDAQ: LOT) have undergone continuous optimization, with operational efficiency seeing significant improvement. Lotus Cars in the UK has effectively reduced operational and supply chain costs by establishing a flexible production center in Hethel, UK. Moreover, Lotus Technology has continued to enhance cost optimization and operational efficiency, with its full-year 2025 results showing marked improvement in profitability metrics. Benefiting from product portfolio optimization and cost control, the overall operational quality of Lotus Technology has consistently improved: full-year 2025 deliveries reached 6,520 vehicles, generating total revenue of $519 million; service revenue exceeded $56 million, a year-on-year increase of 69%; the full-year gross margin rose to 9%, and the operating loss narrowed by 46% year-on-year. With the global delivery ramp-up of the Lotus For Me, the company's revenue growth and operational improvements are expected to accelerate further.
Looking ahead, Lotus also requires strong partners and a clear market path. Within the "Focus 2030" strategy, the close collaboration with its major shareholder, Geely Holding Group, is a core pillar. The two parties engage in deep synergy across technology development, supply chain competitiveness, and manufacturing efficiency, aiming to enhance market responsiveness, global scale benefits, and profit resilience. Simultaneously, Lotus will integrate Lotus Cars and Lotus Technology to unify the brand, simplify governance, reduce costs, and accelerate the engineering integration of the next generation of high-performance models. This integration is expected to be completed within the current year.
In core markets, Lotus has established clear and diversified strategies: China serves as the primary growth engine for sales volume, capitalizing on robust user demand for premium new energy vehicles; the European market, based on its racing heritage and British engineering brand legacy, offers a diverse powertrain portfolio; North America focuses strategically on sports car products while seizing new SUV market opportunities in Canada; the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions, already active in 17 markets, provide broad opportunities for the full product matrix to reach new customers.
Li Donghui, Chairman of the Board of Lotus Technology and Executive Vice Chairman of Geely Holding Group, stated: "Geely has believed in the Lotus brand from the very beginning, and this conviction has never wavered. We are committed to providing Lotus with the resources it needs to compete among the world's elite. Everything Lotus brings is irreplaceable, and the 'Focus 2030' plan is proof of our serious commitment to this responsibility. We are full of anticipation for the next chapters in this brand's future."
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