Carmaker Lotus plans to end production in the UK

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Lotus plans to end production in the UK after more than 70 years, putting 1,300 jobs at risk in the latest blow to the country’s car industry.

The British sports carmaker, controlled by Chinese carmaker Geely, has struggled to pay its suppliers in recent weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions, bringing production to a temporary halt at its Hethel plant in Norfolk for about a month.

The lossmaking company is planning to stop production for good at the plant — its only manufacturing base in the UK — as soon as next year, the people added.

In a statement to the Financial Times, Lotus said it had paused production from mid-May to manage inventories amid supply chain issues related to US tariffs. The company and Matt Windle, the head of Lotus Cars Europe, declined to comment further on “a rumour”. Geely also declined to comment.

Feng Qingfeng, chief executive of US-listed Lotus Technology, which has a controlling stake in the UK business, told investors this week that it wanted to build more cars in America to respond to President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs on imports of foreign-made cars. The company has paused shipments of its Emira sports car to the US.

“We believe localisation is a feasible plan,” he added.

Geely took a 51 per cent stake in Lotus in 2017, as part of a deal to invest in Malaysian owner Proton. Geely’s investment was seen at the time as a lifeline for the company, which was founded in London in 1948, after years of losses. The Chinese group invested around £3bn into new technology and factory equipment, but switched its focus to a new plant in Wuhan.

The Chinese car group last year listed Lotus Technology — the brand’s electric vehicle operation — in the US through a merger with a shell company founded by an LVMH-backed investment group. In April, Lotus Technology said it would buy Geely’s 51 per cent stake in the UK business, after the Chinese company exercised an option to sell the stake.

For the April-to-June quarter, Lotus Technology reported an operating loss of $103mn, compared with a loss of $233mn from a year earlier, while it delivered 1,274 vehicles, down 42 per cent.

Li Shufu, the billionaire founder behind Geely, which also owns Volvo Cars and Polestar, has been unloading his global assets and streamlining his core business since last year.

With Geely’s help, Lotus has for years tried to revive the historic British brand but it struggled with its pivot towards high-end EVs. That led to a series of management changes, with Windle taking over as its European chief in May after his predecessor, Dan Balmer, left after less than a year. Chief commercial officer Mike Johnson also left the company in 2024.

Since its IPO in February of last year, shares in Lotus Technology have collapsed by 84 per cent. The stock fell by as much as 8.5 per cent on Friday after the Financial Times’ report.

The end of production at the Hethel plant, which was founded by Lotus in 1966, would come as a further blow to the UK’s car production, following other closures by Honda and Ford over the past decade.

UK vehicle production collapsed to the lowest level since 1949 in May after Trump’s tariff war forced Aston Martin and other British carmakers to halt their shipments to the US.