According to the official WeChat account of British sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars, on August 22, Lotus Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Lotus”) announced that it has signed a securities purchase agreement with ATW Partners, an investment firm headquartered in New York that focuses on frontier enterprises with long-term growth potential. Pursuant to the agreement, Lotus will issue convertible notes with a total principal amount of up to USD 300 million (approximately RMB 2.15 billion) to ATW Partners. These notes are convertible into the company’s common shares and will be held in the form of American Depositary Shares (ADS).
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Prior to this, in July, Lotus also signed a Master Credit Facility Agreement with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. (“Geely”). Under the agreement, Geely agreed (including through its subsidiaries) to provide the company and its subsidiaries with a non-revolving credit facility of up to RMB 1.6 billion (approximately USD 200 million). In other words, Lotus has obtained commitments for funding of up to USD 500 million (approximately RMB 3.7 billion) from international investment institutions and strategic partners.
It is understood that Lotus Cars, namely Lotus, is a renowned British sports car manufacturer founded in January 1952. In its early years, it was known as one of the “Big Three” sports car brands alongside Ferrari and Porsche. In 2017, it was acquired by Geely Holding Group, and since then, Lotus has undergone a comprehensive transformation into a pure electric sports car brand. In 2018, Lotus launched the “Vision80 Ten-Year Brand Revival Plan,” aiming to complete the brand’s comprehensive transformation towards electrification and intelligentization by 2028, the 80th anniversary of the brand’s founding. In 2020, Lotus Technology was established, with Geely Holding holding a 60% stake; in February 2024, Lotus Technology Co., Ltd. was listed in New York. Currently, Lotus has entered the global market, forming four major sales regions: Europe, China, the Americas, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific.
Since the start of 2025, Lotus has made a series of adjustments. In early January 2025, Lotus announced that the global brand logo and its Chinese name “Lianhua” have been reintroduced in the Chinese market, and from that day onwards, it has officially been renamed “Lianhua Sports Car.” Thus, Lotus was renamed Lianhua Sports Car. On February 14, two new models under Lianhua Sports Car – the ELETRE Xiahua and EMEYA Fanhua – were launched. Both models are available in 6 configurations, with the former priced at RMB 548,000-1,018,000 and the latter at RMB 528,000-1,008,000. However, as the starting prices of the two models were reduced from RMB 728,000 and RMB 668,000 for the old versions to RMB 548,000 and RMB 528,000 respectively, with a price cut of over RMB 100,000, this caused dissatisfaction among existing users. At the same time, the naming of the ELETRE “Xiahua” was also criticized by many netizens. Subsequently, Mao Jingbo, then President of Lotus China, apologized to users for the troubles caused by the launch of the new models and announced that the Chinese name “Xiahua” would no longer be used for the Eletre model.
On March 12, Lianhua Sports Car announced that Mao Jingbo officially stepped down as President of China, and was transferred to the position of Chief Commercial Officer of Lotus Technology, responsible for global production and sales synergy management, as well as integrating and allocating global marketing resources. After Mao Jingbo stepped down as President of China, Qin Peiji took over as President of Lotus Technology China, reporting to Feng Qingfeng, Chief Executive Officer of Lotus Group.
According to the official website, the currently available models under Lianhua Sports Car include the fuel-powered supercar Emira, the all-electric supercar Evija, the all-electric SUV ELETRE, and the all-electric sedan EMEYA. However, the market performance of these models has failed to meet expectations. Data shows that in 2024, cumulative sales of Lianhua Sports Car reached 12,065 units, of which 2,836 units were sold in the Chinese market, a year-on-year decrease of 20.8%, accounting for only 25% of the total global deliveries. Based on this, Lianhua Sports Car has lowered its 2025 annual delivery target from 30,000 units to 12,000 units.
As an established luxury sports car brand, Lotus is renowned alongside Ferrari and Porsche as one of the world’s “Big Three” supercar brands. However, compared with the latter two, Lotus lags behind in terms of brand awareness and sales volume, and currently remains in a state of loss. Regarding Lotus’ issuance of convertible notes with a total principal amount of up to USD 300 million to ATW Partners, Feng Qingfeng stated: “This new funding demonstrates the confidence our partners have in us and further supports the company in continuously advancing its business development and transformation. We are confident that through continuous innovation, we will bring more appealing product experiences to users, while enhancing user satisfaction with a higher-standard service system.” Whether Lotus can leverage this funding to accelerate its development is worthy of attention.