It's Official: Lotus Has Been Bought By Volvo's Chinese Owners

Chinese automotive giant Geely Holding Group now has a majority stake in Lotus, which should kick off a turnaround at Hethel
It's Official: Lotus Has Been Bought By Volvo's Chinese Owners

The endless stream of lightly tweaked cars from Lotus should soon start to ease off in lieu of some actual new products. Why? Because Geely’s acquisition of a controlling majority stake in Hethel is now complete.

As anticipated, the Chinese automotive giant has acquired 51 per cent of the sports car firm, and 49 per cent of Malaysian company Proton - owners of Lotus since 1996.

It’s a big deal because we’ve all seen the turnaround Volvo has experienced under Geely. In a relatively short space of time Volvo has replaced the majority of its ageing line-up with genuinely good, refreshingly different cars like the S90 and the new XC60.

It's Official: Lotus Has Been Bought By Volvo's Chinese Owners

Under the control of CEO Jean-Marc Gales Lotus’ financial state has been dramatically improved, with sales up 57 per cent and the company turning a healthy profit. It hasn’t released a properly new car in years however, but with the financial might of Geely at the top, that should change.

Speaking about the completed acquisition, Geely chief financial officer Donghui Li said “With the transaction completion we now look forward to working with our partners to develop the Lotus brand into a globally competitive brand and a well-recognised leader in the sports car market.”

We can’t wait to see what comes next.

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Comments

Anonymous

Does this mean that we’ll start to see a new Exige or Evora variant twice a week now? 🤔

09/29/2017 - 10:19 |
178 | 4
BenPaye(JDMSquad)(MX5Squad)(LFAsquad)(Subie Squad) (Rotary F

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

What I was thinking

09/29/2017 - 10:21 |
10 | 0
Daniel Penalo

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I hope so!

09/29/2017 - 10:43 |
6 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

A good move for geely because Lotus needs a new model badly.

09/29/2017 - 13:31 |
8 | 0
Anonymous

We can expect a new Chinese sports car brand called ‘Hydrangea’…

09/29/2017 - 10:22 |
12 | 2
The Silver Paseo EL54

Exige Polestar, let’s do it!

09/29/2017 - 10:30 |
46 | 0

That’s the car equivalent of Wolverine

09/29/2017 - 12:49 |
18 | 0
Anonymous

New lotus products coming to a dealership near you

09/29/2017 - 10:38 |
116 | 4
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

AHAHAH lol

09/29/2017 - 10:52 |
2 | 0
Destroya

The popularity of Lotus will decrease by 100%

09/29/2017 - 10:42 |
4 | 8

Why ? Did Volvo’s? No it didn’t.

09/29/2017 - 11:24 |
10 | 0
TheRealBouss

Yes!! Make Lotus great again
Imagine if they started making the mad cars that they used to, but for the modern world. Probably won’t happen, but I can dream, right?

09/29/2017 - 10:56 |
18 | 0
Anonymous

Begs the question, when will we see a monstrous SUV with a lotus badge on it?

09/29/2017 - 11:13 |
30 | 2
Olivier (CT's grammar commie)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

It’s probably going to get called Lotus Edinburgh

09/29/2017 - 12:18 |
22 | 0
Anonymous

Lotus Exige with a Volvo T8 engine.. Seems legit

09/29/2017 - 11:49 |
14 | 0
ScandinavianVolvoGuy

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

T6 engine is the same as T8… T8 just has 87hp hybrid system attached to it.
Both are 320hp twincharged inline-4s

10/01/2017 - 18:45 |
2 | 0
DHLLR

Polestar doesnt do Volvo Performance anymore.. but does Volvo bring back the R-Brand and let Lotus tune their cars?

09/29/2017 - 12:09 |
8 | 0
Sir Wafel (WhyBeAre of CT) (Multipla Squad) (propane)

In reply to by DHLLR

A Volvo version of Lotus Omega would be awesome

09/29/2017 - 15:14 |
4 | 0
Klush

In reply to by DHLLR

That would be soooo awesome

09/30/2017 - 12:02 |
4 | 0
Akashneel

[DELETED]

09/29/2017 - 12:33 |
0 | 0