Geely "White Moonlight," Dreaming Back to the Supercar C Position

After reclaiming the "Lotus" trademark, true LOTUS has finally returned to the hearts of car enthusiasts. The only question that remains is: how to step out of the "niche" and truly stand shoulder to shoulder with Ferrari and Porsche? This time, it has a new answer.

"A car that can't stop isn't worthy of being called a performance car; driver assistance without hardware support is all pseudo-assistance."

At this year's Shanghai International Auto Show, Qin Peiji, the newly appointed president of Lotus China, once again made headlines by bringing the scales of speed and passion, technology and safety to the forefront, re-injecting rationality into today's restless automotive market.

In fact, in the face of the global automotive industry ushering in a new energy revolution, obtaining power performance has become unprecedentedly simple. While many car manufacturers are obsessed with horsepower arms races, how can drivers truly harness this surging power?

As a brand with 77 years of racing heritage, Lotus understands that high horsepower is no longer a rarity, and people's ability to handle high horsepower may not necessarily improve in tandem. Therefore, Lotus made a significant move at the Shanghai Auto Show by announcing the open-sourcing of its chassis technology.

Qin Peiji stated that Lotus's mission is not only to create high-performance cars but also to ensure that drivers can safely enjoy speed. To promote the important development of handling safety in the industry, Lotus has opened its chassis database accumulated over 77 years to the entire industry, including testing and research and development data of various Lotus sports cars under extreme conditions.

Supporting this generous move to open-source chassis technology is Lotus's profound engineering expertise.

Founded in 1948, this brand has entered the ranks of the world's top three sports car brands through continuous exploration and innovation in lightweight design, aerodynamics, and chassis tuning.

Looking back, when Porsche was researching ceramic composite brake systems, Lotus had already secured 7 F1 championships; when Ferrari was continuously improving engine technology, Lotus was studying aerodynamics; when "far ahead" was the common refrain, Lotus was still refining its chassis technology. All performance cars cannot bypass disassembling a Lotus.

Among them, the key chassis tuning capability has been inherited by the Lotus engineering team, which has designed and tuned nearly a thousand models globally, accumulating over 300 years of team tuning and testing experience. It is worth mentioning that Tesla's first-generation supercar, the Roadster, was upgraded based on the Lotus Elise chassis.

The open-sourcing of chassis technology is also Lotus's "sunny strategy" to redefine and externally promote racing culture. It is known that 11 years ago, after Tesla open-sourced its patents, it significantly accelerated the rapid development of new energy vehicles. Clearly, Lotus wants to replicate this success and become the whistleblower of the supercar racing track.

After playing the open-source card in the industry, Lotus also extended an olive branch to car enthusiasts and supercar lovers—investing 20 million to launch the world's first free advanced safe driving public training program, the "Lotus Track-Level Safe Driving Training Camp."

In Lotus's view, mastering a high-performance car requires not only strong mechanical qualities but also matching driving abilities. Therefore, it has invited Lotus engineering experts and FIA-certified racing coaches to co-teach the program Users can practice high-power acceleration/braking, slippery road handling, and other skills in a safe closed track environment.

The reason Lotus is making a big push to promote driving skills to users is not only to enhance the public's awareness of driving safety but also, more importantly, to occupy more consumers' minds with Lotus's track capabilities and reshape the domestic market's perception of this global TOP 3 supercar brand. This is also Lotus's breakthrough move in response to "market anxiety."

To be fair, Lotus has been eager to shed its niche label in recent years. However, domestic consumers still have a fragmented understanding of the brand's history; key overseas markets are under pressure due to tariff issues, and the current economic downturn, coupled with a turbulent market landscape, has forced Lotus, which once dominated F1 and represented extreme performance, to face a dilution of its competitiveness.

As a super luxury brand under Geely Holding Group, Lotus is an important part of the group's strategic layout. Li Shufu also views supercars as the fourth commercial island chain beyond scale, luxury, and high-end, as well as a technical symbol for the brand's upward trajectory.

It is worth noting that 2025 will be a significant year for Lotus sports cars, as it will mark the 75th anniversary of the F1 Grand Prix, the 50th anniversary of the legendary Esprit, and the 40th anniversary of Ayrton Senna winning the championship with Lotus. These rich historical stories and the brand's precious experiences will empower Lotus sports cars for their next development phase, transcending time cycles.

To seize market opportunities again, Lotus invited veteran Qin Peiji from the Geely system over a month ago to reorganize its business in the Chinese market.

"After these years of efforts, the team has indeed raised the brand's profile very high, but the problem is that the brand's awareness is still not high," Qin Peiji pointed out bluntly to Wall Street Journal about the difficulties Lotus faces. Therefore, expanding the marketing funnel and enhancing Lotus's visibility became Qin Peiji's first priority after taking office.

"Lotus has a deep historical accumulation and 77 years of technology; what does this have to do with mass-produced cars? This has never been discussed," Qin Peiji stated frankly.

However, in the market, domestic brand challengers are starting to emerge. On one side are the unstoppable new entrants, and on the other side is Lotus, waiting for its voice to break through. This supercar brand has also made a risky move.

Earlier this year, facing the market environment of domestic consumption downgrade and urgently seeking scale breakthroughs, Lotus chose to lower its stance actively, launching the updated models of ELETRE and EMEYA on February 14, with the corresponding price threshold dropping to just over 500,000 yuan for the first time. For many Lotus owners and fans, the once revered "supercar white moonlight" has come down to earth, which is hard to accept.

Qin Peiji also proactively explained the thinking behind this.

"Indeed, the current trend is not very friendly. First of all, the consumption downgrade is not just a Lotus issue; the sales of all super luxury brands have dropped significantly. Competition is that brutal; the first thing is to survive, whether it's supercars, high-end cars, or luxury cars, global brands must participate in such close combat."

"Our breakeven point is not particularly high; selling more than 30,000 cars a year can achieve that, which is our plan for next year," Lotus Group CEO Feng Qingfeng revealed to Wall Street Journal To this end, Lotus has formulated two major strategies: first, to reshape its strategy in the United States. From the perspective of sales composition, the United States, China, and Europe are Lotus's three major markets. Among them, the United States, as the world's largest sports car market, undoubtedly holds significant strategic importance. Under the pressure of tariffs, the problem cannot be solved in the short term, so Lotus can only prioritize expanding its markets in China and Europe.

Second, to expand new product categories. In response to the future electrification trend in the automotive industry, Lotus will launch its Luyao super hybrid technology by the end of 2024, combining the advantages of efficient internal combustion engines and electric motors, which not only further enhances performance but also significantly reduces fuel consumption and emissions. New cars equipped with this system will be launched by the end of 2025, and it is predicted that starting from 2026, it will bring significant performance contributions to Lotus.

In an increasingly restless market, Lotus has finally clarified its thoughts and found its direction for effort. If it successfully navigates through this new series, Lotus can still become a dazzling luxury car brand under Geely, returning to the center stage of the supercar track