Lotus 2023 China Sales Analysis after IPO

Lotus Evija (Source: Forbes)

As an established luxury sports car enterprise, Lotus was born in 1948 in the UK, once renowned alongside Ferrari and Porsche as one of the world's three major supercar brands. In 2017, Lotus was acquired by Geely Holding Group and announced the "Vision 80" ten-year brand revival plan in 2018, declaring a comprehensive transformation towards electrification and intelligence.

On February 23rd of this year, Lotus went public on NASDAQ under the name of "Lotus Technology" through a merger with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), with the stock symbol "LOT." On its first day of listing, Lotus Technology's stock was priced at 13.8 USD per share, valuing the company at 9.3 billion USD. Lotus follows a path of product differentiation, targeting a niche market with product pricing ranging from 80,000 to 150,000 USD, "creating vehicles with sports car performance for daily use, electric, and smart vehicles."

Electrification timeline

Lotus ELETRE (Source: Lotus)

In 2019, Lotus launched its first all-electric supercar, Evija, marking the beginning of its transformation at an eye-opening price of 2,188,000 RMB (304k USD). In October 2022, Lotus launched the Eletre, its first all-electric smart SUV, priced between 728,000 to 1,028,000 RMB (101.1k USD to 142.8k USD). On January 18 of this year, Lotus continued its electrification push with the launch of Emeya, an all-electric sports sedan priced between 668,000 to 1,180,000 RMB (92.8k USD to 163.9k USD).

Lotus Technology expects to achieve a 100% electric vehicle product lineup by 2027 and will launch two more electric vehicle models in the next two years, including a mid-size SUV model to compete with the electric Porsche Macan.

CEO Feng Qingfeng stated that in the first half of 2024, Lotus's electric vehicle models will sequentially enter the markets of Malaysia, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, with plans to expand further to South Korea and the United States in the second half of the year. Lotus plans to increase global sales outlets from the current 200 to 300 by 2025, while also accelerating research and development of future products.

Vision 80 ten-year brand revival plan

2023 is the year Lotus Eletre officially started deliveries in China. In the first half of 2023, Lotus's global order volume was about 17,000 units, a significant increase compared to 2022. According to Lotus's forecast, by 2025, the company's revenue will increase more than threefold, reaching 8.5 to 8.9 billion USD; gross profit will increase more than fourfold, to 1.8 to 2 billion USD; and the gross margin will exceed 20%.

Lotus China sales to date Currently, Lotus has four models on sale: the electric supercar Evija, the fuel supercar Emira, the electric SUV Eletre, and the electric sedan Emeya, among which Evija is priced at a whopping 2,188,000 million RMB (304k USD) and has yet to be delivered.

In 2023, Lotus sold 3,506 vehicles in China, 83.6% of which were ELETRE and/or electric, as the only other model sold was the fuel supercar Emira. In January 2024, Lotus sold 156 vehicles, 34 of which came from EMEYA in its first month of sales in China.

Lotus ELETRE competes directly with the BMW iX in China, which is priced between 746,900 - 1,009,900 RMB (103.8k USD to 140.2k USD). However, the iX is discounted as low as 492,900 RMB (68.5k USD) by dealerships to drive sales volume. In 2023, the ELETRE sold 2,929 units, trailing closely the iX with 3,947 sold.

On the other hand, the Lotus EMEYA will be competing against the Porsche Taycan and to a certain degree, the Tesla Model S. In 2023, Porsche sold 4,151 Taycan, which is officially priced between 898,000 - 1,838,000 RMB (124.8k USD to 255.2k USD) and as low as 783,000 RMB (108.8k USD) at dealerships in China. Starting at 668,000 RMB (92.8k USD), the EMEYA will have an upper hand from a pricing standpoint, but it is still early to gauge its real market competitiveness.

RMB/USD conversion: 0.13898089