KusaKusa

With deliveries not expected until 2027 at earliest, I wouldn't necessarily say manufacturing areas not being completed yet is a bad sign (not sure about the delayed permissions though). I doubt Lotus is even close to starting full manufacturing engineering for the car.

Despite the seemingly unrelated article title, there's a line in the article that rumors a delay for Type 135: "Insiders at Hethel have also said that development of the Type 135—the company’s first electric sportscar—has also been delayed." https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a60605756/lotus-needs-another-new-boss/

EVs may be difficult in more rural and/or colder regions of the US, but close to the west coast and California, I'm not too concerned about the availability of chargers and temperature impact. An EV with about 200 miles of usable range at 80-85 mph should fulfill all my range use cases, which I'll explain more below. According to Car and Driver, plenty of EVs hit well over 200 miles at 75 mph. For AC, it seemingly only impacts range by 13%, but C&D's 75 mph test seems to use AC at 72 degrees F so it's already calculated in the range. For reference, I live in Phoenix, Arizona. For in town travel, EVs are great. Phoenix is a huge city, so I can easily travel 70-100 miles in a single day on any weekend if I'm going to a specific restaurant, the stadium, and/or events. With an EV, I could travel the entire day without range worry, return home to charge at night, and save a ton of money that could've been spent on gas. For in state travel to another city, EVs work if I can charge at the other city. Cities I'd travel to like Sedona or Tucson are at most 150 miles away, and often it'd be at least a most-of-the-day affair. So I can seamlessly rest and eat lunch while I charge. And the cities are busy enough that chargers should be easy to find. For out of state travel, the most likely candidates are Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, or probably somewhere in California on the unlikely chance I road trip. The trips are 5.5-6.5 hours long and at most 400 miles away, so for me, I would want to take a break during the drive over since I'm not the type to drive 6 hours all in one sitting. The drives from Phoenix to these cities are common enough to have available chargers if I can use Tesla chargers, especially since it's with California. Las Vegas should have them on the way too. Road tripping in California also I have no concerns with charger availability. Regardless, if I have any issues with using an EV, I could always use an alternative gas car instead. My wife needs her own car, so it'd be good to have one EV and one ICEV. Whether to make the EV my sports car or my wife's practical car/SUV, I'm not sure yet, but I do hate working around ICEV transmissions and engine power peaks/troughs.

Lots of details in this article: https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/lotus-looks-boost-growth-us-suv-sedan-ev-launches

New short article by CAR on Type 135. No new information but it reiterates the 75k GBP starting price and Emira sized positioning. It also comes with a neat render. It's probably the closest render to actuality so far since it actually takes the design from the shaded reveal of Types 132-135 years ago (headlights, a bit of hood, sides). But it probably won't be super close in the end because it doesn't harken back to the Esprit wedge shape like the sketch shown with the Britishvolt announcement.

Considering how Polestar, Lucid, and Rivian are doing, the Chinese economy, and supposedly how Lotus sales are, it's good to just be around the initial offering price. I wonder if investors have confidence in Geely's ability to supply cash and Lotus' already existing factory.

Project LEVA from its initial announcement always had the capability for a 2+2 sports car and larger 2 seater. But platform capability is much different from exploring or commiting to a model, so it's good to hear about development on specific models. Sounds like a 2+2 model is actually underway.

Random but interesting, Horacio Pagani unprompted recognized the work and accomplishments that Lotus is doing on EVs along with the likes of Rimac. From the latest issue of CAR magazine, second to last paragraph in the image. Hopefully that gives the Lotus team a bit of pride among the tribulations of developing Evija.

Interview with the founder of YASA, the company behind the yokeless axial flux motors that Lotus was looking to use in Type 135: Some notes: Current YASA axial flux motor offerings are 2 generations behind what's being developed today. Mercedes (bought out YASA) is currently creating a factory to create hundreds of thousands per year of their in-development motor planned for the middle of the decade. Current focus is sports cars and hyper cars, with cheap production cars being at least years out. There are a couple OEM customers hinted having products manufactured currently. These above points should address a lot of my personal concerns with the motor that could've made it a non-starter for Lotus: price with economy of scale (plus axial flux was more expensive to manufacture), viability in every day products or pure EVs since YASA motors currently are only used as helper motors in hybrid supercars, the top speed concerns of axial flux, and amount of power (since current motors are only around 150-200 hp). Power density is getting to "eye-watering" numbers. Power density is comparable to carbon ceramic brakes (I assume acceleration vs deceleration power) and are seeing gains around 20% increase per year.

Difficult news for Lotus and Geely as a whole in this macro economic environment. Got an article from Bloomberg's Hyperdrive (EV focused) newsletter about their finances and loans, most relevant to Lotus in the latter half: Chinese billionaire Li Shufu’s attempt to create a global automotive empire to rival Volkswagen has hit a road block, as equity markets sour on electric-vehicle companies amid worries about a price sapping oversupply and rising trade tensions between China and the West. Polestar and Lotus, two electric brands nurtured by Li, have turned to riskier funding to pay for their rapid international expansion, while Li’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group has high borrowings and appears to carefully guard its own capital. “All of Geely’s listed investments — and brands that may list in future — have met or exceeded the milestone product launch, production, and sales targets within their electrification strategies,” Geely said in an emailed statement in response to questions. “We have strong balance sheets in our business units and solid liquidity. We don’t believe that short term share price volatility is reflective of the portfolio’s underlying growth potential or business prospects.” Geely has emerged from obscurity over the past decade to piece together an astonishingly diverse stable of automotive interests: It comprises western brands such as Volvo Car, Smart and London EV Company (the maker of London’s iconic black taxis), as well as EV companies it created from scratch. The most striking of these is Zeekr, a fast-growing Chinese premium brand that’s targeting a share listing in New York next year. Li also owns minority stakes in Mercedes-Benz and Aston Martin, while Geely Holding has a combustion-engine joint venture with Renault and a stake in truck manufacturer Volvo AB. The company’s various subsidiaries together sold more than 2.3 million vehicles in 2022. Some of them share factories, purchasing and vehicle servicing to reduce costs, but several have low margins or lose money because they lack scale. Most have also set very ambitious international sales targets requiring heavy investment: Volvo anticipates all of its sales will be electric by 2030, and it plans to stop manufacturing diesels early next year. “Unlike some other OEMS pushing the brake pedal on EV investments, we do not expect Volvo to delay anything,” UBS analysts wrote last week. When Volvo and its electric offshoot Polestar listed shares in 2021 and 2022, together they raised around $3.5 billion. At their peaks, each was valued at close to $30 billion. Credit-rating companies were hopeful similar transactions would help Geely Holding cut debt. But while Geely still plans to list Zeekr and Lotus Tech, the Chinese high-end EV offshoot of the UK racing marque, the market has become less accepting of cash-consuming ventures. Volvo and Polestar’s shares have slumped to record lows in recent weeks, while those of Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile are near a seven-year low, as rising EV sales and growing competition weigh on margins. Li’s personal net worth has shrunk to around $9.3 billion from a peak of $32.6 billion in 2021, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Zeekr has delayed its US initial public offering until February following reports of a mismatch between Geely’s price expectations and those of institutional investors. Zeekr privately raised $750 million last February at a $13 billion valuation; though its gross margins are rapidly improving, it still lost $1.6 billion in the 18 months through June 30. Polestar’s ride has been even bumpier. Reflecting its rapid international expansion and the costs of launching several new models, the Swedish brand has burned around $3.5 billion of cash since the start of 2022 – an astonishing sum considering it outsources manufacturing to its owners (as Zeekr and Lotus also do). Volvo owns just under half of Polestar, while a Li-owned entity controls almost 40%. A Geely affiliate owns 79% of Volvo. Having cut jobs earlier this year, lowered production targets and adjusted manufacturing plans to avoid US import tariffs on Chinese-made autos, Polestar said last month it needs $1.3 billion in external equity or debt funding to reach cash flow breakeven by 2025. This figure doesn’t include a combined $450 million in convertible loans recently pledged by Volvo and a Geely Holding affiliate. Unusually for a loss-making startup, Polestar has already amassed $3 billion of total borrowings, which includes almost $2 billion of short-term loans mostly provided by Chinese banks. The firm recently included a new risk factor in its accounts, noting that were it unable to renew this Chinese funding over the next couple of years its cash flow would be impaired. Any inability to raise external financing would leave it reliant on Chinese loans for longer, it added. Polestar’s cash woes have also hurt investor sentiment towards co-owner Volvo, which has said it would consider swapping some of the €1 billion ($1.1 billion) it has lent to Polestar for equity, providing this didn’t increase its ownership percentage. Volvo shares came under further pressure last month when Geely sold a $350 million stake, with the proceeds earmarked to support business development within the group. Meanwhile, Lotus projects a cash outflow of more than $1 billion in 2023, according to this prospectus, and has cut revenue targets twice this year due to shipping delays and the possibility of higher tariffs following the European Union’s Chinese EV subsidy investigation. With SPAC deals often delivering lower proceeds than expected due to high shareholder redemptions, Lotus announced $750 million of new financing last month, with one-third of the total provided by a Geely affiliate and Lotus co-owner Etika Automotive. The remainder is set to be supplied by Meritz Securities, and the South Korean firm attached some eye-catching terms. According to the prospectus, Meritz can sell its $500 million equity stake back to Lotus in certain circumstances, including on the three-year anniversary of its investment. If that happened, Meritz would be guaranteed a 12.5% internal rate of return. If Lotus’s shares lose value in the meantime, which isn’t uncommon following SPAC listings, Lotus may be required to post additional cash collateral. Lotus “may be required to use a substantial portion of its cash” to provide security or to purchase the Meritz shares were it to exercise its put option, which in turn would reduce the funds available to fund its operations, the prospectus notes. Lotus told me the investment was structured this way “to protect the commercial interests of both parties, in light of the exceptionally sizable investment under current market conditions.” These “robust” funding commitments and a separate $120 million investment announced earlier this year demonstrate confidence in its performance and potential, and Lotus is well capitalized to fund the business, it added. Geely’s talent for spotting hidden value and nurturing brands is unquestionable. Its rapid expansion, however, is meeting financial resistance in the capital markets. Vulnerabilities at the subsidiary level increase the risk of a car crash for the parent, while investors may need to fasten their seatbelts.

Really interesting that Lotus Technology managed to secure funding at the same $5.5ish billion valuation that they were looking for at the beginning of this year. Market conditions with loans and sentiment around EV companies were significantly different back then, so keeping the same valuation may be a good sign of confidence in Lotus' business plan, products, and/or current performance.

Auto Express: All-electric Lotus ‘Type 135’ sports car on track for 2025 reveal Article says the car is on track for a 2025 reveal and 2027 UK deliveries, but I'm not sure if this is newly confirmed info or based on previously announced dates from Lotus. Otherwise the article is a summary of already known info.

There's a subscription paywall. Any chance you could post the article text or images?

Caterham shows lightweight electric sports car for 2026 Very interesting proposition from the Caterham concept. I like how straightforward and detailed the Caterham people are about the product. The pricing could potentially be a competitor for the other EV sports cars from OEMs and Lotus, but a lot can change from now until 2025/2026. There are a lot of hurdles for Caterham to overcome for this to be successful. Especially contracting manufacturing to another party. But good luck to them!

@DarrylV8 The MG Cyberster is way lower than I was expecting or aiming for, if it were to come to the US. I was okay with around a $80-100k USD pre-tax pricepoint, with a base motor for RWD only and okay options. Some sites are expecting the Porsche 718 EV to start around $80k, so even with "Porsche options" I think around $100k for that target spec is possible. But Type 135 starting around $100k and going past that is too much though :(. If the Cyberster were to come to the US, it'd likely be in contention simply from its price. But it'd be a wait-and-see affair to see initial feedback, because it's suspiciously too good to be true. There is surprisingly little information out there about its engineering.