Lotus was founded in 1948 by Colin Chapman and built its reputation on lightweight engineering, with the Elise, Exige, and Evora as its core sports cars and a Formula 1 history that ran from the late 1950s into the 1990s.
Geely took a controlling stake in 2017 and reorganised the company into two streams: Lotus Cars in the UK, which continues to build the petrol Emira, and Lotus Technology, based in Wuhan, which develops the electric and hybrid models. The Eletre SUV, the Emeya saloon, and the Eletre X hybrid all use Geely’s electric architecture and are produced in China.
The brand now sits in the premium performance market rather than among the lightweight specialists it once shared a market with.