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News - LotusJob cuts threaten Lotus Cars productionGeely-owned Lotus Cars to cut 550 UK jobs, production likely to move offshore1 Sep 2025 By MATT BROGAN GEELY-OWNED sportscar manufacturer Lotus Cars will axe 550 jobs from its UK headquarters – or more 40 per cent of the site’s personnel – as it “actively explores its options in the global market”.
The company said the decision followed a review of its business objectives in line with current market conditions, citing a retraction in the demand for electric vehicles and a rapidly evolving automotive environment for the decision.
“We believe this is necessary in order to secure a sustainable future for the company in today’s rapidly evolving automotive environment, which is seeing uncertainty with rapid changes in global policies including tariffs,” the company said in a statement.
“The brand remains fully committed to the UK, and Norfolk will remain the home of the Lotus sportscar, motorsports and engineering consulting operations.
“It is actively exploring future growth opportunities to diversify Lotus Cars’ business model, including through third-party manufacturing.”
Lotus Cars’ latest jobs cuts follow an April announcement that 270 jobs would be cut at the same facility.
At the time, the company said it remained committed to manufacturing in the UK following news that it was planning to move to the United States in a bid to avoid tariffs on UK-built vehicles that have increased from 2.5 to 15 per cent under the Trump administration.
The company has been severely impacted by muted demand for luxury electric vehicles, which have already forced it to stop sales of its Eletre large SUV.
The Eletre, along with the Emeya electric sedan, are built in Wuhan, China, where parent company Geely opened a plant in 2022 to produce battery electric Lotus models.
Lotus has since rolled back its promise to go all-electric and will later this year unveil its first plug-in hybrid model, expected to be a version of the Eletre.
Globally, Lotus sales fell 42 per cent to in the first quarter of 2025, marking the first significant decline since Geely rolled out the new range of luxury models to supplement the brand’s traditional sportscars.
Lotus also had a net loss of $US183 million ($A280.3m) in the first quarter, down from $258 million ($A394.6m) in the same quarter the year prior, while debt climbed to $3.3 billion ($A5.0b).  Read more29th of August 2025  Porsche scraps Cellforce battery plansSlow EV demand, changing conditions in China and United States force Porsche’s hand31st of July 2025  Porsche struggles with EV-centric business model“Inflexible” Porsche finds initial projections for electric vehicle adoption were overly optimistic24th of July 2025  Mercedes-Benz pauses ‘EQ’ productionProduction ‘pause’ for unpopular Mercedes-Benz EQE and EQS sedans and SUVs22nd of July 2025  Jaguar Land Rover delays EV roll-outFully electric new-generation vehicle line-up postponed as EV demand tapers: report14th of July 2025  Hybrid Polestars ruled out amid BEV retreatPolestar doubles down on BEV commitment while key rivals reverse ambitious targets10th of July 2025  Fiat backflips on EV-only 500 hatchAfter losing an estimated 150K sales in 18 months, Fiat will return to making a petrol 500 hatch |
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