THE CAR INQUISITION
The boss of Lotus design talks new product push and weight-reduction plans.
There was an interesting slide projected at a recent Lotus press briefing ahead of its proposed IPO listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange. It reiterated the British brand’s well-publicised ‘all electric from now on’ product introductions and latest delivery schedules, it also gave some extremely ambitious sales estimates and pricing information.
Lotus wants to sell 5000-6000 Emira combustion sports cars in 2024. And 40,000-50,000 £89,500- plus Eletre large SUVs per year from 2026. Plus 30,000-40,000 similarly-priced Emeya GTs, and a whopping 80,000-90,000 £55k-plus midsized SUVs (Type 134) a year from 2027. Add in 10,000-15,000 annual sales of the Type 135 sports car at circa £75,000, plus the odd £2m-ish Evija hypercar, and the annual total could top 200,000 units and a lot of revenue. By comparison, Porsche sold 320,221 cars in 2023.
Given that Lotus sales were under 1000 in 2022, that’s a monumental ramp-up.
All of which makes new Lotus Group design VP Ben Payne’s job an increasingly large and complex one. The 45-year-old took on the top job in August 2023, just months after the untimely death at 73 of his former boss, the veteran Peter Horbury.
‘The strategy was set regarding future products,’ Payne says. ‘Peter contributed to them, so his legacy will be felt for quite a few years.’ Payne was already chief creative officer of the Lotus Tech Creative Centre in Coventry by 2022 (overseeing the non-sports car side of the range) and boasts a long career to date. The Royal College of Art graduate has worked at Bugatti (2009 16C Galibier concept), Aston Martin (2016 DB11) and for numerous global car brands during two stints at design agency Makkina. He joined Lotus owner Geely in 2018.
He’s keenly aware of the leap ahead. ‘We have to shape the brand so it works everywhere,’ he says. ‘Our 2022 sales figures were some 600 cars, and now we’re getting on for 19,000 orders. Those customers are very different, but we’ve got to not leave people behind. As we start to release smaller vehicles, maybe they will be easier for that [existing] audience to accept. “Lighter and tighter” technological products are a brand-level aspiration. But it’s driven by what we can offer customers at the right price point. You can make smaller, more tightly-packed, higher-tech cars – but they are expensive.’
Payne is alluding to the next two smaller Lotus EVs. First up is the Type 134 mid-sized
