11:23 am, May 12, 2026
Lotus is to scale back its pure-electric plans and focus on a model line-up that heavily focuses on hybrids, including a new V8 supercar.
The Geely-owned British sports car brand has today (May 12) published a new business plan that sets outs its new ‘evolved’ strategy.
Called ‘Focus 2030’, the plan detailst the brand’s vision to ‘transform into a more flexible sustainable business model, ensuring market resilience amid external headwinds’.
The Norfolk-based company had previously targeted a fully electric line-up of models by 2028.
But it has revised this in the face of slower-than-expected worldwide EV take-up, and growing sales of plug-in hybrids in its parent company Geely’s home market of China.
Lotus is now targeting a model range split of 60% hybrid and 40% pure-electric vehicles.
It also reported that it had secured 1,000 orders of its new Eletre X plug-in hybrid SUV in China.
Instead of a pure-electric future starting in two years time, Lotus will use 2028 to debut a new hybrid V8-powered supercar.
Currently called Type 135, the newcomer will get a V8 hybrid powertrain developing over 986bhp. It could be the successor to the legendary Esprit, which was axed from Lotus’s line-up in 2004, and was the brand’s last V8-powered car.
The supercar is expected ‘to be manufactured in Europe’, which will no doubt give its Hethel factory in Norfolk hope of a more secured future, especially after Geely announced 550 jobs were to be cut in August 2025. Lotus said it will reveal more details later this year.
The Type 135 name was originally intended for a pure-electric replacement to the current petrol-powered Emira sports car. But Lotus has now confirmed the Emira will live on, with the car receiving up an update set to be announced ‘in the coming weeks’.
Qingfeng Feng, CEO, Lotus Group, said: ‘Lotus was born from the rebellious spirit of Colin Chapman, and that is not lost today.
‘Focus 2030 will reset both the brand and the business to keep us true to our DNA. We are obsessed with engineering, obsessed with performance and obsessed with building drivers’ cars, and that is what will grow this business.’
