12:44 pm, July 20, 2023
Lotus is to axe up to 200 jobs after revealing deepening losses.
The Hethel-based sports car manufacturer said the drastic move was needed to help build a ‘strong, sustainable future’.
Car Dealer reported yesterday that Lotus made a £145.1m pre-tax loss during the year ended December 31, 2022, versus a deficit of £86.6m the year before.
It blamed ‘production challenges’ for sliding further into the red. Just 576 vehicles were sold, opposed to 1,566 in 2021.
Now it has announced that it’ll be cutting its workforce to ‘ensure that the right organisational structure is in place’.
In a statement, the Geely-owned firm said the move ‘includes a restructure of its workforce, which may involve the loss of up to 200 jobs’.
It added: ‘Wherever possible, we will look to support the redeployment of staff and plan to look for ways to retain specific skills and knowledge within the business, despite the proposed cuts.
‘We believe this is vital to ensuring the organisation is leaner and more competitive long-term.’
It hasn’t specified as yet where the job cuts will take place. According to Group Lotus’s LinkedIn profile, it has 2,004 employees.
Lotus has been introducing a variety of new models, including the electric Eletre SUV, which is being built in Wuhan and appears to a central plank in the firm’s electrification journey.
The company added that it ‘will continue to concentrate our efforts on production of the Emira sports car and Evija hypercar, with 2023 set to be a record year for vehicle production, before we turn our attention to our future EV sports cars’.
