Lotus plans an initial public offering to fund its electric vehicle program.
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The company is considering going public in the next few years to fund its expansion and investments in electric vehicles.
Its chief financial officer, Mark Farries, said an IPO was “likely in all major financial markets”, but added that further information on a possible IPO would not be available until at least mid-2023.
That’s because the group is currently busy developing the Emira sports car for production, launching its first SUV and completing the first deliveries of its Evija hypercar, Farries said.
He added that the company held an investor event in London to showcase its electric models, business strategy and technology roadmap, following similar demonstrations in Chinese cities including Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai in recent weeks.
The British carmaker last year announced plans to invest more than £2bn in new technology, ramp up production of its sports car models and produce all electric cars by 2028.
This will be two years ahead of the UK government intending to completely ban new sales of petrol and diesel cars and vans to encourage the adoption of greener alternatives.
Lotus cars a brief history; The company was formed as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by engineers Colin Chapman and Colin Dare, both graduates of University College, London, in 1952, but had earlier origins in 1948 when Chapman built his first racing car in a garage.
The four letters in the middle of the logo stand for the initials of company founder, Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman. When the logo was created, Colin Chapman’s original partners Michael and Nigel Allen were led to believe that the letters stood for Colin Chapman and the Allen Brothers.
The first factory was located in the old stables behind the Railway Hotel in Hornsea, North London. Team Lotus was spun off from Lotus Engineering in 1954 and from 1958 to 1994 they were active and competitive in Formula One.
The Lotus Group of Companies was established in 1959. This includes Lotus Cars Limited and Lotus Components Limited, which focus on the production of road cars and customer race cars respectively.
Lotus Components Limited was renamed Lotus Racing Limited in 1971, but the newly renamed company ceased operations in the same year.
The company moved to a purpose-built factory in Cheshunt[7] in 1959 and has operated a modern factory and road testing facility in Hethel, near Wymondham, Norfolk, since 1966. The site is a former World War II airfield, RAF Hessel, where the test track used parts of the old runway.
Early on, the manufacturer sold cars aimed at private racers and trialists. His early road cars could be purchased in kit form to save on purchase tax. The kit car era came to an end in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Lotus Elan Plus Two was the first road car not to be offered in kit form, while the Lotus Eclat and Lotus Elite were only available in factory-built versions in the mid-1970s.
After the elegant but delicate Lotus Elite of the 1950s, which featured a complete fibreglass monocoque fitted with built-in steel pickup points for mounting major components, The company found critical and sales success in the 1960s with the Lotus Elan two seater later developed to two plus two form. The manufacturer was notable for its use of fibreglass bodies, backbone chassis, and overhead camshaft engines, initially supplied by Coventry Climax but later replaced by Lotus-Ford units (Ford block, Lotus head and twin cam valve gear). The company worked with Ford on the Lotus Cortina, a successful sports saloon.
Another vehicle of the late 1960s and early 1970s was the two-seater Lotus Europa, originally intended for the European market only, combining a backbone chassis and lightweight body with a Renault mid-engine, later adapted to the Lotus-Ford twin-cam upgrade.
Originating in the 1950s, the Lotus Seven was a simple, lightweight open two-seater that was produced until the early 1970s. The company then sold the rights to produce the 7 to Caterham, who has continued to build the car ever since.
In the mid-1970s, the manufacturer tried to break into the premium market with the Elite and Eclat models, which were aimed at wealthy buyers with features such as optional air conditioning and an optional automatic transmission. The mid-engine lineup continued with the Lotus Esprit, which would prove to be one of the company’s most enduring and iconic models. The company developed its own line of four-cylinder DOHC engines, the Lotus 900 series, and later the V8, and a turbocharged version of the engine appeared in the Esprit.
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