The Chinese company, Geely will acquire a majority stake of Lotus cars from Proton, while also acquiring a significant stake of Lotus as well.
Geely, the Hong Kong based car company that owns Volvo Cars will acquire a 49.9% stake in Proton. While Proton owns stake in British sports car maker, Lotus Cars, Geely will also acquire that 51% stake.. The other 49% stake in Lotus will be acquired by Etika Automotive.
Lotus’s history is filled with owners trying to uplift the brand and make it a profitable venture. General Motors, one of the largest car manufacturers in the world, had a go at it from 1986–1993. Following which an Italian businessman Romano Artioli, who also owned Bugatti at the time, tried his hand from 1993-1996. Then Proton got a hold of the brand and tried their best to push Lotus as far as they could. But Now Proton is finding it difficult to make profit at all, not just from Lotus, but overall. Now Chinese brand, Geely has stepped up to the plate to revive both Proton and Lotus.
Geely has stated that ‘The agreement lays the foundation for a wider framework for both Geely Holding, Proton and Lotus to explore joint synergies in areas such as research and development, manufacturing and market presence.’
Geely will make use of Lotus’ lightweight chassis technology, while proving more efficient powertrain technology.
At the moment, Geely has seen significant success with Volvo Cars, by taking the brand to a new direction, and is also about to come out with a new brand Lynk & Co. which will only have a car rental project model. If we take the profitability from Volvo as a measure, it seems Lotus and Proton might finally be in capable and good hands.
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