Construction begins on the new Lotus factory in China

The new Lotus factory in China will produce around 150,000 units a year.

Construction begins on the new Lotus factory in China by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. The first part to be built is the assembly plant. It is valued at 1.3 billion dollars. This assembly plant will produce high-end vehicles.

It is located in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, in the heart of China. Although the Lotus models are normally built at the Norfolk factory in England, this will be the first time the British brand has assembled its models outside the United Kingdom.

The new Lotus factory will open in 2021

The future Lotus factory in China will begin production in two years’ time. It will have the capacity to build up to 150,000 combustion and electric vehicles per year, as reported by the Hubei provincial government on its website.

Lotus will not be the only manufacturer developing models at this factory in China, but everything points to different models being assembled there. Will they be those belonging to the alliance with Geely? Volvo, Toyota or Mercedes-Benz could also end up manufacturing some of their models at the future Geely plant in Wuhan.

Geely, a giant in the automotive sector

There is a lot of news surrounding Geely, and it does not stop adding new companies to its alliance. During 2017, Geely acquired a 49.9% stake in Proton Holdings.

This company develops cars under the Proton brand. It is part of the Malaysian DRB-Hicom conglomerate. In addition, under this umbrella the Chinese carmaker also bought a 51% stake in Lotus from Proton.

It is important to remember that the owner of the future new Lotus plant in China produces vehicles under the Geely brand for the mass market and under Lynk & CO for the premium market. In this premium sector, Geely is joined by Volvo, which in turn acquired Ford in 2010.

Growth, one of the goals of Lotus

The construction of the new Lotus factory in China only confirms the British brand’s new goal, which is none other than to grow and launch new models onto the market. Some sources claim that Lotus could be working on an SUV and a sports saloon.

In addition to the future sporty SUV and saloon, the English brand would be investing in a new platform that will be able to develop new models. Furthermore, Lotus would be trying to develop different types of propulsion, including electric.

The dates being considered are very close to the official start of production at the new Lotus plant in China.