Old brand reinvents itself to tackle BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche: How Lotus intends to shake-up the premium electric and performance car markets

Forget everything you think you know about Lotus.

The Chinese-owned British brand is in the midst of a dramatic reinvention and has set its sights on challenging the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, while also still competing against traditional rivals like Aston Martin and Lamborghini. 

It has already been well-documented that since coming under the control of Chinese automotive giant Geely, Lotus has switched its focus to an electric future with only the Emira sports car remaining with an internal combustion engine. It’s also ditching its focus on lightweight, simplistic sports cars in favour of more complex but also more luxurious vehicles.

Two such models are now available in Australia, the Eletre SUV and Emeya sports sedan, with the latter hitting our shores approximately nine months ahead of original scheduling. Despite both models starting at more than $189k and with the all-electric, premium presentation Lotus Australia leaders, Lee Knappett and Richard Gibbs, are confident this radical transformation is the solution for the brand.

Knappett said they have already seen a dramatic shift in customers even with the launch of the Emira sports car, which is a more subtle change for the brand but still offers a more polished and premium driving experience than the likes of the Elise and Exige that came before it. He believes this opens the door for Lotus to compete against much bigger rivals.

“The Emira was a big shift for us, really, that was two years ago, and you'd think that that product, if any, it was a natural progression from what we had previously, but we saw 85 per cent of the audience were net new, customers with net new in the brand based on the 200 cars we sold,” Knappett revealed. 

“So Emira, absolutely it moved the needle, and it meant we could appeal to a broader audience and we could take some market share from some other brands, such as BMW and Porsche, et cetera, and bring some customers across from there. Whereas before we didn't have that, we had a niche of customers; absolutely.

Lotus Eletre and Emeya

“Now we've rolled into a space where there is another group of customers we need to reach, probably different from Emira customers, share some attributes but different again. We're just hard at work, how to make sure that we tailor our brand message, stay true to our authentic values around the, for the driver.”

Gibbs believes the new Lotus models should have a wider appeal than anything the brand has offered before, with the Eletre able to go up against the likes of the BMW iX and Mercedes-AMG EQE, while the Emeya is a direct challenger to the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT.

For a brand more used to competing against Ferrari on and off the racetrack, at least historically, Gibbs is confident the brand can expand its reach.

“Well, there’s obviously competitor products out there that you think, well, somebody who would have considered, say, buying a [BMW] iX M60, we need them to at least consider a Lotus,“ he said. “Same with the Porsche variants, and the like. Mercedes, you know AMG ranges, the Audi e-tron ranges, so the sorts of customers who are going to buy those, they come from a very wide demographic, really wide demographic, you know, whether you're looking at socio-economic, professional industry lines, gender. I think it's almost like there are no rules anymore.”

Lotus Emira

But that’s not all. Knappett added that despite the more ‘mainstream luxury’ approach, he’s still confident that Lotus will crossover against potential high-end buyers, such as those considering an Aston Martin or Lamborghini. Specifically, he believes the smaller size of Lotus will appeal to buyers looking to stand out and be different.

“I think the one thing we have as a brand as well, outside of that, you mentioned the Mercedes, BMW, Audi, etc,” Knappett said. “Someone who's maybe downsizing, if you like, from the half a million dollar plus SUVs, the [Aston Martin] DBXs, the [Lamborghini] Urus, then I think that Lotus still has a rich enough market history and heritage, and it's still bespoke enough, to appeal to those kinds of people who want to be individual. They buy a DBX or a Urus because when they come to a golf club it's the only one in the car park, for example. Yeah, I think Lotus still sits there as a brand to appeal to those kinds of clients as well.”

For the next year the Lotus Australia line-up will be focused on the Emira, Eletre and Emeya, but a new Porsche Macan-sized electric SUV will come in 2026 and an electric sports car is due by 2027, which will complete the brand’s so-called ‘Vision 80’ plan.

Lotus Eletre

So where will Lotus be in a few years, sales-wise? Both Knappett and Gibbs are bullish on the brand’s chances, with 2024 sales already up more than 50 per cent in the first half of the year with the arrival of the Emeya and Eletre to likely add to that growth.

Gibbs is bold enough to predict potential sales figures beyond 1000 per year in Australia, which is a huge increase from the 183 cars it sold in 2023. 

“The salesman in me says we're never putting caps on, we'll sell as many as the market wants,” he said. “There is an expectation from global Lotus down that the Asia-Pacific region as a whole  will contribute 10 per cent of  the global volume. And we would be expected to make an order between one and two percent of that. 

“So, you know, realistically at the end game of Vision 80 we're talking four digit numbers  in terms of volume. I mean, last year we did 180 with Emira. We think we'll go north of 200 this year in terms of the addition of the battery electrics … We're seeing growth and with products to come.”