as the manufacturer sought to ‘restructure’ in the face of a £145.1m loss. Off the back of a bumper start to 2023, it suggested at the time that its short-term forecast was much rosier - and this has come to pass. It has just released full-year results which confirm that it achieved revenues of $679m having delivered 6,790 cars in the last 12 months, the most in its 76-year history. But it also posted a net loss of $750m .
Nevertheless, Lotus insisted the ‘results reflect steady progress in the Company’s execution of its Vision80 strategy’ - a strategy which anticipated annual sales of 150,000 cars by 2028. Needless to say, it was largely predicated on the success of an incoming lineup of new all-electric vehicles, and in this respect at least the firm can point to the early impression made by the launch of the Eletre last year.
Additionally, in February of this year, Lotus celebrated its public listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York via a special purpose acquisition company , which,, is said to have raised in the region of $880m . At the time, the manufacturer insisted that it was ‘ideally positioned to seize the tremendous opportunity in the fast-growing and underserved luxury EV market’.
Lotus made no specific mention of the Emira in its rundown, except to acknowledge that ‘sportscars’ still account for 1,150 of the deliveries it made in the final quarter of 2023 - itself a 29 per cent increase on the previous three months . Back in December, we reported that the i4 derivative had been had finally been certified by the California Air Resources Board , meaning that it ought to start finding its way to American customers.