Lotus completes billion dollar factory in China, rolls first all-electric Eletre off assembly line

Sport and racing car manufacturer Lotus Cars announced it has officially completed its $1.2 billion production facility in Wuhan, China where several of the company’s future BEVs will be built. The first to arrive will be the Lotus Eletre, whose first unit rolled off the assembly line as part of its development toward actual production.

Lotus Cars currently exists as a segment of Group Lotus, which also includes Lotus Engineering and Lotus Tech. The entire group has been majority owned (51%) by Chinese multinational conglomerate Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. since 2017.

In early 2021, Geely announced a development plan with Alpine as part of a joint venture with Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance to develop electric vehicles and the platforms they will sit upon. This strategy builds upon the 800V Electric Premium Architecture (EPA) platform development led by Lotus.

In April of 2021, the Uk-based automaker announced it would produce electric vehicles only by 2028, sharing a timeline to deliver four bespoke EVs beginning this year:

• 2022 – Debut an E-segment SUV codenamed Type 132
• 2023 – Launch an E-segment four-door coupe, Type 133
• 2025 – Follow with the Type 134, a new D-segment SUV
• 2026 – Launch an all-new electric sports car, Type 135

The type 132 became known as the Lotus Eletre “hyper-SUV,” which debuted in the UK in late March and more recently in China in early June. This will be the first Lotus EV to sit upon the EPA platform and will be build at a new facility in Wuhan which has just cut its opening ribbon.

With factory complete Lotus Eletre production imminent

According to Chinese media outlet Macau Business News, Lotus Cars officially completed its new production facility in Wuhan in the central Hubei province on July 15. The EV factory covers an area of roughly 250 acres and is located in the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone – home to ten other automobile manufacturers and over auto parts companies that produce nearly 1 million vehicles per year.

It is here that parent company Geely says that three new all-electric models will be built, beginning the the Lotus Eletre. The facility’s designed production capacity is 150,000 units per year.

Additionally, CnEVPost has pointed out that the very first Eletre has rolled off the assembly line in Wuhan, although Lotus has not shared which production phase the BEV is currently in. Nevertheless, officials from the Hubei province attended a ceremony alongside executives from both Geely and Lotus Cars to celebrate the accomplishment.

Chinese consumers have been able to put their deposit down on a Lotus Eletre since June 1st for 5,000 yuan ($740). Deliveries are expect to begin sometime at the start of 2023 and the very earliest.