Lotus has announced it will cut 550 jobs from its workforce across the UK, with the majority of layoffs to be made at the British automaker’s Hethel base in the south of England.
Owned by Chinese auto giant Geely – which also owns brands including Volvo, Polestar and Zeekr, as well as a stake in Mercedes-Benz and Smart – Lotus currently employs around 1300 people in the UK, where more than 40 per cent of its staff will be axed.
In a statement confirming the move, Lotus said the restructuring was prompted by a review of its business objectives following changing market conditions, including multiple layered tariffs on both automotive products and raw materials.
It said the job losses stem from “rapid changes in global policies including tariffs” and added that they will “secure a sustainable future for the company in today’s rapidly evolving automotive environment”.
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The news comes after the automaker’s April 2025 announcement of 270 job cuts at Hethel, where it manufactures the Emira sports car, and ahead of the company’s scheduled earnings presentation later today (August 29).
In its April job cuts announcement, Lotus denied reports it was planning to close the Hethel plant as soon as 2026.
“We have invested significantly in R&D [research and development] and operations in the UK over the past six years. Lotus remains committed to the UK, and its customers, employees, dealers, suppliers, as well as its proud British heritage,” the company said in a statement.
The company added that “the UK is the heart of the Lotus brand” and said Britain was its “largest commercial market in Europe”.
While the Emira is made in the UK alongside the limited-edition Evija hypercar, Lotus builds the Eletre and Emeya electric vehicles (EVs) in China.
Earlier this year Lotus announced plans to move some production to the US to counter significant import tariffs there. North America accounted for around one-fifth of its global volume in 2024, behind Europe (40 per cent) and China (25 per cent).
The brand has suffered from slower demand for its EVs and increasing sales of hybrids in China and the US, with Lotus sales down 42 per cent year-on-year in the first three months of 2025.
While Lotus recorded a $280.2 million loss in the first quarter of 2025, it was a better result than the $394.7m loss it posted in the first three months of 2024.
In Australia, Lotus has sold only 41 vehicles so far this year to July, down 65.5 per cent on the 119 vehicles it sold in the same period last year.