Lotus History

Lotus is a world-renowned sports car and racing car manufacturer. It was once translated as Lotus Sports Car and is headquartered in the UK. In 1948, Lotus was founded by racing driver, pilot and engineer Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman. In the 1980s, Lotus suffered a financial crisis and was subsequently sold to car companies such as General Motors, Toyota and Opel. In 1996, Malaysian automaker Proton Group acquired shares of Lotus Group. In 2006, Youngman Automobile Group signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement with Lotus Engineering and launched a new passenger car brand-Lotus Automobile. In 2015, the Youngman Lotus factory stopped production due to poor management and other reasons, resulting in dealers being unable to deliver vehicles. In 2017, Geely signed an acquisition agreement with Malaysia's DRB-HICOM Group to acquire 49% of Proton Automobile and 51% of Lotus Group, making Lotus a sports car brand under Geely.