Editor | Klein
Produced by | Road Coffee in
Lotus Cars is trending again due to executive remarks.
On June 3, CEO Feng Qingfeng threw out the "1.8-ton watershed" theory during an interview, stating "If the weight exceeds 1.8 tons, it's a junk car." This statement quickly topped the Weibo trending list, becoming the rare No. 1 trending topic in the automotive circle. As the controversy spread, Lotus officially abandoned the Vision80 full electrification strategy, switching to a "Focus 2030" route running fuel, hybrid, and pure electricity lines in parallel.
From being acquired by Geely in June 2017 to now, Lotus has gone through nine full years. But there aren't many product highlights people remember; executive "extreme statements" and marketing failures often go viral. This Sino-foreign "hybrid" has "mixed" for nine years, and it seems to have only "mixed" for nothing?
The Divide of the "Junk Car" Theory
New energy vehicles are getting heavier, which is indeed a hot topic in the industry. If Feng Qingfeng only advocated that pure electric sports cars should focus on weight reduction, there would be no problem. But his expression was too aggressive, and the "targeting scope" was too broad.
More awkwardly, Lotus's own pure electric sedan Emeya's curb weight is 2455-2590 kg, and the limited supercar Evija also reached 1887 kg, both exceeding 1.8 tons. Performance models of the brother brand Zeekr are also "over the limit".
Considering the context, Feng Qingfeng probably meant that pure electric sports cars are hard to replicate the driving feel of traditional fuel sports cars, and the contradiction between performance and vehicle weight is sharper on electric vehicles, so Lotus abandoned the pure electric sports car route.
The corporate strategic judgment itself is beyond reproach, but making such "self-torn" extreme statements will inevitably provoke controversy. Judging by the result of topping the trending list and netizen mockery, this wave of "public opinion setup" clearly failed.
Looking back at Lotus's nine years, it is regrettable.
This brand known for extreme lightweighting, aerodynamics, and pure handling, instead of letting new products regain glory, relied on executive "extreme statements" and marketing failures to go viral frequently.
Feng Qingfeng's sharp remarks are not just this time.
In February 2025, he posted on Weibo saying "Only Lotus and Porsche are fast on corners," at that time Lei Jun claimed Xiaomi SU7 Ultra is "The fastest four-door mass-produced car on the surface," which was interpreted by netizens as a subtle mockery of Xiaomi, triggering Mi fan counterattacks.
More absurdly, some netizens mistakenly took "Lotus Holdings" (seller of MSG) as Lotus Cars, ran to Lotus MSG Douyin account to attack, forcing them to issue a video clarification: "I'm an honest man, I don't sell sports cars."
In July 2024, Feng Qingfeng promised Lotus "Positioned as a million-level luxury brand, will never participate in price wars". Only half a year later, new Eletre and Emeya prices dropped significantly, old owners collectively protested. At the same time, Eletre Chinese name "Summer Blossom" was boycotted due to homophone with "Sliding Down", Lotus was forced to apologize and stop using it.
The 2023 failures were even denser: Wuhan Lotus test drive cars sold as new cars, Eletre reduced configuration three times without informing owners, Suzhou Lotus center held a 50 million capital verification matchmaking event.
With so many "viral" events, it is hard not to feel that this enterprise has formed a path dependence relying on extreme remarks to grab eyeballs.For new brands, this may be an adventure under involution; but for luxury brands, this method is extremely damaging to the brand.
Forced Strategic Shift
Accompanying these viral events is tepid performance.
Lotus was acquired by Malaysia Proton Group in 1996, switched to Geely in June 2017. Before Geely took over, Lotus annual sales were only over 1,600 units. In 2018, Lotus released the Vision80 strategy, promising full electrification by 2027, and subsequently launched three pure electric models: Evija, Eletre, and Emeya.
In 2024, Lotus annual sales reached 12,134 units, up 74% year-on-year, achieving the best in history. But this momentum could not be maintained, 2025 full year sales were only 6,520 units, down 46% year-on-year. From 2021 to 2025, cumulative losses exceeded 3.1 billion USD.
Low sales forced the enterprise to shift strategy, in 2024 the official team had actually abandoned the full electrification strategy.
According to the new Focus 2030 strategic requirements, in the short term the enterprise needs to achieve a production mix of about 60% plug-in hybrids and 40% pure electricity. Feng Qingfeng predicted 2026 sales will reach over 10,000 units, and claimed that benefiting from Geely system support, through platform sharing, joint procurement, collaborative R&D, annual sales of 30,000 units can break even.
"Mixed" for Nothing?
Reviewing Lotus's transformation, the failure is essentially the result of "era misjudgment" combined with "structural vulnerability".
Lotus Cars deciding on a full pure electricization strategy at that time was not "radical", because this was almost the "political correctness" of the automotive industry at the time, transnational giants successively threw out more and more radical electrification transformation goals, Lotus can at most be considered a "follower".
In the past two years, transnational giants successively withdrew/adjusted electrification transformation goals, indicating that this is an "era misjudgment", not the mistake of Lotus Cars alone.
But the problem is, everyone being wrong doesn't mean everyone pays the same price. When the whole industry collectively readjusts strategy, different brands' risk tolerance and room for error correction vary greatly. BBA also paid a high price for failed transformation, but still have the fuel vehicle base to support them and still have room for adjustment.
As a small-scale brand, Lotus Cars does not have such large room for maneuver. If not for major shareholder Geely's electrification transformation success in recent years, Lotus Cars probably would not have had the chance for this strategic shift at all.
Specifically,Pure electrification and Lotus brand gene's "lightweighting" exist an irreconcilable contradiction. This contradiction exists in other brands known for performance, but no brand is more passive than Lotus Cars, but coincidentally it chose full electrification with an "all-in" posture at the very beginning, even leaving no transition space for itself.
Fair to say, Eletre and Emeya's chassis tuning and aerodynamic design are not inferior in the same class, but Lotus did not convert these technical advantages into brand stories, instead using "Junk Car Theory" such a rough way to self-denial, this is the biggest waste.
Another layer is that Lotus Cars, this Sino-foreign "hybrid", has inherent defects.
Looking now, a sports car brand famous globally + China leading new energy vehicle technology/supply chain, simply a "heaven chosen" match; but at that time, this model was not accepted by the market, the market viewed Lotus still in the "Geely rebadged"/"Zeekr rebadged" stage, for it obviously had no upward pulling power at all, instead more of a drag.
A luxury sports car brand with no leading story to tell, wanting to be reborn is hard as climbing to heaven, so it is no wonder Lotus Cars chooses to grab eyeballs with "extreme statements".
However, the situation is changing. The global automotive market has reached a deep consensus that "transformation must rely on the Chinese supply chain", and Chinese local brands' high-end transformation has also successfully achieved a counterattack against transnational giants. The global frenzy in grabbing Zeekr 9X, Lynk & Co 900 and other models means that at this time, the label of "Zeekr rebadged" is even a weapon for Lotus Cars to pass the level.
Nine years later, this "hybrid" Lotus Cars, its bloodline might be more "noble" than any pure-blooded transnational giant. At this time, stepping away from pure electricity obsession, turning to hybrid and fuel, instead might be its best time window.
However, if continuing to rely on "extreme statements" to grab eyeballs, instead of using products to rebuild the brand faith of "lightweighting" and "pure handling", any good window will be wasted. Lotus does not need trending topics, but a car that makes people forget trending topics.
