"The development of Lotus does not rely on inventory pressure or price reduction. We are more focused on selling more models in a wider market, entering more stores, and gradually achieving a ramp up in sales and scale. Throughout the entire ramp up process, we have not acted in any way to pressure inventory or targets." Recently, Li Kunlong, CFO of Lotus Technology, emphasized the company's development path in an interview with the Daily Economic News reporter.
Recently, Lotus Technologies (NASDAQ: LOT, hereinafter referred to as Lotus) submitted a very impressive first quarter report. According to financial report data, in the first quarter of 2024, Lotus achieved a revenue of $173 million, a year-on-year increase of 811%, and a gross profit margin of 18%, an increase of 3 percentage points compared to 2023 (15%).
Based on the performance of the first quarter, Li Kunlong holds an optimistic attitude towards the development of Lotus for the whole year of 2024. "The first quarter report is the beginning, and the second and third quarters will be more worth looking forward to as we enter more markets with more models." Li Kunlong told reporters that in terms of gross profit margin, Lotus' goal for this year is to "maintain 17% and impact 20%.".
Overseas market delivery accounted for over 75% in the first quarter
As an established luxury sports car company, Lotus was born in the UK in 1948 and was once on par with Ferrari and Porsche, and was known as the world's three major supercar brands. It was once translated as Lotus Sports Car. In 2017, Lotus was acquired by Geely Holding Group and launched the "Vision80" ten-year brand revival plan in 2018, announcing a comprehensive transformation towards electrification and intelligence, becoming the world's first "crab eating" ultra luxury brand. In February 2024, Lotus successfully listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York.
Official information shows that currently, Lotus is selling models including pure electric supercar EVIJA, pure electric intelligent Hyper SUV ELETRE, pure electric supercar EMEYA Fanhua, and all-around road sports car EMIRA.
According to financial report data, Lotus delivered a total of 2194 vehicles in the first quarter of this year. Among them, overseas market sales account for over 75% of Lotus's overall delivery volume; The Chinese market has achieved a year-on-year growth rate of over 100%.
When it comes to the reasons for delivery volume and revenue growth, Li Kunlong believes that the core lies in Lotus gradually entering more markets. "In the first quarter, we had more markets, more car models, more product test drives, and received more orders from different markets. The entire positive cycle began, which is the most basic development or driving force." Li Kunlong explained, "In addition to sales and revenue, our global layout is also relatively stable, and the proportion of sales is relatively healthy, without the risk of a single market, distributed relatively evenly."
It is reported that in the first quarter of this year, after the Chinese and European markets, Lotus has started accepting ELETRE orders in more than ten new markets in the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas; At the beginning of this year, EMIRA also began delivering to customers in the United States; In addition, Lotus expects the company to expand its sales of EMEYA Fanhua to new markets starting in the third quarter of this year.
"In the long run, the 'Vision80' strategy has two key factors. Firstly, it expands the product matrix to include everyday vehicles such as SUVs, GT, Sedan, and Crossover."; Next is the transformation towards electrification and intelligence. As our products expand, the areas we can sell will become larger, and the brand influence will also be greater, and the positive cycle effect will gradually be reflected Li Kunlong stated that in the future, Lotus will also launch two new pure electric models, including a D-class SUV and a pure electric sports car, forming a "3+3" product matrix, which includes three sports cars and three daily life vehicles.
Cash flow is expected to become positive in the fourth quarter of 2025 or in 2026
According to Li Kunlong, under the joint influence of factors such as accelerated global layout and increased delivery volume, Lotus aims to achieve a gross profit margin of over 30% by 2028. In addition, Lotus' cash flow is expected to turn positive in the fourth quarter of 2025 or 2026.
Generally speaking, gross profit margin can reflect the profitability of a company's operations. If the gross profit margin is too low, it indicates that the enterprise may encounter problems such as competition in sales prices and the need to improve cost control capabilities, which will affect the operational efficiency of the enterprise.
"The improvement of gross profit must have a scale effect, and the higher the scale effect, the higher the gross profit margin. At the same time, we will have more and more high gross profit businesses, including high-end selection and matching businesses, so the gross profit margin will only continue to rise." Li Kunlong said, "The true moat or core competitiveness of Lotus Technology is that we have placed our production base in China, and we rely on Geely's procurement and manufacturing capabilities in China. With relatively low costs, we can have more gross profit space than others."
He cited the two factories of Lotus China and the UK as examples, saying, "We have found that the cost of making cars in China is low, and the cost of procurement is low, at least 20% -30% lower than in the UK and Europe.".
It is understood that Lotus' production base in China is located in Wuhan Economic Development Zone, with a planned annual production capacity of about 150000 vehicles. Currently, models such as ELETRE and EMEYA have been put into production.
It is worth mentioning that in its first quarter report, Lotus mentioned that the growth in revenue was mainly due to the growth of high gross profit businesses in research and development services and accessories, as well as the light asset model. Regarding the light asset model, Li Kunlong explained that this is mainly reflected in three aspects: "Firstly, except for the Chinese market which is directly operated, we continue to use the dealer model in overseas markets. The management structure and model are also different, and this model is light asset. Secondly, in terms of car manufacturing, our electric vehicle manufacturing is empowered by Geely, which is better for us than others. Thirdly, in terms of technology output, because our intelligent driving is globalized, based on our globalization, different car companies may want us to help them develop, and this income is high gross profit for us." Li Kunlong told reporters.
Regarding the expected sales proportion of Lotus in various markets in the future, Li Kunlong stated that by 2028, the sales proportion in the Chinese market should be between 25% and 30%; The UK and Europe will account for approximately 25% to 30%; The Americas are expected to account for 20% to 25%; Asia Pacific and the Middle East may account for 10% to 15%. "The three major markets should each account for about one-third, which is the healthiest globalization model and there is less risk of a single market," said Li Kunlong.