Who Owns Lotus? Geely and Lotus Technology Explained
Lotus is owned by the Chinese carmaker Geely. Geely has controlled the British sports car maker since 2017, but the structure behind it has changed a lot in the last couple of years: all of Lotus’s businesses now sit under Lotus Technology, a Nasdaq-listed company that Geely controls.
| Lotus at a glance | Detail |
|---|---|
| Owner today | Lotus Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: LOT) |
| Controlled by | Geely (Zhejiang Geely Holding Group) |
| Chinese-controlled since | 2017 |
| Previous owners | Colin Chapman, General Motors, Romano Artioli, Proton |
| Sports cars built in | Hethel, Norfolk, UK |
| Electric SUV and four-door built in | Wuhan, China |
Who has owned Lotus over the years?
Lotus was founded by Colin Chapman, who owned it until his death in 1982. After a period of financial instability it was bought by General Motors in 1986, sold on to Italian businessman Romano Artioli in 1993, and then bought in 1996 by Malaysian carmaker Proton, part of the DRB-Hicom group, which owned it for more than two decades.
How Geely took control in 2017
In 2017, DRB-Hicom sold Lotus in its entirety for a reported £100 million. Geely took 51%, and the Malaysian group Etika Automotive, linked to Proton’s major shareholder, took the remaining 49%. Geely’s investment, which followed its success reviving Volvo, paid for Lotus’s shift from a low-volume sports car maker towards electric cars.
The 2025 to 2026 restructuring: enter Lotus Technology
To understand today’s structure, it helps to know Lotus was really two businesses. Lotus UK (formally Lotus Advance Technologies) built the sports cars and hypercars at Hethel in Norfolk and ran Lotus Engineering, the consultancy arm. Lotus Technology, set up by Geely in 2018 and headquartered in Wuhan, China, was the separate company developing Lotus’s luxury electric cars. It listed on Nasdaq in February 2024.
As part of the deal that took Lotus Technology to the stock market, put options were agreed that let Geely and Etika sell their Lotus UK stakes to it. Geely exercised its option in April 2025 and Etika followed in June 2025. The deal completed in 2026, so Lotus Technology now owns 100% of Lotus UK, and the whole business operates as one company under the Lotus name. Lotus Technology says the aim is to unify the brand globally, streamline decision-making and speed up collaboration between the British and Chinese sides of the business.
So who owns Lotus today?
Lotus is now a single business, Lotus Technology, whose shares trade on Nasdaq under the ticker LOT. Geely-affiliated entities still hold majority control, which is why Lotus is counted as a Geely brand alongside Volvo, Polestar and Smart. Etika’s 49% stake in the UK business was also bought out by Lotus Technology as part of the same deal.
Is Lotus still a British car maker?
In the ways that matter most for the sports cars, yes. Lotus’s headquarters and sports car factory are at Hethel in Norfolk, where its sports cars and hypercars are still built. The newer electric models are a different story: the Eletre SUV and the Emeya four-door grand tourer are built in Wuhan, China. It’s a British brand with global ownership, much like Bentley, owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, or Jaguar, part of India’s Tata Group.
Is Lotus a Chinese company?
It depends what you mean by the question. Lotus is British by founding, heritage and, for its sports cars, manufacturing. It is Chinese by ownership: the ultimate controlling party is Geely, and the electric car side of the business is based in China. The most accurate short answer is that Lotus is a British brand with Chinese control, in the same way that Mini is a British brand owned by Germany’s BMW.
Lotus and Geely’s other European brands
Lotus is one of several European brands that Geely owns or holds a stake in, including Volvo Cars, Polestar, Smart and the London taxi maker LEVC, plus a minority stake in Aston Martin. Our guide to Chinese-owned European car brands covers them all.
