Lotus Technology Inc. (LOT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Now Lotus has completed its acquisition of Lotus U.K. That was just very recently, in fact, on August 21. You're accelerating your One Lotus strategy, and with this, bringing together British engineering and sports car DNA of Lotus together with Geely Technology and Chinese manufacturing. When do you expect this integration of One Lotus to show up materially in your finances?

The acquisition and the integration process is, kind of, ongoing. We have been working on this for, kind of, 1.5 years. And, as you mentioned, this marks a very important milestone for us. On August 21, Lotus U.K. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Lotus Tech, unifying the business under a single corporate structure. The acquisition brings Hethel, U.K., and its sports car manufacturing operations fully into the group, along with the more than 70 years history of design, racing, [indiscernible]. This integration enables unified brand, faster decision-making and close collaboration across R&D, manufacturing, supply chain and global sales. So, for us, it is far more than the change in ownership. It's a crucial step in advancing our Focus 2030 strategy. So you are going to see the financial consolidation in the early next year when we, kind of, release our annual results report for 2026. Thank you.

We've heard from Secretary Bessent just this morning, Asia time, talking about the world not accepting China and the sustained $1.2 trillion in the global trade surplus, encouraging G20 countries in terms of reexamining trade with China. I want to ask about the geopolitical impact on your manufacturing, on the acceptance of your vehicles as you sell to international markets like Canada. When you're in North America or even in Europe, how has that -- how have you had to change in terms of your supply chain, your manufacturing? What impact are you seeing at Lotus?

Yes. Trade tensions actually create challenges, particularly on pricing, market access and supply chains. However, our global footprint gives us meaningful flexibility to respond. [indiscernible] just mentioned [indiscernible] with tariffs on China-built EVs remaining elevated, we position models such as Eletre Carbon as low-volume, high-value offerings and Canada, an industry with a different dynamic. Lower EV tariffs have enabled us to launch the Eletre at a more competitive price point. We assess our trade exposure based on where the each vehicle is manufactured and its powertrain type. Our U.K.-built Emira, China-built EVs and hybrid models may be treated differently depending on the market and [indiscernible] this diversified portfolio helps reduce our concentration risk to any single trade policy today. Now that the Lotus U.K. is fully integrated in our group, we can coordinate engineering, manufacturing and supply chain activities more closely across China and the U.K., giving us a more resilient global operational structure.