This prestigious award is a first for Lotus Cars.
“The future is bright for one of the world’s most iconic car brands”, these are the words of Rob Gill, Motors Editor at The Sun, as Lotus was honored as ‘Manufacturer of the Year’ at the News UK Motor Awards 2021.
Since the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group of China took majority ownership of Lotus Cars from Proton the brand has been moving up the segment with better sales and global brand recognition.
This Chinese automotive company also owns Volvo Cars and Proton invested about USD1.9 billion to revive the British sports car brand.
With the launch of the Lotus Emira, a brand new model and nameplate under the Geely ownership, Lotus Cars has been catapulted into the sports car limelight with overwhelming demand and media spotlight. The Emira is also the last petrol powered Lotus model.
PRESS RELEASE: The prestigious award was presented by respected political journalist and Times Radio presenter John Pienaar at an exclusive ceremony, and collected on behalf of Lotus Cars by Design Director Russell Carr.
The judges included a number of highly respected motoring writers and commentators. Together they felt Lotus was a worthy winner as it has… “continued to up its game in the last 12 months, making impressive additions to its range and pioneering exciting new product development”.
On behalf of the judges, Rob Gill commented: “We are starting to see the first harvest from Geely’s huge investment in Lotus and, wow, the Evija and Emira are simply sensational. The Evija is the perfect blend of art and science, the Emira is a shrink-wrapped supercar, and the transformation of the historic Hethel HQ will warm the heart of every true car fan.”
He concluded: “The workforce has doubled to 1,700 people, Delia Smith is running the kitchen, and the famous old fountains have been switched back on again. The future is bright for one of the world’s most iconic car brands.”
Matt Windle, Managing Director, Lotus, said: “This is a massive honour for Lotus Cars, and a tribute to everyone working tirelessly at our facilities all round the world to transform our business and brand.
That transformation got underway with the launch of the world’s first British electric hypercar which is the Evija and was followed by its younger sibling, the all new model called ‘Emira’ revealed in July to a reception that has been nothing less than sensational.
Things are moving fast at Lotus, so watch this space and there is so much more to come.”
Collecting the award, Russell Carr commented: “Rob Gill’s reaction when he visited Hethel recently suggested we are doing something right, he seemed very impressed with all we have achieved, from the new design language on our cars to the refurbishment of the site.
I didn’t expect it to lead to this wonderful award, but we’re very honoured and proud that all the hard work and achievements of Lotus Cars in the last couple of years have been recognised in this way.”
The Motor Awards is in its fourth year and brings together the collective expertise and audiences of The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, Driving.co.uk and talkSPORT. Rob Walsh, Automotive Director, News UK, commented: “Motors is a cherished subject here at News UK, a love shared by our editorial teams and our readers and listeners.
The ambition is therefore to celebrate motoring best in class and support the automotive industry during challenging economic times.”
