Lotus and Nissan To Shed Staff Amid EV Downturn

Lotus is facing strong business headwinds and is shedding up to 200 more staff in the UK. It has already undergone two rounds of redundancies, one last year and one earlier this year.

The cutbacks affect Lotus Cars which makes the Emira sports car, Evija electric hypercar and Type 135 project. The latter is an electric replacement for the Emira and Elise.

The company will retrain some staff “to retain specific skills and knowledge within the business”.

Redundancies appear necessary to cost cutting, on the back of the worldwide slowdown in demand for full EVs. Cuts are necessary for the company to become “leaner and more competitive in today’s market”.

Meantime, Lotus Technology in China, which makes the Eletre SUV and Emeya saloon, both full electrics, is about to release its third-quarter financial results. The first half of the year saw a net loss of $460m, and midway through the year the firm dramatically lowered sales targets from 55,500 to 12,000 globally. This followed the implementation of protectionist tariffs in the US and European markets. 

Lotus Cars said it remains fully committed to the UK as the centre of its sports car endeavours.

And in a similar vein, Nissan is shedding 9000 jobs worldwide and cutting production by 20 per cent to five millions units annually following a dramatic 300 per cent fall in pretax profit for the year. Cutbacks aim to reduce costs by $NZ4.3b after an 80 per cent drop in revenue to $NZ65b for the year.

Nissan currently employs 133,580 staff around the world, with roughly 6000 at its Sunderland plant, where it builds Qashqai and Juke. Where the cuts will be made is unclear at present. Rapid changes in world markets are responsible for the shortfall, according to Nissan’s CEO Makoto Uchida. 

Nissan is still promising 30 new future models but not before 2026 as intended. Uchida said that, like Suzuki, Nissan will monitor the market before making any firm decisions on EV release dates.

The firm is strengthening ties with partners Renault, Mitsubishi and Honda to streamline its operations and cut costs further. The CEO has promised to halve his salary, as will other top executives, in a gesture of good will.

Uchida said that Nissan will restructure its business to become leaner and more resilient. He added that the company must respond more quickly to changes in the business environment. 

“We aim to enhance the competitiveness of our products…and set Nissan back on a path of growth.”