Chinese-backed carmaker Lotus ‘studying’ US factory
吉利旗下路特斯“研究”在美国设厂
UK-based sports brand expects to outgrow its Wuhan manufacturing site, chief says
落户美国将突显这个英国跑车品牌的转型之大。此前，在母公司吉利资助下，该公司在武汉开设了一家生产电动车型的工厂。
Lotus is “studying” plans to open a US factory as the Chinese-backed carmaker is seeking to ramp up production beyond its UK homebase.The plant would be the third for the Norfolk-based sports car brand, after its owner Geely funded a factory in the Chinese town of Wuhan to produce Lotus’s first core electric model, the Eletre. The Wuhan plant, which was opened this year, has a capacity of 150,000 cars a year.
路特斯(Lotus)正在“研究”开设一家美国工厂的计划，这家获得中资支持的汽车制造商正寻求在总部所在地英国以外的地区扩大生产。
“We want to expand our capacity somewhere else,” Lotus Group CEO Qingfeng Feng said on the sidelines of the Goodwood Festival of Speed on Thursday. The company was “studying” US options along with other potential countries, he added. A decision is likely before the end of the year.
拟开设的工厂将是这个总部位于诺福克郡(Norfolk)的跑车品牌的第三家工厂，此前在母公司吉利(Geely)资助下，该公司在中国的武汉开设了一家工厂，生产路特斯的首款纯电动车型，Eletre。武汉工厂于今年投产，年产能15万辆。
A US site would mark the scale of the transformation of the brand, which for decades only made hand-built sports cars in the East Anglian city of Norwich, 160km north-east of London. Geely, which acquired a 51 per cent stake in the company in 2017, has invested more than £3bn in the British carmaker.
“我们希望在别的什么地方扩大我们的产能，”路特斯集团首席执行官冯擎峰周四在出席古德伍德速度节(Goodwood Festival of Speed)间隙表示。该公司正在“研究”美国选项及其他潜在国家，他补充道。今年年底之前可能会作出决定。
