Evija

Make
Lotus
Segment
Coupe

Lotus has been making lots of news lately as it gets back on solid footing. It has a new program to certify used versions of its cars and recently joined the Extreme E racing series. It's been under Geely ownership since 2017 and is now about to get an infusion of cash. According to a Bloomberg report, Geely is trying to raise $1 billion for the British sports car maker.

The Chinese company wants Lotus in its market. And this funding round could do that, especially if Lotus gets valued at $5 billion, which is what Geely is hoping for.

The company's next car is an all-electric hypercar called the Evija, which comes with a range of 215 miles on a vehicle that weighs 3,700 pounds, and has a power out rated at 1,972 hp. This will be followed by a new generation of lightweight sports cars to replace the Elise and Exige.

Geely is also talking about an initial public offering for the legendary company, or just its EV business, which could come as soon as next year. Bloomberg says a listing like that, with both its combustion and EV business (and decades of name recognition), could put the value at $15 billion.

Geely has already been doing well and saw its shares rise 7.6% on the news, its biggest gain since late January.

Geely, owned by Chinese billionaire Li Shufu, also controls Volvo Cars. It owns 51% (a controlling share) of Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering. The deal and its details are ongoing, so the timing and size could change in the near future.

Either of these options would be good for Lotus, a company that built some of the best sports cars ever made in the Elise and Exige. We'd like to see the company get back to that, even if it's electric, after the nearly unobtainable Evija. We don't expect a cheap one, just something reasonable to compete with the Porsche 718 Boxsters and BMW Z4s of the world.