Author | Zhou Zhiyu
&#34;Is it difficult to install a refrigerator, color TV, and a large sofa? It's not. What's difficult is making the drive feel thrilling and liberating,&#34; said Lotus Cars CEO Feng Qingfeng after the new car launch.
On the evening of March 29, Lotus launched its first hybrid SUV, with the pre-sale price reduced by 20,000 to 30,000 yuan compared to earlier figures, and all optional features turned into standard equipment. Feng Qingfeng also candidly told Wall Street Insights, &#34;Expanding the product line is aimed at improving our financial situation,&#34; adding that hybrid technology will be a technical route Lotus adheres to in the long term.
Wall Street Insights has learned that Lotus Cars also has a series of plans for launching hybrid products.
Hybrid technology is becoming a technical direction that high-performance brands cannot avoid. This year, F1 initiated new regulations for the 2026 season, where the power contribution from electric motors in the power unit will be close to half of the total output, with fuel and electricity being almost equally balanced. This top-tier motorsport, considered a barometer of automotive technology, has officially elevated hybrids from a transitional solution to a competitive standard.
The old playbook of ultra-luxury brands using scarcity for pricing, brand narratives to maintain premiums, and a single powertrain to sell globally is becoming ineffective. Lotus's SUV is a direct response to this turning point.
<h2>Lotus's Survival Arithmetic</h2>
Lotus needs this car more urgently than the outside world realizes.
In the Win26 strategy, Feng Qingfeng set a clear target for himself: strive for positive EBITDA and operating cash flow by 2026. In his exchanges with Wall Street Insights and others, he reiterated that this goal remains unchanged.
Feng Qingfeng pointed out, &#34;If we only position ourselves as a standalone sports car company, our product line would be too narrow.&#34;
Ferrari created the Purosangue, and Lamborghini has the Urus. Ultra-luxury brands are collectively seeking cash flow from SUVs, and Lotus is no exception.
Every commercial decision for this SUV points to the same thing: improving conversion efficiency.
Feng Qingfeng provided a figure: customer online touchpoints have lengthened from 14 to 24 to form a single conversion. The decision-making chain is becoming longer, and each additional optional item adds another layer of hesitation. By eliminating all optional configurations and maximizing standard features, the aim is to &#34;not let users make choices anymore,&#34; thereby shortening the decision path.
With a price cut of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, how can they maintain gross margins? Feng Qingfeng's answer lies in the GEELY AUTO ecosystem. With shared factories and common electronic architectures, Lotus Technology's most recent financial report showed its gross margin rebounding to 8%.
On the product level, Feng Qingfeng has placed his bets on differentiation in areas consumers cannot see.
900 horsepower is not the limit of power, but the limit of handling. Lotus has built the 2,000-horsepower Evija and has the capability, but intentionally limited this model to 900 horsepower because it would be difficult for a driver to &#34;hold&#34; a 2.5-ton vehicle at 2,000 horsepower. The jointly developed LTS exclusive tires with Pirelli have a narrower tread, increasing adhesion by 10% while reducing rolling resistance by 20%. The braking distance is 60 cm shorter than that of the Porsche Cayenne; this is not just due to a change in brake discs, but the result of the combined tuning of lightweight construction, aerodynamics, tires, and the chassis.
Feng Qingfeng shared a detail. He visited a Canadian supplier and saw them using structural engineering to make steel as light as aluminum, with even higher strength. &#34;There are only two weapons for weight reduction: materials and technology.&#34; The car body has been reduced by over a hundred kilograms, and every kilogram costs money.
&#34;You cannot see how much a 48V active stabilizer bar is worth. Are refrigerators and color TVs difficult? We are doing the difficult things.&#34;
Feng Qingfeng's words might sound like product faith, but they also represent a pricing strategy. Lotus Cars sells an experience that other car manufacturers cannot directly price and that drivers can only obtain through direct driving. The problem is, things that cannot be priced are also the hardest to communicate.
Global volume expansion is the premise for this logic to hold true. With a debut in China and a simultaneous launch in the Middle East, five of the top ten dealers in Canada have already been contacted following the reduction in tariffs, and Europe will follow in the second half of the year. Feng Qingfeng has proposed the &#34;3331&#34; strategy, targeting a sales ratio of 3:3:3:1 across the US, Europe, China, and other regions.
User profiles are also changing. In the past, they were business owners and first-generation entrepreneurs. Since pre-orders opened, financial executives have begun to enter, and the repurchase rate among existing owners has reached 20%.
The delivery rhythm has also changed. Feng Qingfeng said they had previously suffered from organizing production only after receiving orders, which resulted in a flood of orders and delivery wait times extending to 800 days. This time, they have prepared inventory in advance, with stock available in stores.
The goal is to use the cash flow from SUVs to fund the R&amp;D of the next generation of sports cars and enter a positive cycle before the financial window closes. This is the survival arithmetic for a company and a structural challenge facing the entire ultra-luxury segment.
<h2>The Old Playbook for Ultra-luxury Is No Longer Working</h2>
Currently, ultra-luxury brands are experiencing market headwinds.
Porsche's sales in China in 2025 were 41,900 units, a year-on-year decrease of 26%. Four years ago, this figure was close to 100,000 units. China has fallen from being the world's largest market to third. The number of dealerships has been cut from 150 to 114, with plans to further reduce it to 80 by the end of 2026. The full-year operating profit margin is about 2%, the lowest in recent years.
Porsche is not an isolated case. Bentley, Ferrari, and Lamborghini have recorded three consecutive years of declining sales in China: Bentley sold 2,030 units, a year-on-year decrease of 13%; Ferrari sold 664 units, a decrease of 15%; and Lamborghini sold 512 units, a decrease of 7%. Data from the CPCA branch shows that in the first 11 months of 2025, cumulative sales of domestic luxury brands were approximately 2.201 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 10.6%. Full-year retail sales of imported cars were 540,000 units, a sharp drop of 33% year-on-year.
It is not that people are no longer buying expensive cars. Sales of plug-in hybrids priced above 400,000 yuan once recorded year-on-year growth exceeding 90%, with AITO M9 selling over 10,000 units per month and the NIO ET9 beginning deliveries. The money is still there, but its flow has changed, shifting from brand premiums to technological experience.
Feng Qingfeng sees a contrasting trend: &#34;This year, there has been a very obvious trend towards personalized consumption.&#34; Cars on the road are becoming increasingly uniform, which in turn creates a demand for differentiation. He is betting on this niche. However, he is also very clear-headed: &#34;We are not making cars for everyone; we are making cars for those who are passionate.&#34; If they compromise to make refrigerators, color TVs, and large sofas, &#34;it would no longer be Lotus, and Lotus would truly lose itself.&#34;
New Chinese EV startups have made stacking horsepower, computing power, and screens the default language of the industry. Consumers have been trained to buy cars based on spec sheets.
Chassis tuning, lightweight design, and aerodynamics—which are the true technological barriers for ultra-luxury brands—are precisely the most difficult aspects to quantify and communicate. The biggest selling points can only be felt on mountain roads, while competitors' selling points are clearly visible on their spec sheets.
Feng Qingfeng himself has felt this change: &#34;In the past, perhaps 14 touchpoints would generate a conversion; now it might take 24.&#34; The lengthening of the decision chain reflects that consumers are no longer willing to pay unconditionally for &#34;invisible value.&#34;
Technical routes are also diverging. Porsche Taycan's annual sales decreased by 22% year-on-year. The pure electric Macan cooled down immediately after its launch, forcing Porsche to announce in September 2025 that it would reintroduce gasoline models into its product matrix, quietly shelving its previous &#34;80% electric by 2030&#34; target. Ferrari and Lamborghini have also postponed their electric vehicle timelines. China's market policies push for pure electric vehicles, while charging infrastructure in the Middle East and Southeast Asia is far from mature. Europe is oscillating between carbon emission regulations and consumer acceptance. The era of selling a single powertrain globally has ended.
Feng Qingfeng attended this year's F1 race. Under the new regulations, drivers must allocate energy in real-time at extreme speeds. &#34;You cannot discharge all the electricity at once and then find yourself without it when you need it.&#34; In his view, when top-tier racing on the track embraces hybrid technology, there is no need to debate the direction for civilian vehicles.
This is a pragmatic hedging strategy. It also means that Lotus is not the most extreme option in any single market. However, for a company that needs to achieve volume in multiple global markets simultaneously, it may be the only viable path.
Feng Qingfeng also said something in the interview: &#34;Rules that remain unchanged for a thousand years will surely lead to rankings that remain unchanged for a thousand years.&#34; He was referring to F1, but the logic is the same for the ultra-luxury automotive industry. Lamborghini is switching its entire lineup to hybrid, Ferrari is still waiting for pure electric, Porsche is retreating to gasoline, and Lotus is betting on hybrid. Four paths, four gambles. The rules have changed, and old rankings are no longer a safeguard.
Whoever successfully implements the new business model first will be the definer of the next order. Lotus has set the deadline for its submission as next year.

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Hybrid technology will become the technical mainstream

- Lotus Automotive unveiled its first hybrid SUV on March 29, 2026, lowering its pre-sale price by 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, with all options now included as standard.  
- CEO Feng Qingfeng emphasized that expanding the product line is crucial for improving financial performance, with hybrids being a long-term focus, as the automotive industry shifts toward high-performance hybrid technologies.  
- The company aims to enhance sales efficiency by streamlining consumer choices and leveraging shared technology within the Geely group to improve profitability, as luxury brands adjust to market changes and demand for differentiated products.

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Lotus Built Its First Hybrid SUV! Starting at 20,000 Yuan Cheaper Than Pre-sale, Feng Qingfeng Set a Profit Target for Next Year