Sports car maker Lotus aims to re-establish brand in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR – Lotus Cars Malaysia, the sole local franchise holder for Lotus Cars, aims to re-establish the brand in Malaysia. 

General manager Tengku Ezan Ley Tengku Mahaleel said this would be complemented by the Lotus Emira, which kicked off production last year, and the all-new fully electric Lotus Eletre which is launched today in the Malaysian market and for the first time in Asia. 

“Market share is not a concern at the moment as we want to reestablish the Lotus car brand again in Malaysia,” he told reporters after the launch of the Lotus Eletre here today. 

For the record, Proton was the owner of Lotus Cars from 1996 to 2017. 

In June 2017, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group became the major shareholder of Lotus Cars with a 51% stake, while the remaining 49% is owned by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary through Etika Automotive Sdn Bhd. 

Tengku Ezan Ley said a total 140 bookings has been collected as of today for the highly anticipated Lotus Eletre. 

In total, 200 units of the hyper SUV are available for this year. They come in three variants – Eletre, Eletre S, and Eletre R. 

For the Eletre, he sees new buyers from a younger age group, rather than the previous clientele who were usually aged above 40.

He expects 50-60% of demand for the Eletre S variant (priced from RM648,000), 15% for the Eletre R (priced from RM798,000), and 25% for the Eletre (priced from RM578,000). 

“We already have 140 bookings today. We are very confident we will get 200 bookings very soon. 

“Malaysia always has a strong association with Lotus, of course (one of) the shareholders is also Malaysian and I think buyers are also taking advantage of the electric vehicle (EV) incentives that we have for Malaysia,” he noted.

Bookings for the Emira has been fully taken up.  

“We saw many past loyal customers who own the Elise, Exige, and Evora coming for the Emira. We only see a small percentage of newcomers for the model,” he added. 

Tengku Ezan Ley said Lotus Cars Malaysia is strengthening its commitment for the domestic market with new model introduction, sales, and after sales initiatives. 

He added that it is also planning to introduce new concept outlets next year and showrooms, mainly in the Klang Valley. 

To complement the launch of the Eletre, Lotus Cars Malaysia and Gentari Sdn Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary Gentari Green Mobility Sdn Bhd have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore collaborations in EV charging infrastructure at its facilities, Lotus EV owners’ premises, as well as public areas. 

Gentari chief green mobility officer Shah Yang Razalli said the MoU is for a period of two years. 

The parties are also seeking opportunities to collaborate on the exploration of the introduction of “zero-emission vehicle fleet” solutions in Malaysia, renewable energy deployment at Lotus Cars Malaysia’s facilities, and a digital platform.

“At Gentari, we are working with like-minded partners across all segments of transportation in driving towards sustainable mobility,” said Shah. 

Since its introduction in June 2022, Gentari through its affiliated entities has deployed more than 150 charging points across 35 locations in Malaysia and over 160 charging points in India. 

With the aim to be Asia Pacific’s preferred green mobility solutions provider, Gentari aims to capture 10% market share – circa 25,000 charging points based on current estimates – across key markets in Asia Pacific by 2030.

Gentari aims to install 9,000 public charging points by 2026, with an anchored presence in Malaysia and India. – Bernama, April 13, 2023