"Five years, in fact, I am very excited and a little nervous."
On the evening of March 28th, 2023, Feng Qingfeng, CEO of Lotus Global, made no secret of his expectation one day later when he met with the media in advance, because 24 hours later, Lotus Day, the 75th birthday of Lotus brand, will be held at Shanghai International Circuit and the only F 1 circuit in China.
Feng Qingfeng waited for this moment for five years.
On March 29th, under the night, this sports car brand, which originated in Britain, was born in the track and now is rooted in China, shines at the Shanghai F 1 International Circuit with its iconic "Champion Yellow".
At the brand celebration and track carnival held in Shanghai, China for the first time, three world-renowned classic models, Mark I, Eleven and Type 99T, appeared in the form of replica cars, and performed the innovative spirit of Lotus from the past to the future together with Lotus Emira, Eletre and Evija.
Perhaps the word "Lotus" may be unfamiliar to many young people, but this 75-year-old automobile brand is putting aside its past glory, bidding farewell to the old times and heading for the second half of its 80-year revival plan.
75 years of self-transcendence
Time will return to 20 18.
That was the first time that Feng Qingfeng put forward the 10-year brand revival plan of Lotus Vision80, that is, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Lotus brand in 2028, the brand will be fully transformed into electrification and intelligence.
At that time, on the new energy car track, I just heard the footsteps that shook the heartstrings when the giants struggled to catch up, but it didn't seem easy for BBA and other car manufacturers.
However, Feng Qingfeng has realized that the torrent of the times has become electric and intelligent, but the control and suspension system, even aerodynamic modeling, is still an indispensable and timeless part of a car.
And his words, "Lotus will welcome the arrival of the' iPhone' moment in the automobile industry with everyone, and realize the vision of reconstructing the relationship between people and cars. This is not only the mission of Lotus, but also the direction of the evolution of the times and technology", which has laid the groundwork for today five years later.
But looking back at the time node, it is undeniable that from 1948 to 2023, Lotus did experience a period of ups and downs.
1948, when Antuoni Colin Bruce Chapman, the founder of Lotus, was still studying structural engineering in a university in London, he used electric drill and basic sheet metal technology to transform an Austin Seven with 1930 into the first Lotus MK 1 racing car, and took part in the race as a racing driver.
MK 1' s outstanding performance on the British track not only made Mr. Chapman famous, but also became a famous saying in the racing world that "increasing power will make you faster on the straight, and reducing weight will make you faster anywhere".
195 1 year, the first race car of Lotus was born, which was also the first model named "Lotus". "Lightweight" has become an innovative engineering design concept of Lotus. The acceleration time from 0 to 0-50 mph is only 6.6 seconds, and the top speed can reach 90 mph.
Since then, the Lotus brand has officially entered the racing industry. In the next 70 years, Lotus came all the way.
According to the statistics of relevant media, Lotus already has-7 annual F 1 manufacturer champions, 6 annual F 1 drivers champions, 8 1 f 1 sub-race champions, 9 Le Mans Grand Prix team champions, 1 India 500th Grand Prix champion,/Kloc.
Lotus also interprets "born in the track, born in driving" all the way, and is committed to building a lightweight, high-performance and efficient sports car. Since then, every model launched by Lotus embodies its brand spirit, whether it is classic Elise, Exige, Evora or brand-new Evija, Emira and Eletre.
Therefore, on the evening of March 29th, from the classic replica car parked on the grid of Shanghai F 1 International Circuit, we can easily feel why Lotus can be called "the world's three super-running brands" together with Ferrari and Porsche.
But as Colin Chapman once said, "the courage of pioneers lies not only in innovation, but also in getting rid of the shackles of the past."
Although there have been countless opponents in the field for 75 years, in fact, Lotus's opponent on the road is only himself. In 75 years, Lotus only insisted on one thing, producing better cars and surpassing the previous work. With such persistence, Lotus has accumulated far more technical experience than its peers, and it is these technologies that have accumulated confidence in Lotus's transformation.
At the same time, this car brand with a civilized world of sports cars, just like when it was founded more than 70 years ago, found and defined its own development direction-striding into a new era of electrification and playing the real movement of the revival plan.
Become "the first brand of pure electric luxury"
After Feng Qingfeng put forward the 80-year brand revival plan of Lotus Vision, Lotus made a series of transformation actions at an amazing speed, and proved the beginning of the road of transformation with three champion products.
If Evija, the first pure electric supercar released by Lotus on 20 19, indicates that Lotus will fully turn to the electric era, then Emira, the last internal combustion engine sports car on 202 1 9, will officially wave goodbye to the fuel era. At the same time, when a pure electric luxury SUV with a lotus sign appeared in front of the public, the world paid attention to it.
As the first pure electric supercar SUV, Lotus ELETRE shows its transcendence through cross-border transformation. Because in the past, it was hard for people to imagine owning a Lotus SUV.
As the world's first pure electric supercar SUV, Lotus Eletre inherits the essence of brand performance aesthetics, inherits Lotus's innovative technology and rich experience in aerodynamics, chassis adjustment and lightweight, and brings the ultimate driving pleasure of F 1 track level to the electric vehicle industry for the first time, providing users with unique pure electric driving pleasure.
Therefore, there is no doubt that the lotus with a history of 75 years has successfully turned history into power when driving the lotus Eletre to experience the feeling of static light control in the process of extreme acceleration.
It is worth mentionINg that although AII in In is fully electrified, the spiritual core created by Lotus for drivers has not changed. In the new era, Lotus still puts "driving" and "driver" in the most important position.
At the scene of "Lotus Day", Feng Qingfeng also released a global brand proposition of "for drivers".
He said: "In the era of electrification and intelligence, our initial intention remains unchanged, and we are eager to provide a unique brand spirit, user value and intelligent experience for the' drivers' in the new era, inject new connotations into' drivers' and achieve an epoch-making lotus."
From March 29th, 2022 to today in 2023, Lotus Eletre has been delivered to users in China. In the next five years, Lotus will quickly realize the global listing and delivery of Eletre. ?
In this short period of five years, Lotus showed us the innovation of technology and products, and realized the transformation from the traditional fuel field to the electric and intelligent track, and from the sports car to the pure electric intelligent living car. However, as the ten-year revival plan of Lotus Vision 80 enters the second half, Lotus will continue to run.
"2023 is a decisive year for the Lotus brand."
On the Lotus Day of Yichu, Mao Jingbo, President of China District of Yichu Lotus, said, "We will realize brand revival, create champion products, launch the brand-new user experience of Yichu Lotus, and truly establish brand resonance from trust to love and appreciation in users' hearts. "
The first is the product. From 2023 to 2025, Lotus plans to launch a brand-new pure electric vehicle every year, laying out more products that meet daily driving scenarios, and quickly forming the product matrix advantage of pure electric smart life vehicles.
Earlier, Feng Qingfeng said in an interview that "Lotus will meet the revival goal of' Vision 80' with a product lineup of' 3+3'." It is reported that in addition to Evjia and Emira, Lotus will also launch an electric sports car in 2025; Including Eletre, a coupe car will be launched at the end of 2023, and a cross-border product between SUV and sports car will be launched in 2024.
In this activity, F 1 world champion JensonButton also came to the scene to introduce the first brand experience IP——Lotus Drive Lotus Extreme Driving Experience Center to users in China. Lotus hopes to provide users with the iconic extreme driving experience.
In addition, with the official delivery of Lotus Eletre, Lotus centers and experience stores in 23 core cities across the country are fully prepared to create an omni-channel, all-round and all-weather exclusive experience for users.
After product and user service, it is to integrate resources and help brand globalization.
Previously, Lotus Technology has reached a merger and listing agreement with LCAA, a subsidiary of LCatterton, a world-renowned consumer brand investment company. Based on this measure, the capital injection of Lotus has been accelerated, thus further accelerating Lotus's reshaping of electric vehicles in the global market.
In addition, Lotus has also realized the resource integration of R&D center and factory, and will promote the global marketing development model in the future, and realize the global sales of products by integrating the global sales network.
Yes, many brands with a long history are facing the pressure of transformation in the new era. For example, Nokia, once a mobile phone giant, completely fell behind in the era of smart phones, but Lotus was born to surpass it. Lotus never refuses to change, and even promotes it.
Feng Qingfeng is also full of confidence in the future of Lotus. "My confidence mainly comes from brand charm, the empowerment of brand value, the breakthrough of intelligent technology and the interpretation of luxury in the era of electrification."
Indeed, although 75 years have passed, Lotus' adherence to the brand has not changed. Just as Lotus Brand Day ended, live classical music blended with modern rap, just as Lotus's classic brand value, which did not change with the passage of time, was intertwined with the trend technology that constantly broke through innovation, injecting new connotations into drivers and continuing to write new legends.
Text/Yuan Yingjie
This article comes from Businesscars, the author of Easy Car Number, and the copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author for any form of reprint. The content only represents the author's point of view and has nothing to do with the car reform.