Photo/Sun Tongtong (NBD)

On February 23, Lotus Technology (Nasdaq: LOT) was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York, USA.

After completing a business merger with the overseas Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) LCAA, Lotus Technology has approximately 680 million shares and is valued at about $6.8 billion. This makes it the largest IPO of a Chinese concept stock in the US since July 2021. On the first day of listing, Lotus Technology closed at $13.8 per share, with a market value of $9.294 billion.

It is reported that Lotus Technology has obtained financing commitments of over $880 million from global investors, existing shareholders, and strategic partners through Public Equity Private Investment (PIPE) and convertible bonds. This is one of the largest financings related to SPAC transactions since 2023, and the largest SPAC merger project since August 2023.

It’s worth noting that since Didi went public in the US on June 30, 2021, the listing of Chinese concept stocks in the US has almost stagnated. In the past two years or so, only a few Chinese concepts have completed listings in the US, and their current market values are all below $3 billion. Against this backdrop, the successful listing of Lotus Technology in the US may boost the confidence of other companies preparing to go public in the US.

As a veteran luxury sports car company, Lotus was born in the UK in 1948, once on par with Ferrari and Porsche, and was known as one of the world’s three major supercar brands, translated as Lotus Sports Car. In 2017, Lotus was acquired by Geely Holding Group, and in 2018 it launched the “Vision80” ten-year brand revival plan, announcing a full transition to electrification and intelligence, becoming the “first to eat crabs” in the global ultra-luxury brand.

In 2019, Lotus launched its first all-electric supercar Evija, thus starting the road to transformation; in October 2022, Lotus’s first all-electric intelligent Hyper SUV - Eletre officially went on sale; on January 18 this year, Lotus’s all-electric supercar sedan Emeya was officially launched, with a price of 668,000 to 1.18 million yuan. According to the plan, Lotus will also launch a new mid-size SUV model this year, benchmarking the Porsche Macan electric version, which will be launched in 2026.

2023 is the year when Lotus Eletre officially starts delivery in China, and Lotus also released a new brand proposition “For The Drivers”, and ushered in the “decisive year” of the Vision80 ten-year brand revival plan. In the first half of 2023, Lotus’s global order volume was about 17,000 units, a significant increase compared to 2022.

According to Lotus’s previous forecast, by 2025, the company’s revenue will increase by more than three times, reaching $8.5 billion to $8.9 billion; gross profit will increase by more than four times, to $1.8 billion to $2 billion; and the gross profit margin will reach more than 20%.

Industry insiders analyzed that for the current Lotus, landing on the capital market can supplement funds for the brand’s transformation.

“Lotus Technology has been eyeing global expansion. We have more than 200 marketing channel networks worldwide. Nasdaq listing will make Lotus’s management more transparent and professional, and can further accelerate the company’s global layout,” the company's CEO Feng Qingfeng believes.

According to Feng, in the first half of 2024, Lotus Technology’s products, such as Eletre, will soon enter Malaysia, the Middle East, Japan and other countries or regions. In the second half of the year, they will enter the US, South Korea and other markets. From 2024 to 2025, the number of Lotus’s channels will expand to more than 300, and Lotus will also accelerate the research and development of future products.