Jan 31, 2023 - Economy

Luxury EV maker Lotus agrees to go public at a $5.4 billion valuation

Illustration of a EV charger in a car — Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Lotus Technology, a luxury electric vehicle maker majority owned by China's Geely, agreed to go public at an implied $5.4 billion enterprise value via a blank check company sponsored by private equity firm L Catterton.

Why it matters: This suggests that Geely hasn't soured on EV SPACs, despite the poor stock market performance of its Polestar unit.

Or perhaps it's more about how Geely views the moribund IPO market, given its prior float plans.

Details: Lotus Technology does not include the traditional sports car assets of Lotus, which was founded in 1948. Geely, which also owns Volvo, is joined on the Lotus cap table by Malaysia's Etika Automotive.

The bottom line: Building cars is enormously expensive, especially when they’re electric and tied to seesawing commodity prices for battery components. Competitors larger and smaller, such as Rivian, Canoo and (yes) Polestar have plowed through mountains of cash.

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Luxury EV maker Lotus agrees to go public at a $5.4 billion valuation

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