Lotus CEO called the move a major brand revival milestone and said the brand sold more than 2,000 units worldwide in December.

(A Lotus Emira on display at the April 2024 Beijing auto show. Image credit: CnEVPost)

Lotus Technology, the luxury electric vehicle (EV) company majority-owned by Geely Holding, has changed its Chinese name to a more localized one as part of a brand revival plan.

The automaker announced today that it has officially changed its Chinese name from “路特斯” to “莲花跑车”.

Its previous Chinese name, which had been used for five years, was the English pronunciation of “Lotus,” while the latest Chinese name is literally the flower Lotus.

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The name change comes after Lotus obtained a Chinese trademark for the name, which CEO Feng Qingfeng called a “historic legal victory” in an internal letter.

“As we are halfway through Vision80, this is an important milestone in the revival of our brand,” Feng said.

(Image credit: Lotus)

Lotus first announced its Vision80 strategy in 2018 to transform into a global all-electric luxury technology brand by 2028.

The company's UK and China teams went through more than 20 years of litigation to obtain Lotus-related trademarks, Feng said in the internal letter.

In December, Lotus sold more than 2,000 units worldwide, he said.

Geely acquired Lotus, which has a history of about 70 years, in 2017, owning 51 percent of the latter, including Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering.

At the end of August 2021, Lotus set up a new company in China, Wuhan Lotus Technology, with an investment from Capital.

In February 2024, Lotus Technology went public on the NASDAQ under the symbol “LOT” through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

When the Lotus brand entered China in 2011, the name used the Chinese characters that corresponded to the pronunciation of the English name, as the trademark of the Chinese name that corresponded directly to it was registered by a parts company.

Currently, Lotus sells the Emira, an gas-powered supercar, the Evija, an electric supercar, the Eletre, an electric SUV, and the Emeya, an electric coupe.

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