Lotus CEO, Dany Bahar said he was relieved that sales of the carbon-fiber Evora GTE in China were four times more than the expected demand.The special edition Evora was original planned as a limited edition only for the Chinese market, costing the equivalent of 213,000 euros.And now, Bahar has confirmed that the GTE will be offered globally, selling between 110,000 pounds and 120,000 pounds (130,000-142,000 euros) in the UK.Read the full news from inautonews below.
LOTUS SEES INCREASING DEMAND FROM CHINA
Lotus sales in China are booming, as the sports car maker announced it had received four times more orders for the limited-series Evora GTE than it expected.
Demands for the special edition sports car costing over 200,000 euros were four times larger than Lotus forecast. CEO Dany Bahar said he was relieved the carbon-fiber model was met with such enthusiasm in China. “When we developed this business, there was criticism that Lotus had never built such a product range before. It was a relief to see, even today with the current quality and product, we could sell it at that price,” Bahar was quoted as saying by Automotive News Europe.
The special edition Evora GTE was originally planned as a limited offering exclusive to the Chinese market, with a price tag of €213,000. “We were initially just going to have 25 of them because we were unsure whether we could justify that high price. But it turned out the Chinese market ordered 115. We did not expect that demand,” Bahar added. The CEO confirmed that the GTE will eventually be offered worldwide, with prices in the UK sitting between 110,000 pounds and 120,000 pounds (130,000-142,000 euros).
Lotus’ sales in China surpassed 450 units since the company announced its first local dealership in May. Bahar expects to have 14 showrooms in China by the end of 2012.