Proton hopes to sell 400 Lotus sports cars to Chinese billionaires

A model posing at a new Lotus F1 car T125 during the Grand Opening of Lotus China 's First Showroom and Debut of T125 and GTE held at Lotus Beijing Showroom, yesterday. - Bernama

BEIJING: Proton Holdings Bhd hopes to tap the strong appetite of Chinese billionaires for luxury brands, and sell up to 400 units of the Lotus sports car in China.

Proton Holdings Bhd managing director Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said that it was timely for Lotus to join the bandwagon that had already seen other luxury automakers selling their cars in China for some time now. “We are tapping into a big market. If you look at the trend here, the appetite for branded cars is great and you see the phenomenon of Chinese buying Lamborghinis and Ferraris. “Now that we have the products for the present and future to offer, as well as the right partner to distribute our cars here, it is timely for us to come in,” he told reporters at the opening of Lotus China's first showroom and the debut of the Lotus T123 and Evora GTE here on Wednesday.

The three Lotus models available at the showroom are Elise, Exige and Evora. They are priced between 698,000 yuan (RM349,000) and 1.42 million yuan (RM710,000). The Lotus Evora GTE with a 3.5-litre V6 engine and a price tag of 3.68 million yuan (RM1.84mil) was also brought in for the Chinese market while the Lotus T125 Formula One (F1) race car made its first public appearance at the event.

Syed Zainal said China was one of the F1 Grand Prix host countries and that it was only a matter of time before the racing DNA took to another level among Chinese car owners.
Lotus China chief executive officer Zhang Lichen expected sales of sports cars to increase in China in the next few years. “The percentage of sports cars sold in China is very small compared with sedans.

“We see many rich people, especially second-generation billionaires, developing greater enthusiasm for sports cars,” he said. He added that the company would open 15 more showrooms in China next year.

-thestar online.