Lotus has slashed its UK workforce by more than half after Donald Trump’s tariffs hit sales of its pricey cars.
The heritage car brand said it had just 600 employees at the end of last year, compared to 1,300 the year before.
Demand for its products in its key US market was hit after the president raised tariffs on British vehicle imports by 25 per cent.
Major British manufacturers, including Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce, stopped shipping their cars to the US in response.
And Lotus did not build any new cars for more than three months to manage stock issues caused by the tariffs.
Even though the duties were subsequently lowered after negotiations between ministers and US officials, a dampened appetite for its cars continued into the first half of 2026. Sales plunged 71 per cent to 1,539 cars last year.
Car maker Lotus was hit by tariffs last year and reduced its workforce by more than a half as a result.
The group said that it had been hit by ‘global tariff uncertainty and evolving trade conditions’, with a ‘significant reduction in orders from dealers and consumers’ in freshly published accounts.
It said the workforce reduction ‘reflects a transition to a leaner, demand-led operating model’ with an increase in shared services with owner Geely.
Lotus added: ‘While these changes are expected to enhance long-term efficiency and competitiveness, Lotus has ensured careful management to maintain critical capabilities and delivery of key business priorities, including a growth in production from 2025 levels.’
A lower tariff rate of 10 per cent also only applies to the first 100,000 cars sent across the Pond. This has ‘constrained market potential,’ Lotus said.
The business had said in August last year that it would cut around 550 jobs but the scale of job losses now appears to be far greater.
The redundancies have been focused on Lotus’s plant in Hethel, Norfolk, which is home to a famous test track, bought by the business’s husband-and-wife founders Colin and Hazel Chapman in 1966.
Its owner Geely, which also owns Sweden’s Volvo, also last year insisted it would not close its UK factory after rumours that it was looking to move production to the US.
Lotus said then: ‘The UK is the heart of the Lotus brand – home to our sports car manufacturing, global design centre, motorsport operations, and Lotus Engineering. It is also our largest commercial market in Europe.
‘Lotus Cars is continuing normal operations, and there are no plans to close the factory. We are actively exploring strategic options to enhance efficiency and ensure global competitiveness in the evolving market.
‘We have invested significantly in R&D and operations in the UK, over the past six years. Lotus remains committed to the UK, and its customers, employees, dealers, suppliers, as well as its proud British heritage.’
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