Development history of traditional oil tankers

The birth of any "legend" needs historical accumulation and cultural shaping.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Lotus, standing at the node of time, we look back on its past. From 1938 to 2023, Lotus has gone through a period of ups and downs, leaving countless embarrassing stories, but now, Lotus has become a super-running legend that has been going on.

On March 29th, when we celebrated the 75th anniversary of Lotus in Shanghai, this great super-running brand once again showed its attitude and determination in the new automobile era. As Mao Jingbo, president of China District of Yichu Lotus, said, 2023 will be the first year of brand marketing of Yichu Lotus, and also the decisive year of Yichu Lotus. The three main tasks of CP Lotus this year are: to realize brand rejuvenation; Create a champion product and create an iconic user experience.

Perhaps for many consumers in China, Lotus is a slightly unfamiliar sports car brand. However, with the first delivery of 57 pure electric supercar SUV Lotus ELETRE in China, Lotus has successfully completed the "first half" task of the 80-year brand rejuvenation plan proposed in 20 18. In the next five years, Lotus will focus on "accelerating globalization". At the same time, Eletre will be delivered in the UK this year, and will be delivered in other European markets and the US market next year, further integrating into the global capital market.

Lotus in the era of traditional fuel vehicles can be said to be standing at the highest point of the car. Now, the internal combustion engine is about to collapse, the glory that the track has given Lotus for 75 years has begun to fade, and Lotus is also building a newer Lotus. But everyone who knows lotus knows that the past lotus cannot be forgotten, and the 75-year spiritual wealth left by lotus cannot be ignored.

Facing the future, every employee of Lotus believes that Lotus is closer to the glory of Lotus history than ever before. Because compared with other super-running brands, Lotus not only has the super-running technology, racing products and brand culture that it took 75 years to get, but also has global capital, dual engines and operating channels for the future new automobile era. ...

These are the confidence and courage of Lotus to shine again in the era of electric vehicles. More importantly, the changes in these five years have made Lotus spend the "first half" of the transformation perfectly. The future is the best opportunity for decisive battle and the best stage for waiting for harvest.

75 years of accumulated wealth

The echo of history is always shocking and bright, especially for the automobile industry with a history of nearly a hundred years. The formation of each market segment and the birth of the brand will always bring indelible memories to the development of the industry.

In the small market of super-running brands, they have many similar and typical characteristics, which may be a great accident. Super-running is essentially different from other models. It is not limited to a certain field. Its most basic feature is to reach the ultimate position of technology on the basis of breaking through the limit, thus leading the development of the whole industry in a certain field.

This attribute alone has made many super-running brands spend decades. Therefore, compared with ordinary super-running brands, mainstream super-running brands such as Lotus pay more attention to the technical accumulation and spiritual totem construction in the historical process. The 75-year history of Lotus represents to some extent the modern people of a super-running brand, and also represents the spiritual totem endowed by history to the super-running brand.

Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus, and his team

We can find that most of the top ten brands of Super Run have gone through 75 years. Different 75 years have left different spiritual wealth for the super-running brand. If Ferrari can achieve a state in which people and cars are integrated, and every Porsche car has its own personality and soul, Bugatti can become a hero in super-running, and Maserati can blend luxury and unrestrained sports essence, giving consideration to comfort and passionate driving ... After 75 years, Lotus still continues its driving pleasure and brand genes.

Especially in the long history of the first 70 years, Lotus has become a sports car brand that once dominated the stadium. At that time, Lotus was a perfect combination of excellent racing cars and excellent drivers: 7 F 1 manufacturer's annual champion, 6 F 1 manual annual champion, 8 1 substation champion, 9 Le Mans Grand Prix team champion, 1 Indy 500 Grand Prix champion, 65438.

Colin Chapman and Lotus Spirit

Pure driving pleasure makes everyone who holds the lotus steering wheel trendy. The title won by speed makes Lotus stand in the center of the super-running stage, but in addition, Lotus's greater wealth lies in the brand connotation that continues to this day.

This connotation can be summarized as track, light weight, F 1 rulemaker, etc. It can also be summarized as "extreme" spiritual shaping. Either way, it is used to describe 75-year-old Lian Fang without any sense of disobedience.

From the birth of Lotus, Colin Chapman defined it as an organization with the world's top technology development capabilities, not just a simple automobile enterprise. Under this goal, Lotus has continuously invested in technology development during its 75-year development process, focusing on power technology, vehicle lightweight design and aerodynamics.

Similar lightweight, aerodynamic and other designs can still be seen in the wide application of Lotus's latest Eletre products. Just like Lotus's thinking about Eleetre, the process of electrification and intelligence will not make Lotus lose its "soul". No matter the design technique of "riding against the wind" or the design inspiration of the same strain, Eleetre is still a product with lotus DNA.

More importantly, Lotus has influenced the development of F 1 stadium in the next 30 years through the innovative design of single frame, the application of ground effect and the active suspension system. From model 38 to model 56, from model 79 to model 88, from model 108 to the subsequent improved version, behind every product innovation of Lotus, there are countless verified and tested technical upgrades. Nowadays, both the aerodynamics of Lotus and the chassis adjustment have built strong technical barriers.

It is also under the consolidation of these technical strengths that Lotus later developed a variety of models including Elise, Exige and Evora. At the same time, as Lotus became more and more famous in the super-running circle, it began to provide services to third parties, including Aston Martin V 12 Vanquish, Jens, Dodge Spirit R/T and so on. , are taught by lotus.

It has been 75 years since Letus came to this day, and it has also given Letus a profound cultural heritage. Behind these details is the track performance, not the product model. But it is undeniable that even today, more people's understanding and understanding of Lotus is still focused on its unique spiritual heritage and racing genes.

Five-year transformation

The success of Lotus in the past 70 years depends on many laws, but with the arrival of the new energy era, Lotus began to challenge itself, trying to transform and change ahead of time while continuing to inherit the spiritual core of Lotus.

As early as 2065438+2008, when the global production and sales of fuel vehicles showed an inflection point of historical growth, Lotus launched the brand rejuvenation plan for 80 years. To some extent, it is the first step taken by Lotus in the era of new energy vehicles. Since then, Lotus has started a series of roads similar to electrification transformation.

As the first traditional fuel sports car brand in the world to announce the transition to electrification at that time, Lotus's confidence came from the control of power technology and brand development in the previous 70 years. Only one year after the release of Vision 80, Lotus quickly launched the pure electric supercar Evija on 20 19, refreshing the horsepower limit of the production car. As the pioneering work of Lotus brand electrification, Evija is equipped with a heavy battery pack, but its servicing quality has reached 1.680kg, which opens a beautiful beginning between large battery and light weight.

The development of any automobile brand is accompanied by product upgrading and technological innovation, and Lotus is no exception. In 20 19, Lotus chose the last fuel vehicle, Emira, to bid farewell to the era of internal combustion engine. This is another progress in the process of electrification transformation after Lotus Elise, Exige, Evora stopped production and Evija was mass-produced.

If the three years after 20 18 are regarded as the perfect ending of the era of Lotus' traditional fuel vehicles, then in April of 20021,Lotus began a comprehensive transformation to electrification. At that moment, Lotus made it clear that the "EAS-IP" action line-electrification, amplification, simplification, intensification and personalization-was Lotus's next technical solution.

Lotus, a 70-year-old sports car brand, once again entered people's field of vision with an electric posture. At the same time, Lotus has once again defined the development goal of Vision 80, hoping to become a brand that only sells electric vehicles in 2028 (the 80th anniversary of its establishment).

All preparations were carried out step by step. Until March 29th, 2022, Lotus launched its first high-end electric SUV Eletre, in the world, and Lotus really fired the first shot after the revival strategy.

As the first pure electric super SUV based on the world, Eletre has been endowed with the genes of many automobile powers in China, Germany and Britain. Through Lotus's Science and Technology Innovation Center in Frankfurt, Germany, Germany's high-tech manufacturing level was exported; Relying on the strength of Wuhan Lotus Technology Global Headquarters, Global Smart Factory and China Ningbo Research Institute, the manufacturing genes of the new era will be deeply integrated into the lotus culture; Start the design center in Britain, so that Lutes' British descent and past legendary experience can be continued; Establish a global marketing and sales network, so as to realize the globalization of R&D and electronic product manufacturing and sales.

In order to promote the development of Yichu Lotus products and related strategies at the fastest speed, at the end of 2022, Mao Jingbo officially joined Yichu Lotus as a founding partner and served as the president of Yichu Lotus in China. With the arrival of Mao Jingbo, she also brought her accumulated experience, contacts and resources over the years; With the opening of Houlu Teus Building, Lutes has established a new talent platform in China. Since then, Lotus has been ready, and everything is waiting for the arrival of 2023 and the delivery of Eletre.

From this point of view, the reason why Eletre can be called the "microcosm" of Lotus's five-year transformation is not only because it is the product of the era of new energy vehicles, but also because it can represent Lotus's progress in products. It can even be said that Eletre is the beginning of Lotus' new connotation for the brand, and it is also the demonstration of Lotus' strength in the new automobile era.

Win the "second half"

All indications show that Lotus has just begun to work towards the goal of electrification in the past five years.

Some people define 2023 as the year of decisive victory for Lotus, while others define this year as the year of speeding up Lotus. In fact, for Lotus, which has gone through nearly half of Vision 80' s 10-year brand revival plan, only the strategic, technical and product transformation layout was completed in the first five years, and the "preparatory work" in the initial stage of electrification transformation was realized.

From "preparation" to "attack", the next five years will be an important stage for Lotus to show a new era of one million electric supercars. At this stage, Lotus will take the lead in enriching the product camp. Following Eletre, Lotus will launch brand-new pure electric vehicles every year from 2023 to 2026, laying out more products to meet daily driving scenarios, and quickly forming the product matrix advantages of pure electric smart life vehicles.

On the other hand, Lotus' global capital will contribute to brand globalization. Previously, Lotus Technology reached a merger and listing agreement with LCAA, a subsidiary of LCatterton, a world-renowned consumer brand investment company. Based on this measure, the capital injection of Lotus has been accelerated, thus further accelerating Lotus's reshaping of electric supercars in the global market.

Previously, Lotus has realized the resource integration of R&D center and factory. Next, Lotus will realize the global marketing development model and spread its products to various markets around the world.

Lotus has clearly realized that in the new era of super-running, the traditional concept is no longer applicable, especially the million-level electric vehicle products, which users use to show their identity. Based on this, on the basis of direct stores, CP Lotus has built a model of joint venture with partner stores and stores, and quickly penetrated into the core life circle of target customers with the model of central store+experience store.

Up to now, CP Lotus has set up experience stores in Shanghai, Wuhan and Beijing, and its sales network covers 23 cities across the country. With the continuous expansion of the channel network of Yichu Lotus, it will bring more multi-dimensional and multi-user activities to Yichu Lotus, and at the same time let more consumers get in touch with the brand tonality and cultural attributes of Yichu Lotus.

Looking at the world, Eletre expects to deliver products in the UK and EU markets this year. Previously, Lotus has accumulated more than 200 dealerships around the world, but they are scattered. In order to better improve the service and experience of consumers, Lotus will take the lead in orderly planning in the United States and other parts of the world.

From racing to super-running, to today's Hyper SUV, Lotus is integrating into the automobile market as a more "popular" identity. As Feng Qingfeng, CEO of Lotus Group, said, as long as you can get a driver's license, t a can help you beat the champion of F 1. Although not everyone is a racing driver, everyone can enjoy the passion from speed through the technology and products of Lotus.

As the beginning of a new era of Lotus, Eletre itself is a model with Lotus DNA and taking care of life, and this car also contains Lotus's future thinking on the relationship between people and cars. Facing the future, Lotus will constantly subvert the original positioning of "vehicles", build automobile products into temperature companions, and at the same time broaden the boundaries of automobiles with intelligence, so that automobiles can become real AI products.

This is the aim of CP Lotus, and it is also an important development goal established by CP Lotus in the second half of Vision 80' s ten-year brand rejuvenation plan. In the past 70 years, lotus has had its glory and its ebb. Now facing Vision 80 in the past five years and the next five years, the identity of Lotus has changed, and everything just needs to wait for the test of time.

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