Lotus Cars founder Colin Chapman made his first car in 1948. Despite its age, executives at Lotus today like to think of the company as a 73-year-old start-up. While that may not sound spritely, Lotus is indeed a company launching brand new products at a fast pace, revamping existing production facilities and starting new ones. It is growing its supply chain and logistics partnerships, while developing agile processes and systems to become a technology leader. It also has strong backing from a large Chinese company. In many ways, the start-up comparison is apt.

The company, of course, has the benefit of history, experience and knowhow, too. It is building the Emira sportscar, for example, a new vehicle that nevertheless draws on the design, cultural and technological history of outgoing Elise, Exige and Evora models, but benefitting from considerable investment in product, production and supply chain. And the large Chinese company is, of course, Geely, which owns a majority stake in Lotus, and is not only investing billions in the company’s rejuvenation, but is leveraging shared engineering, platforms, electrification experience and supply chains across its group of brands, including Volvo Cars, Polestar, Lynk & Co, Zeekr and more.