With the deepening of the wave of globalization, more and more multinational enterprises have begun to integrate the advantages of international resources to seek breakthroughs, of which science and technology companies are the most important. In the more cutting-edge scientific and technological fields, the more it is necessary to have a large amount of technology, funds, and talents as support. Therefore, the global layout has become an inevitable choice for the world's top enterprises.
Apple's iPhone 13, which is manufactured across 43 countries around the world, brings together the chip drawing design of Apple's headquarters in the United States, the lithography machine technology of TSMC in Taiwan, and the supply chain integration advantages of Chinese mainland Foxconn.
This is true of a small mobile phone, and even more so for cars known as "industrial integrators". Especially in the era of electrification and intelligence, automobiles have evolved from traditional industrial products to scientific and technological products, and major car companies have pulled up top teams around the world to seize opportunities on the global track.
In this race related to the future of the automobile industry, Lotus from the United Kingdom first bid farewell to the fuel era with the last fuel sports car, Emira, and then completely transformed into pure electrification, set up factories in China, shared the technical treasures accumulated for more than 70 years with teams from various countries, and finally created the first pure electric Hyper SUV of the Lotus brand - Eletre, showing the world the excellent results achieved by Lotus in the wave of globalization. Lotus's industry-renowned innovative thinking and strong boldness can be seen. And the brand personality of Lotus should start from its birth.
Lotus Eletre
Born in the UK, he has leapt to the world
In 1948, Colin Chapman developed the world's first Lotus mark, the Lotus Mark 1, in a humble garage in Merswell Hill, north London, England, using the chassis of a 1928 Austin Seven car, thus beginning the legendary era of the British sports car and racing brand.
Lotus Mark I
In 1966 Lotus moved his headquarters to Heysel, Norfolk, in eastern England. It was once an air base, and chapman, who was born in the Royal Air Force, seems to have a secret fate. It has two "X" shaped runways, which Lotus converted to test tracks for vehicle development when it settled here. Today, the track has been modified many times over the decades to become a 2.2-mile track that meets the high fia's standards, and every Lotus sports car is tagged with the track dna at the time of its birth, where it unleashes its energy and potential.
Headquarters in Lotus-Heysel
In addition to the spiritual home of Heysel, Lotus has established an R&D centre for lifestyle model design in Coventry and expanded its product footprint. In Germany, the birthplace of the automobile, the Lotus Science and Technology Innovation Center (LTIC) was established in Frankfurt, which is responsible for new product development and innovative technology, and organically integrates the essence of the century-old development of the automotive industry with the international advanced design and concept; in the high-profile China, on August 31, 2021, Lotus Technology, headquartered in the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, was officially established, responsible for the research and development and production of global ultra-high-end intelligent electric vehicles.
Lotus Technology, Wuhan, China
In the past 70 years, Lotus has gone from pure British design and production to R&D and manufacturing integrating global forces in China, Britain, Germany and Sweden. From conquering the F1 arena with its extreme lightweight design and aerodynamic performance, and gaining the crowd of car fans around the world, to today's road to globalization, with highly branded products to integrate the multi-scenario needs of the travel market, and actively meet the expectations of fans around the world. Lotus truly achieved "born in the UK, soaring the world".
I wonder if Chapman, who started in a simple garage, would have thought that Lotus is about to build a smart factory with an annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles in Wuhan, Far Away, China, and can realize digital, intelligent, visual and flexible production methods through the world's first full-process 3D digital twin technology. But what is certain is that he pays attention to innovation and practicality, and will cheer for the victory of Lotus Team like throwing a hat on the track, cheering for the first model born here, the pure electric Hyper SUV Eletre that integrates the wisdom of Lotus's global team.
Inheritance and innovation, global crystallization
Eletre is the latest addition to Lotus's "Lifestyle Car" product line, and in addition to bringing users its consistent high-performance driving experience as a British sports car, it also brings together cutting-edge technologies from around the world to open the door to an intelligent, electrified experience for users.
Ben Payne, head of the Coventry Lotus Technology and Creativity Centre (LTCC), is one of Eletre's main designers, and what he has to do is to combine Lotus's British sports car design with a variety of cutting-edge technologies from all over the world on Eletre. "The front of the car needs to be visually striking and simple, while combining all the technical features, and striking the right balance between the two is probably the longest part of the design," Ben says. ”
Lotus Eletre at the London launch
After repeated design and verification, one of the classic designs presented on the Eletre is this set of stepless variable speed-dependent active lower air intake grilles, which Ben commented: "Active aerodynamics is not new, but the design behind the surface of the vehicle, not the intake grille, is innovative." "In the market, it may not be uncommon to achieve active intake grilles, but only Eletre can achieve infinite variable speed, when you see the lotus-like opening or closing of the grille blades on the demonstration video, I believe people will be amazed by its exquisite design."
Lotus Eletre infinity variable speed active lower intake grille
As a lifestyle model, the Eletre's intelligent design is designed to enhance the user's driving pleasure and riding experience. In response, Ben said: "The digital world is representative of modern technology, so Lotus must be involved. We will continue the technological advancements in engineering and the pioneering spirit of the brand, while also naturally entering the digital realm. ”
Taking the 15.1-inch horizontal OLED touch screen of the center console as an example, Eletre is not blindly pursuing "big and thin", but in the placement and angle, interactivity and convenience of convenience to make full consideration. After the driver gets into the car, the screen actively adjusts the angle, allowing the driver to obtain the information on the screen with the minimum range of motion.
Lotus Eletre interior
In addition, Lotus Technology in Wuhan, China, set up a Shanghai software center and experts from the Raunheim Engineering Center in Germany to implement Lotus's long-standing concise concept at the software level, such as 95% of the functions of the central control screen can be completed with no more than 3 clicks; the new entertainment LCD screen provides the necessary information concisely and efficiently, and more content can be presented in the HUD head-up display system in front of the main driver.
Of course, although Eletre pursues simplicity in software, it does not skimp on hardware materials. Eletre deploys a total of 34 industry-leading sensors, 12 ultrasonic radars and 6 millimeter wave radars are evenly distributed in the front and rear of the car, 7 8MP cameras, 4 2MP surround view cameras and 4 128-line lidar are arranged in the front, rear and sides, and the whole vehicle has a 360-degree stereoscopic surround view, and the perception ability is extremely powerful. The "brain" that can process this information in real time and quickly is 2 of the industry's top NVIDIA 7nm Orin chips, with a computing power of 508TOPS. Redundant hardware and computing power to build Lotus's "track-level intelligent driving" system. There is no doubt that relying on china's intelligent hot land, Lotus, which originated in England, is accelerating on the track of intelligent driving.
Eletre is an intelligent pioneer, but also a pure Lotus car, Lotus's past pursuit of speed, Lotus's future embrace of technology, are vividly displayed in it.
Feng Qingfeng, Global CEO of Lotus Group, said: "Lotus is a global brand, not a regional brand. "The aerodynamic design and classic tuning from the United Kingdom, the intelligent and electrification empowerment from China and Germany, coupled with the efforts of teams in Europe and the United States, have achieved the global crystal of Eletre, representing the "new life" of Lotus. I believe that Eletre from the world will also be favored by car fans around the world.