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According to foreign media reports, LUTOS, a famous British sports car manufacturer, has announced that in order to ensure the establishment of the right organizational structure to achieve business goals and build a strong and sustainable future, the company has decided to restructure its business, including laying off 200 people. According to a spokesman for the company, the layoffs mainly involve engineering and management posts, and production positions are not included.

However, Mr Lutes said the job cuts had nothing to do with losses as part of a restructuring of the business.

Lutes' total revenue in 2022 was £56.337 million, down 30.3 per cent from a year earlier, while a net loss of £145 million, up 67.5 per cent from a year earlier, according to the results. The decline in performance may be related to its market performance. Lutes' cumulative global sales in 2022 were 576 vehicles, down 63.2% from the same period last year.

As one of the three sports car brands on a par with Ferrari and Porsche, Lutes' influence is difficult to compete with the other two. Although Lutes is a top supercar brand, it has not released a new car since 2008. Geely Holdings is confused long after buying Lutes and does not know how to revive Lutes. Lutes CEO Feng Qingfeng said, "if Lutes goes to make a series of traditional things such as high-engine sports cars, the chances for Lutes are slim." So since the acquisition of Lutes in 2017, we are also confused to find the right way for Lutes. At this point in time, electrification, intelligence and autopilot are coming, and I think this is an opportunity for Lutes. "

In August 2021, Lutes officially announced the establishment of Lutes Technology Company, and moved its global headquarters to Wuhan Economic Development Zone. Lutes Global Intelligent Factory will also be located in Wuhan, and released the product matrix for the next five years. According to Lutes' plan, Lutes Technology plans to launch four all-electric models in the next five years. It includes pure electric intelligent SUV with internal code name Type132, pure electric intelligent four-door sedan car with internal code name Type133, pure electric intelligent new species with internal code name Type134, and pure electric trot with internal code name Type135. The launch of such a dense model is nothing more than the hope of using the new car effect to boost its sales in a short period of time and get the attention of investors.

However, whether in terms of brand strength or product strength, Lutes is very different from Porsche and Ferrari, which are also sports car manufacturers, not only lack of hematopoiesis, but also the product camp is not perfect. It is understood that at present, Lutes has three products on sale, namely, the first pure electric supercar Evija, the fuel supercar Emira, and the first intelligent pure electric SUV Eletre. Among them, the Evija has not yet been delivered, and it is a limited edition, with a starting price of 2 million pounds, and its sales support can only be given to Emira and Eletre, while Eletre, as the first pure electric SUV, began to be delivered at the 2023 Shanghai Auto Show. Taken together, it is not hard to guess why Lutes sales plummeted in 2022.

According to the plan, Lutes will launch four new models by 2026, including SUV, pure electric sedan, crossover model and so on. After expanding from sports cars to household cars, Lutes expects annual sales to grow nearly 100-fold to 150000 vehicles in 10 years, and China will account for half of its global sales in the next five years, according to Geely people.

On January 31st, Lutes Technology announced that it had reached a final merger agreement with special purpose acquisition company L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp (hereinafter referred to as LCAA), which is expected to complete the merger in the second half of 2023. According to the merger and acquisition agreement, after the completion of the prescribed transaction, LCAA will be renamed Lutes Technology, and will be listed on NASDAQ under the stock symbol "LOT". The smooth realization of IPO will become Lutes' strategic task this year.

Continued losses and halved sales reflect Lutes' awkward position in the global market, and it may not be difficult to understand why Lutes laid off staff.

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