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I hope this isn't true
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2025 21:09
by bash
Re: I hope this isn't true
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2025 00:05
by Zag
My first thought was it is Chinese products as they are a much higher percentage. Won't be first time the beeb have got the wrong end of the stick.
Re: I hope this isn't true
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2025 09:47
by Gray14
Re: I hope this isn't true
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2025 13:50
by supraholic
Apologies from across the pond. Granted, we don't manufacture hardly anything in the USA anymore since labor rates are so much lower elsewhere. We learned during COVID that we desperately needed to bring certain strategic items back under home control like pharmaceuticals. In 2023 I ordered a Chevy Colorado work truck for one of my staff and per policy it had to be "Buy America" compliant. Sure we assemble trucks here, but from largely foreign components. The Chevy Colorado was about 71% US made. The larger Chevy Silverado was about 60%. The #1 selling Ford F150 was only 45%. The highest US content of any pickup truck shockingly is the Honda Ridgeline at 85% (and its a great truck, I have one personally) but it isn't an American brand. Trucks are things we NEED but because of electronic parts shortages and a worker strike, it took over a year from the date of placing the order to get our (by then 2024 and some equipment discontinued) Chevy work truck. It's not a big deal if a rich guy has to pay a tariff and wait a year for a sports car, just adds to the exclusivity, but it certainly isn't critical to bring toy manufacturing back. I hope they don't damage Lotus with knee-jerk reactions to tariffs. Political winds are always shifting and by the time they could get a plant up and running here, they'll be blowing from a different direction.
Re: I hope this isn't true
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2025 19:42
by ebikediver
Thanks for that insight Phil, I'm really struggling to understand how Trumpet expects manufacturing to return to the US whilst keeping the products affordable without the average American worker willing to work for much smaller competitive salaries.
The proposed Lotus move may also be a cynical ploy to get more grants out of the UK government.
Re: I hope this isn't true
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2025 18:17
by ebikediver
Re: I hope this isn't true
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2025 09:09
by rbgosling
Hardly the first time that something has been announced, and the hysterical media have incorrectly extrapolated it into "Hethel is closing!!!", before Lotus has had to confirm that they are totally wrong.
Must be less than a year since we had a similar panic, which turned out to be that they were pausing the production line for a couple of weeks while tooling up for some model changes.