Why Lotus Tech Decided to Go Public Via SPAC

While luxury EV maker Lotus started trading on the Nasdaq today. The company going public via a SPAC in the latest test of both the EV and the SPAC markets. And joining us now for more from the Nasdaq, I'm pleased to say, is Alexis Lee Lotus, Tech CFO. Alexis, great to have you with us. So let's talk about timing here, because Lotus Tech has been looking to go public since at least early 2022. Why now? Well, morning. Thanks for having us today. I think Lotus right now is 80 years old. We are in

a very good position. We have developed more cars. And right now, as we go into the market right now, we think that we are in a very unique position where we are early movers in the electrification space. So, as you know, we have made a commitment to do a full electrification and going listing will enable us to execute our strategy, deliver our commitments to our shareholders and investors. Well, when it comes to, you know, going public in 2024 versus 2023 or 2022, is there anything that we can

extrapolate there from Lotus? Is Lotus Tech's thinking on the the public market appetite and the appetite for IPOs? Well, we have raised 880 million from this transaction is a sign of confidence from investors that the Lotus brand is well established as an early mover in the target segment of on SIP EV market. So if you look at the party results, we are research. You realize that this particular segment that we are in priced between 80,000 250,000 US dollar per unit car is expected to grow about

35% kagara in the next ten years. So we are in that unique position where we are early movers for offering for electrified models. We currently have far more wells in hand and almost two more models coming after. At the same time, we have 19 thousands of orders, reservation orders from 200 of US stores worldwide. I think that's very telling, that we are very differentiated with a commitment to full electrification and this is probably the right time for us to do this. Well, we want to get into

the fundamentals of the business and of course the lineup that you offer. But I want to quickly ask, I mean, the method through which you are going public Y through a SPAC versus a traditional IPO. Well, I think most important thing that we see here is our current and who LCA, who is a partner of great partner to us. LCA has great resources to all consumer insights and also the LVMH resources, and we think that this is a win win combination between L Catterton and Lotus in a way whereby great co

mpanies get together so that we can continue to develop on prospects like co-branding, co-marketing and even the ideas of community fostering and customer engagement. So these offer us a lot of prospects for us, especially we have Mr. Niche, my wife Amy, who is the chairman and CEO of LVMH, North America, being on the board of directors. I'm glad you brought up that connection because that was something I've been wondering about. Are there any specific tie ups that we can expect and that you can

share today? There's definitely a lot of things in discussion. I think one of the most important thing that we want to see is we are here for the long game. We will have relationship that we're going to develop here is going to last a very long time. We have a good foundation with them and that's definitely there's a lot of things that's in progress right now. But we think that definitely the partnership of LCA and also LVMH is going to help us execute our strategy, develop our growth potential

and at same time deliver our commitment to shareholders and investors. All right. Well, we will keep an eye out for what comes out of that partnership there. But let's talk about the EV market right now, which you've touched on a little bit already. Of course, you're going public in a week where we've seen rivian and Lucid really get their stocks punished. They delivered disappointing forecast. And of course, we've seen traditional carmakers to pull back on their EV production plans as well. Ar

e you concerned by the recent EV slowdown? How are you thinking about that, that as you do finally enter the public market? Well, I think Lotus is unique. We are actually a global brand. We are established globally with more than 200 stores. So we are selling our cars for models available in Asia and at same time they are available in EU and UK. We are entering new models into new market. In very simple logic, we are actually going to more markets with more models at the same time with more stor

es. So right now we have 200 stores. We are planning to have 300 stores by the end of next year and this will enable us to have better customers experience, drive sales orders at the same time, and most importantly, offer service coverage to enable what we call customer intimacy. Repeat the sales. Mm hmm. And I'm curious, I mean, from your perspective, how does demand differ in different geographies when you compare the US versus the EU versus Asia, for example, when it comes to EVs, are differe

nt markets, different different different categories. For example, like myself and Singaporean, we have no the North has been for a very long time the F one accolade. The performance is something that resonates with every teen's and my in my generation. So sports car electric vehicles like SUV is something that resonates family with big cars in the UK market probably they like the smaller version of the sedan and also sports we offer a full variety of products and that's why it is so important t

hat in 2018 where we have this strategy is about two portion. One is that we are coming to the full electrification. The second one is to go expansion of the product range beyond just a sports car into SUV sedan and others. So right now, I think different market geographies, we've become a more complete portfolio, able to service a much greater customer need. Well, like you said, Lotus Tech, all electric there. But would you ever consider entertain the idea of introducing a hybrid, for example?

Well, we are committed to full electrification, right? As part of our strategy, we are we stick to our strategy within. Our strategy is well-placed and definitely we will continue to given that we are listed today, we want to make sure that we can put in place and deliver our promise. All right. Got to leave it there. Really appreciate your time. I know it's a busy day for you. Of course, that is the Lexus Lotus Tech CFO.