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Lotus plans to build cars in China

Lotus-Evora-400-op

Proton Holdings, the parent company of Lotus Automobiles, recently signed an agreement with Goldstar Heavy Industrial Co. in order to commence creating Lotus-brand cars in Quanzhou, China. Goldstar Heavy Industrial Co. is a manufacturer of light buses and machine tools, based in Dongguan.

There isn’t any further information on the matter apart from a quote from the Quanzhou local governments’ website that says, “Proton Holdings Bhd., Malaysia’s state-controlled carmaker, will create Lotus-brand automobiles in the east China port city of Quanzhou with China’s Goldstar Heavy Industrial Co”.

The report further adds that the new plant will produce vehicles and engines. At this point we are not sure if Lotus is planning to build Evoras, Elises and Exiges on Chinese ground or if Proton plans other Lotus-branded vehicles aimed specifically for their local market. The Malaysian-owned automotive company has has been trying to build cars in China for a long time now but so far, joint ventures with either Hawtai Motor Group Co. or China Youngman Automobile Group Co. have failed.

Source: Automotive News Chinam via Carscoop