Coventry, UK – 27 October 2022
Lotus has announced the appointment of Ben Payne as Chief Creative Officer (CCO) for Lotus Technology.
Ben has most recently been Managing Director and Head of Studio at Lotus Tech Creative Centre (LTCC) in Coventry, UK. He remains in charge of the LTCC team, which is leading the design of an all-new and all-electric range of lifestyle cars, the first of which is the Lotus Eletre Hyper-SUV.
Ben’s new role as CCO expands his remit to cover all creative aspects of the Lotus lifestyle vehicles and co-ordinating the design output of visual assets for the Lotus brand. The LTCC team works in close collaboration with the sports car design team at Hethel, which is led by Design Director, Russell Carr. Both teams report to Vice-President of Design, Peter Horbury.
Ben commented: “This new role will help the LTCC team build the influence of design within the wider business, which is important as we continue to focus on creativity and consistency for the brand. This will be invaluable as Lotus continues to evolve. Although this is personal recognition, what it really reflects is the creativity and spirit of the entire team at LTCC. I thank them all sincerely for the continued support, and I look forward to realising the full potential of the team we are building.”
Peter Horbury added: “The design team at Lotus is enjoying a period of great success, with our latest three products – Evija, Emira and Eletre all becoming award winners. The recent worldwide acclaim for the Lotus Eletre Hyper-SUV, reinvigorated just this week with the announcement of pricing and specs, is testament to the hard work of the recently established LTCC team which Ben leads. His new role will continue to drive forward the global growth of all elements of the iconic Lotus brand.”
Ben joined Geely Design UK in 2018 – the facility was renamed LTCC in January 2022 – and has a strong background as a consultant in automotive design. Working on an international level, he has extensive technical knowledge and production car experience, spanning a number of major manufacturers and ranging from volume production to bespoke one-off models.
Ends
Notes to Editors
For more information please contact the Lotus Communications team:
Rob Borrett, Head of Media and Launch Programmes
+44 (0) 7718 560789
Richard Yarrow, Head of News and Technology Communications
+44 (0) 7471 994525
Alastair Florance, PR Manager
+ 44 (0) 7802 918662
Diederik Reitsma, PR Manager, European Markets
diederik.reitsma@eu.lotuscars.com
+ 31 651 939 185
Samantha Thomas, PR Officer, Product Press and Digital Media
+44 (0) 7909 813785
The Lotus media site – https://media.lotuscars.com – contains news, images, specifications and full details of current models, as well as heritage cars and engineering technology.
For the latest news and information from the Lotus PR Team please follow:
https://twitter.com/LotusCarsPR
https://www.instagram.com/LotusCarsPR
For Lotus Cars social media please follow:
https://www.facebook.com/LotusCars
https://www.instagram.com/lotuscars
https://www.youtube.com/grouplotus
https://www.linkedin.com/company/group-lotus
About Lotus
Lotus Cars is based in Hethel, Norfolk, UK, and is the global HQ for sports car and hypercar manufacturing operations, Lotus Advanced Performance and the iconic 2.2-mile test track. Lotus Cars builds world-class high-performance cars, born out of legendary success on the racetrack including 13 FIA Formula 1 world titles and many other championship honours. In July 2021 Lotus unveiled the all-new Lotus Emira, its last petrol-powered sports car and best-of-breed, and in July 2019 it launched the Evija, the world’s first all-electric British hypercar. Customer deliveries of both cars will begin during 2022. In March 2022 Lotus revealed the Eletre, the world’s first all-electric hyper-SUV. Customer deliveries will begin in 2023. The Lotus Type 135, an all-electric sports car, is currently being designed and engineered at Hethel.
Lotus Engineering provides comprehensive consultancy services to many of the world’s OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. It is internationally recognised for its long-standing contribution to ground-breaking engineering and innovative vehicle development. Its expertise extends beyond automotive; in August 2021 a Lotus Engineering-developed track bike helped Team GB’s cyclists win seven medals, including three golds, at the Tokyo Olympics. An international consultancy with offices around the world, Lotus Engineering is headquartered at the Lotus Advanced Technology Centre on the University of Warwick’s Wellesbourne Campus in the UK.
Lotus Tech is an affiliate company of Group Lotus, established as part of the Vision80 strategy established in 2018. With operational assets across China, the UK and Europe, Lotus Tech is dedicated to delivering smart lifestyle battery electric vehicles (BEVs) such as the Eletre. Lotus Tech is focused on R&D in next-generation automobility technologies such as electrification, digitalisation and more. In addition to the Lotus Eletre, Lotus Tech plans to launch further BEV models including a sports sedan (Type 133) another SUV (Type 134) and more, as Vision80 reaches maturity in 2028.
Group Lotus is either the parent company of or affiliated with the above. In 2017, Geely Holding Group, one of the fastest growing automotive group in the world, acquired a 51% stake in Group Lotus. The other 49% is owned by Etika Automotive, a Malaysian conglomerate.