SHOCK NEWS – Lotus makes a PROFIT. Well, sort of.

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Lotus has revealed that it actually made an EBITDA profit in the 2016/17 financial year of £2 million, an improvement of £18.3 million on the previous year.

Lotus has not been exactly noted for its profitability but, just as Aston Martin seems to have done, it is now going in the right direction.

It may not be showing a real tangible profit yet, but it has delivered and EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization) of £2 million, which is a significant improvement.

In fact it’s a significant change on the previous year when Lotus’s EBITDA saw a loss of £16.3 million.

That’s the headline, but when you dig down a bit Lotus actually made a pre-tax loss of £11.2 million, although that’s a huge improvement on the £41.2 million loss the year before.

Interestingly, Lotus has achieved the turnaround not by delivering new vehicles (well, apart from the 3-Eleven last year) but on the back of titivations and special editions of its range.

Clearly, despite big price tags (the Lotus Evora GT430 costs £112.5k) buyers are parting with their cash for Lotus cars once again.

Lotus boss, Jean-Marc Gales, said:

We have emerged from the last three years a fitter and more effective business, where we are fast in bringing new sports cars to market and agile in adapting to new opportunities.

We are now in a perfect position to develop the next generation of Lotus sports cars and the 850 highly skilled staff at our headquarters in Norfolk and around the world who have such passion for the business and are ready to take the next steps in the exciting history of the company.

Lotus are aiming for proper profit in 2017/18, but the big changes are likely to come when Volvo owners Geely start to have input now they’ve effectively grabbed Lotus from Proton, and are promising to “Unleash the potential of Lotus Cars“.