Lotus in ‘a good place’ to go public, valued at $5.4b
After a series of terrible news coming from EV players Polestar and Renault’s Ampere, Lotus is feeling confident and ready to roll with listing its shares on Nasdaq by the end of March. The EV arm of the company is valued at $5.4 billion.
Automotive News Europe reports that the Geely-owned company is merging with “blank check” company L. Catteron Asia Acquisition in the first quarter, according to company head Mike Johnstone.
While its EV arm Lotus Tech was scheduled to be listed at the end of last year, that plan was delayed for “no specific reason,” according to Johnstone, who spoke with Automotive News Europe.
“We feel we are in a good place,” he said. “We delivered the volume of cars that we expected to, and we put in place a really pragmatic plan in terms of growth and gross margin.”
The timing of the listing comes right after Volvo stopped funding struggling luxury EV maker Polestar and handed full responsibility for the brand over to Geely, which is based in China. After Polestar was listed in the US in 2022, but it has continually struggled with poor stock performance and has had to rely on funding from Volvo and Geely for funding to stay in the game.
Also, French automaker Renault just canceled its planned IPO for its EV spinoff Ampere. While the IPO was scheduled for the first part of this year with an expected valuation of up to €10 billion ($10.47 billion), Renault says that market conditions aren’t optimal to make the move.
Adding to the grim mood, Volkswagen pushed back an IPO on its PowerCo. battery unit and plans to seek outside investors.
But Lotus says none of that will factor into their decision, with Johnstone saying that the brand’s high-end positioning puts them in a better place to ride out tough EV market conditions, said the report.
Lotus is aiming to reach 76,000 annual volume by 2025, and that’s based on sales of the Eletre SUV, Emeya sedan, and its Emira ICE sports car, at least that’s what the company said back in October. Lotus aims to go all-electric by 2028 once it replaces its Emira with an electric sports car (covered in-depth by Electrek) in 2027.
In 2026, the company also plans to release an electric SUV mysteriously dubbed Type 134 to rival the Porsche Macan. The brand expects to sell around 80,000 units of the Type 134 by 2027, which will be built in Wuhan, China, where Lotus builds its SUVs and sedans, reports Automotive News Europe.
Despite all the bad buzz in the media around electric vehicles at the moment, it won’t last, Johnstone said. The tide has already turned toward electric vehicles, and there is no going back. “You will see an increase in EV adoption driven by consumers and driven by regulators.”
Not that we’re not seeing some pushback on that. German automakers are stirring up news that Europe may push back its 2035 ban on ICE vehicles due to slow EV demand.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
In this photo illustration, the logo for the US tech firm “Block” is displayed and reflected in a number of digital screens on March 03, 2023 in London, England.
Leon Neal | Getty Images
With its stock down more than 30% this year and revenue growth slowing, Jack Dorsey’s Block is going bigger in lending.
The company on Thursday said it secured approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to originate loans through its banking subsidiary, Square Financial Services, allowing it to offer small-dollar consumer loans directly rather than relying on external banking partners.
It’s an expansion of Cash App Borrow, the company’s short-term lending product. But it comes at a time of increased concerns surrounding consumer credit, with President Trump’s expansive tariffs and widespread government job cuts raising talk of a potential recession.
Transaction losses in Block’s lending segment jumped 39% last quarter, and while the company claims its underwriting model is strong, small-dollar lending is inherently risky.
“Cash App Borrow is designed to provide short-term cash flow in a simple and accessible way when alternatives are notoriously expensive and difficult for consumers to navigate,” Block said in the press release. The company added that the average Cash App Borrow loan was under $100 and about a month in duration.
Block didn’t immediately provide a comment.
In getting approval to operate the lending business out of its own bank, Block says it will be able to offer the product nationwide.
Last month, Block reported quarterly results that missed Wall Street expectations, with revenue growing just 4.5% from a year earlier. The stock plunged 18%, its worst one-day drop since 2020.
Around the same time, Block rolled out Afterpay, its buy now, pay later product, on the Cash App card. Chief Financial Officer Amrita Ahuja told CNBC that the launch aimed to provide customers with more credit options, and positioned Cash App as a banking alternative for some customers. Block acquired Afterpay, which competes with Affirm, for $29 billion in early 2022.
Also this week, Block announced a big investment plan in artificial intelligence.
The company said on Wednesday that it will deploy Nvidia’s AI systems with its latest Blackwell chips to power open-source AI research. Block didn’t say what specifically it’s looking to achieve through its AI buildout, but noted in the press release that it will “start exploring novel solutions for our customers.”
![Kia's first electric van looks even better in person [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/03/Kias-first-electric-van-PV5-1.jpeg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Kia is launching its first electric van, the PV5, later this year. If you liked how it looked in pictures, wait until you see it in real life. A production PV5 was spotted in Korea for the first time, giving us a closer look at the futuristic van. See it for yourself in the video below.
Kia’s first electric van spotted in Korea
After teasing it for what seemed like forever, Kia finally took the sheets off the PV5 at its 2025 EV Day event last month.
With its hard-to-miss futuristic design, the PV5 is a near replica of the concept shown at CES last January. The mid-size electric van is set to kick off Kia’s new Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) strategy.
The PV5 will initially be available in Passenger, Cargo, and Chassis Cab setups, but with “unprecedented flexibility,” you can expect to see more options soon. Two of the first will be the PV5 Crew, with additional cargo securing options and a Wheelchair-Accessible Vehicle (WAV) version.
After that, Kia will follow it up with Drop Side, Box Van, Freezer, Box, and Prime variations. It plans to launch a Light Camper conversion.
With sales kicking off in the second half of 2025, Kia’s electric van was spotted in Korea for the first time without camouflage. A new video from HealerTV gives us a better idea of what to expect when the PV5 hits dealerships later this year.
The PV5 maintains its techy, almost ahead-of-its-time design. Two exterior body colors were shown: white and a darker grey or black. As the reporter notes, it actually looks like an upgrade from the concept.
Kia did what it could at the back so it didn’t look like a bus, giving it more of a rounded overall shape. You can see how it stands apart from most MPVs you see today.
Like the Volkswagen ID.Buzz, Kia’s PV5 looks more like a minibus. At 4,695 mm long, 1,895 mm wide, and 1,899 mm tall, Kia’s passenger electric van is slightly smaller than the European ID.Buzz model (4,712 mm long, 1,985 mm wide, 1,937 mm tall).
It will be available with 51.5 kWh and 71.2 kWh battery packs, good for up to 400 km (249 miles) WLTP range. The PV5 can also fast charge (10% to 80%) in about 30 minutes. In comparison, powered by an 84 kWh battery, the ID.Buzz now offers up to 293 miles WLTP range.
Kia will launch sales in Korea and Europe later this year, followed by other global markets in 2026. Pre-orders will open soon, so check back for prices.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Trump making an ad for Tesla, upcoming cheaper Tesla models, the unveiling of the new Mercedes CLA EV, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET):
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports11 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway