China's Geely to spend $1.9B on Lotus revival?

The parent company plans to elevate Lotus to a leading global luxury brand.

China's Geely reportedly has big plans for Lotus, potentially providing the British brand with enough funding to significantly expand its share of the global sports car market.

Majority owner of Lotus since early last year, Geely is now considering a 1.5 billion pounds (~$1.9 billion USD) investment in the brand, according to a Bloomberg report.

The funds are said to be focused on building new production facilities and research centers in the UK. It is unclear if Geely is also planning a manufacturing expansion in China or other markets.

"Geely is fully committed to restoring Lotus into being a leading global luxury brand," Lotus said in a statement, without explicitly confirming the talk of a $1.9 billion investment.

As Geely further extends its global reach, the company is said to view Lotus as a potential rival to Porsche, Ferrari and other exclusive ultra-luxury marques. Lotus sales have been strong in recent years, however the company has remained mostly a niche player among more dominant performance and luxury brands.