Sports-car maker Lotus is hiring 200 additional engineers as it looks to accelerate a turnaround plan bankroled by China's Geely, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Under a strategy to triple production to 5,000 cars a year, Lotus is also opening an engineering center in central England, the first time it has expanded beyond its home in Norfolk, eastern England, according to the report.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which also owns Volvo, took a controlling stake in Lotus in 2017 in a 100 million-pound ($130 million) deal.
Geely has started construction of a $1.3 billion assembly plant for high-end vehicles, including the Lotus brand, in Wuhan, China. It will be Lotus's first production site outside of the UK.
Under new CEO Phil Popham, a Jaguar Land Rover veteran, Lotus is investing in a new platform that will allow it to break out of the sports car niche it has occupied since Colin Chapman founded the company 70 years ago.
