LONDON: Lotus has announced the appointment of Ben Payne as chief creative officer (CCO) for Lotus Technology.
Payne has most recently been managing director and studio head 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 Eletre Hyper-SUV.
Payne’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 closely with the sports car design team at Hethel, which is led by design director Russell Carr.
Both teams report to design vice-president Peter Horbury.
“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," said Payne.
Payne 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.
Lotus is majority owned by Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. In 2017, Geely acquired 49.9% in Malaysia's Proton and 51% in Lotus from DRB-Hicom.
The remaining 49% stake was bought by Etika Automotive, which is controlled by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary.
