The business secretary met with the sportscar manufacturer and its Chinese majority-owner Geely on Sunday following reports it was planning to shut down its Hethel factory in Norfolk, putting 1,300 jobs at risk, in favour of relocating to the US.

Lotus and Geely reassured Jonathan Reynolds that "they are committed to their UK operations and have no plans to close their Hethel plant".

The government says it now plans to work with Lotus and UK carmakers, cutting manufacturers’ energy costs and providing £2.5bn of much-needed capital and research and development funding.

These measures fall under Labour’s industrial strategy, announced last week.

Lotus's Hethel base (Image: Denise Bradley) Reports of Lotus’ plans to cease manufacturing in the UK emerged in the Financial Times on Friday, claiming the carmaker has struggled to pay its suppliers in recent weeks, bringing production at Hethel to a temporary halt for about a month.

Hethel has been the home of Lotus since 1966 and is its only manufacturing base in the UK.

Lotus's Hethel headquarters (Image: Lotus)

Its capacity is around 5,000 cars a year, compared with around 1,500 units........

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