Lotus has announced the appointment of Ben Payne as Chief Creative Officer of Lotus Technology. Payne has been head of the Lotus Tech Creative Centre in Coventry to lead the design of an entirely new range of 100% electric cars, the first of which is the Eletre hyper Suv. Ben’s new role as Chief Creative Officer broadens his remit to cover all creative aspects of Lotus vehicles and coordinate their production. The Lotus Tech Creative Centre team will continue to work closely with the sports car team at Hethel, led by Head of Design Russell Carr. Ben Payne and Russell Carr report to Peter Horbury, Executive Vice President, Design, Geely Group.

Ben Payne joined the Geely Design UK team in 2018 – the department was renamed Lotus Tech Creative Centre in January 2022 – and has a strong background as a consultant in the automotive design industry. Working internationally, he has extensive technical knowledge and automotive manufacturing experience, ranging from a range of major manufacturers to mass production and one-off bespoke models.