(Yicai Global) April 19 -- Lotus Cars, a Norwich-headquartered high-performance automaker, has returned to the Shanghai Auto Show after years of absence to showcase three of its new models, including its first electric hypercar Type 130.

Lotus displayed the three vehicles, including Evora GT410 Sport and Evora GT4 concept race car, at the fair. The company will start selling its earlier models in China this year, Yicai Global learned at the show. 

Lotus has selected its dealers in Chengdu and Beijing and is in the process of choosing ones in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou, Chief Executive Feng Qingfeng told Yicai Global, adding that all operations should open in July at the latest. 

Lotus will reorganize its over 100 outlets worldwide and focus on big markets such as China, the US and Japan to provide customers with better services, Feng added.

The move is the biggest for the firm in China so far after Hangzhou's Geely Holding Group bought a 51 percent stake in Lotus from Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom in 2017. Under Geely's guidance, Lotus cars will be produced in China starting in 2021, as a plant is on its way in central Wuhan. The annual production capacity will be 150,000 passenger vehicles.

Editor: Emmi Laine