LOTUS employees in Worcester will be offered the chance to relocate to Norwich after the motoring giant announced it will leave its city site next year.

Lotus announced today that the site in Worcester would be merged with the steel fabrication site in Norwich, moving together to a larger facility in Hurricane Way, Norwich.

The company announced it had "outgrown" the Worcester site, meaning they need to relocate.

The decision means the 42 employees at the Worcester facility will have to relocate to Norwich should they wish to continue working for the company.

According to the company, the Lotus Lightweight Structures’ current facility in Worcester will be re-purposed by the freeholder and Lotus will relocate from the facility in May 2021.

Worcestershire-based staff will be offered the opportunity to continue their roles in Norwich, where the company is recruiting for both the new Hurricane Way facility and Hethel HQ.

David Hewitt, executive director of operations, Lotus Cars said: "By bringing the aluminium chassis and steel sub-assembly manufacturing businesses together into one facility, we can further improve upon efficiencies and productivity for Lotus manufacturing.

"Being located close to Lotus’ HQ in Hethel, Norfolk where all Lotus cars are assembled, will also benefit the business as we expand further into the future."