2023 Lotus Eletre – Sacrilege or Evolution?
By Edward A. Sanchez – March 30, 2022
Lotus has finally officially revealed what it had previously referred to as the “Type 132,” a battery electric SUV that would spearhead its future product initiatives under the corporate umbrella of China’s Geely group, which coincidentally also owns Sweden’s Volvo and Polestar. However, by all indications, the Eletre will be a cut above those offerings in terms of sportiness and performance.
The specs promise performance that lives up to its eye-catching styling, which at least to me, is highly reminiscent of the Lamborghini Urus. The Eletre will have front and rear electric motors “starting” at 600 hp, a 100 kWh (give or take) battery, a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) time of around 3 seconds, and a 260 km/h (161 mph) top speed. To slow down that considerable weight and speed, the Eletre features 10-piston ceramic composite front brakes behind 23-inch wheels and tires. The vehicle will feature an 800V charging architecture, and Lotus is claiming that on a 350 kW charger, as much as 400 km (248 miles) of range can be added in just 20 minutes.
Dimensionally, the Eletre is quite large, with an overall length of 5,103 mm (200 inches), a width of 2,231 mm (87.8 inches) with mirrors, and a height of 1,630 mm (64.2 inches). For comparison, the Urus is 201 inches long, 79 inches wide (presumably sans mirrors) and 65 inches tall.
Although Lotus has traditionally been all about “adding lightness,” our educated guess on the curb weight of the Eletre (which was not mentioned in the initial press release) is at least 5,000 pounds, which would make it the heaviest Lotus model in history, by a considerable margin.
But for that heft and girth, the Eletre packs plenty of features, including LiDAR, adaptive cruise, and a premium sound system of up to 23 speakers and 2,160 watts. The Eletre also features 5G connectivity, following in the footsteps of the BMW iX.
In terms of Lotus being a purely “British” brand, well, it depends on how literally you take the term. Although a UK-based team of engineers and designers worked on the Eletre, it was done in collaboration with a China-based team, and the Eletre will be built exclusively in China. In this day and age where premium and mainstream cars are being built in China and sold globally (including the U.S.), and where Vietnam is launching a premium EV brand in the U.S., perhaps it’s time to reframe our expectations and definitions of “developing” and “developed” markets.
In terms of pricing, an educated guess would put it well into the six figures, if not close to or exceeding $200,000. In terms of availability, Lotus is only saying “deliveries in 2023, starting in China the UK, and Europe.” Which means we may not see it stateside until fall 2023, at the earliest.
Let’s be honest, once the Porsche Cayenne came out in the early 2000s, the notion of an SUV from a “pure” performance brand lost its shock value. While traditionalists may be sad to see Lotus’ transformation from a niche, lightweight boutique sports car brand, it’s a practical reality to scale, and move metal out of the showrooms to pay the bills. If the Eletre and other models to follow enable Lotus to continue to build sports cars, much like many made the case that the Cayenne did for Porsche, I’m all for it.
(Images courtesy Lotus)
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