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Lotus Type 132 SUV
- Thread starter FiestaST
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FiestaST
Honorary Master
FiestaST
Honorary Master
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Lotus is readying a 900bhp Eletre hyper-SUV
The new electric Lotus SUV is already fast, but soon it'll be untouchable
It’s not slow, Lotus’s new Eletre. And it’s only going to get faster. In case you were in any doubt, the Eletre that was unveiled last night - a twin motor car with 600bhp and the ability to hit 62mph in 2.9secs - is the entry level version. It’s in with a shout of being proclaimed the world’s fastest SUV with better sprinting ability than a Lamborghini Urus (3.6secs), Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT or Aston Martin’s DBX 707 (both 3.3secs). Tesla claims a 0-62mph of 2.6secs for the forthcoming Model X Plaid.
This means the Lotus is light. Comparatively. 600bhp is less than any of those ICE rivals, and although electricity’s torque-from-zero and zero gearshifts hands it an advantage, it means Lotus’s claim the Eletre weighs around two tonnes dead likely holds true. The 2,455kg Model X needs over 1,000bhp to go 0.3secs faster. And that’s impressive when there’s no escaping the sheer mass of a 105kWh battery. We’ll have to assume the lightweight philosophy has been applied successfully elsewhere.
Anyway, Lotus refers to the Eletre as a Hyper-SUV. Of course it does, the super-SUV is so passe these days. But it’s only a few tenths faster, and is actually likely to substantially undercut its rivals on cost, starting at around £100,000. Not very hyper.
But the next one just might earn the tag. We learned the flagship Eletre, due in a couple of years, will have 900bhp thanks to a second 300bhp motor on the back axle. If this proves true, it should drop the 0-62mph time well below 2.5secs, putting it completely out of reach of any internal combustion rivals. The fast-SUV game is now making the transition to electric.
www.topgear.com
The new electric Lotus SUV is already fast, but soon it'll be untouchable
It’s not slow, Lotus’s new Eletre. And it’s only going to get faster. In case you were in any doubt, the Eletre that was unveiled last night - a twin motor car with 600bhp and the ability to hit 62mph in 2.9secs - is the entry level version. It’s in with a shout of being proclaimed the world’s fastest SUV with better sprinting ability than a Lamborghini Urus (3.6secs), Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT or Aston Martin’s DBX 707 (both 3.3secs). Tesla claims a 0-62mph of 2.6secs for the forthcoming Model X Plaid.
This means the Lotus is light. Comparatively. 600bhp is less than any of those ICE rivals, and although electricity’s torque-from-zero and zero gearshifts hands it an advantage, it means Lotus’s claim the Eletre weighs around two tonnes dead likely holds true. The 2,455kg Model X needs over 1,000bhp to go 0.3secs faster. And that’s impressive when there’s no escaping the sheer mass of a 105kWh battery. We’ll have to assume the lightweight philosophy has been applied successfully elsewhere.
Anyway, Lotus refers to the Eletre as a Hyper-SUV. Of course it does, the super-SUV is so passe these days. But it’s only a few tenths faster, and is actually likely to substantially undercut its rivals on cost, starting at around £100,000. Not very hyper.
But the next one just might earn the tag. We learned the flagship Eletre, due in a couple of years, will have 900bhp thanks to a second 300bhp motor on the back axle. If this proves true, it should drop the 0-62mph time well below 2.5secs, putting it completely out of reach of any internal combustion rivals. The fast-SUV game is now making the transition to electric.
Lotus is readying a 900bhp Eletre hyper-SUV
The new electric Lotus SUV is already fast, but soon it'll be untouchable
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Lotus Eletre: world's first all-electric hyper SUV - unleashed and bound for SA in 2024
- Eletre means Coming to Life, and it aims to increase Lotus Cars' appeal worldwide.
- The four-seater SUV is powered by electricity and comes with futureproof self-drive LIDAR tech.
- Built for drivers - expect supercar sprint times and fast charging thanks to 800-volt underpinnings.
It's under consideration for South Africa
Later this year, Lotus Cars will produce the first customer-order Eletre models in China. The vehicles will roll out in that market first before UK-based Lotus fanatics will be able to get their hands on theirs. For us in sunny South Africa, we'll have to wait until the end of 2023, maybe 2024 for the Eletre to arrive.
Daytona Group, the importer of Lotus Cars in SA, has confirmed that the Eletre will be launched in SA in 2024 - but this all depends on global demand and the impact of the semiconductor chip crisis. They wouldn't disclose estimated pricing, as it's way too early for that, but according to our Lotus Cars contact in the UK, it's going on sale there for around R2 million. That's what we currently pay for cars like the Jaguar I-Pace, for reference.
www.news24.com
- Eletre means Coming to Life, and it aims to increase Lotus Cars' appeal worldwide.
- The four-seater SUV is powered by electricity and comes with futureproof self-drive LIDAR tech.
- Built for drivers - expect supercar sprint times and fast charging thanks to 800-volt underpinnings.
It's under consideration for South Africa
Later this year, Lotus Cars will produce the first customer-order Eletre models in China. The vehicles will roll out in that market first before UK-based Lotus fanatics will be able to get their hands on theirs. For us in sunny South Africa, we'll have to wait until the end of 2023, maybe 2024 for the Eletre to arrive.
Daytona Group, the importer of Lotus Cars in SA, has confirmed that the Eletre will be launched in SA in 2024 - but this all depends on global demand and the impact of the semiconductor chip crisis. They wouldn't disclose estimated pricing, as it's way too early for that, but according to our Lotus Cars contact in the UK, it's going on sale there for around R2 million. That's what we currently pay for cars like the Jaguar I-Pace, for reference.
Lotus Eletre: world's first all-electric hyper SUV - unleashed and bound for SA in 2024 | Life
Lotus Cars South Africa says the new all-electric Eletre will arrive in SA in 2024, so you better place an order soon if you plan on slaying a few Lamborghini Urus on your way to work.
www.news24.com
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Lotus Eletre: a first 'sit' in the new electric SUV
This big Lotus EV carries big expectations. What's it like up close?
www.topgear.com
This big Lotus EV carries big expectations. What's it like up close?
Lotus Eletre: a first 'sit' in the new electric SUV
This big Lotus EV carries big expectations. What's it like up close?
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Livestream Highlights
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Report: Lotus Electre will be the lightest fully-electric SUV
Lotus unveiled its fully-electric Electre SUV a couple of days ago but didn't go into much detail about its specs. It was mostly just marketing talk garnished with a few key numbers. A new report, however, claims to have some interesting information regarding the SUV.
Some company insiders claim that the car's target weight is a couple of kilos shy of 2,000 kg. This is considerably lighter than the competition such as Audi's e-tron and the Model X weighing in at a little over 2,400 kg and slightly above 2,300 kg, respectively. So Lotus is carrying its high-performance and lightweight DNA to EVs.
The car is based on the company's brand new modular Electric Premium Architecture platform and incorporates mainly aluminum for the build, instead of steel, along with various carbon fiber elements. Customers will have the option of carbon-ceramic brakes to lower the weight even further.
www.arenaev.com
Lotus unveiled its fully-electric Electre SUV a couple of days ago but didn't go into much detail about its specs. It was mostly just marketing talk garnished with a few key numbers. A new report, however, claims to have some interesting information regarding the SUV.
Some company insiders claim that the car's target weight is a couple of kilos shy of 2,000 kg. This is considerably lighter than the competition such as Audi's e-tron and the Model X weighing in at a little over 2,400 kg and slightly above 2,300 kg, respectively. So Lotus is carrying its high-performance and lightweight DNA to EVs.
The car is based on the company's brand new modular Electric Premium Architecture platform and incorporates mainly aluminum for the build, instead of steel, along with various carbon fiber elements. Customers will have the option of carbon-ceramic brakes to lower the weight even further.
Report: Lotus Eletre will be the lightest fully-electric SUV
It's almost half a ton lighter than the Model X and Audi e-tron.
www.arenaev.com
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Lotus boss: ‘if you want sportscars, we need to make money’
As Lotus finally reveals its 600bhp Eletre SUV, Matt Windle tells TG about the future
“We want to be a proper global, serious player,” Lotus boss Matt Windle recently told TopGear.com. “When it’s fully on stream, we’re hoping numbers in the tens of thousands.”
The ‘it’ is the shiny new Eletre SUV; the company’s inevitable foray into the world of big, fast electric motoring. The ‘numbers’ bit? How many cars Lotus hopes to sell in the future.
Tens of thousands.
For reference, Lotus sold 1,710 cars last year, which sounds like the number of cars BMW shifted in the last five minutes. For Hethel, this represented nearly a quarter more cars than it sold in 2020, and the most it’s sold since 2011.
Worth mentioning that as of now, in 2022, Lotus doesn’t sell the cars that gave it such a sales bump because last year we waved goodbye to the Elise (the biggest seller in ‘Final Edition’ guise), Exige and Evora.
Lotus then, is throwing everything behind its new set of Es – the Evija, Emira and this Eletre. It’s the latest plan in a series of plans that, over the decades, haven’t quite delivered. Windle’s hoping this time, once and for all, it’ll be different. “We’re ramping up production of the Emira so both sportscars and lifestyle cars will be big for us,” he said.
www.topgear.com
As Lotus finally reveals its 600bhp Eletre SUV, Matt Windle tells TG about the future
“We want to be a proper global, serious player,” Lotus boss Matt Windle recently told TopGear.com. “When it’s fully on stream, we’re hoping numbers in the tens of thousands.”
The ‘it’ is the shiny new Eletre SUV; the company’s inevitable foray into the world of big, fast electric motoring. The ‘numbers’ bit? How many cars Lotus hopes to sell in the future.
Tens of thousands.
For reference, Lotus sold 1,710 cars last year, which sounds like the number of cars BMW shifted in the last five minutes. For Hethel, this represented nearly a quarter more cars than it sold in 2020, and the most it’s sold since 2011.
Worth mentioning that as of now, in 2022, Lotus doesn’t sell the cars that gave it such a sales bump because last year we waved goodbye to the Elise (the biggest seller in ‘Final Edition’ guise), Exige and Evora.
Lotus then, is throwing everything behind its new set of Es – the Evija, Emira and this Eletre. It’s the latest plan in a series of plans that, over the decades, haven’t quite delivered. Windle’s hoping this time, once and for all, it’ll be different. “We’re ramping up production of the Emira so both sportscars and lifestyle cars will be big for us,” he said.
Lotus boss: ‘if you want sportscars, we need to make money’
As Lotus finally reveals its 600bhp Eletre SUV, Matt Windle tells TG about the future
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Top Gear first look at the Eletre
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Lotus primes Type 133 saloon to rival Porsche Taycan
Electric four-door will arrive next year as a driver-focused car with all-wheel drive and 592bhp
Having unveiled its crucial Eletre SUV, Lotus will now shift focus to readying its second Chinese-built ‘lifestyle’ EV, the Type 133 saloon, for launch in 2023.
The Type 133, which will follow Lotus convention in getting a name beginning with ‘E’ in production guise, will provide the brand with a more direct rival to the hugely popular Porsche Taycan, which company bosses confirmed as one of the main benchmarking influences while developing the Eletre, despite the two cars’ different positionings.
Gavan Kershaw, Lotus’s director of attributes and product integrity, said dynamic development of the Eletre was “really, benchmarking the platform”, rather than the car itself, with a view to then rolling it out to the Type 133 and a future Type 134 crossover.
Kershaw referenced the suspension technologies – “active roll control, CDC [continuous damping control], air-sprung independent active rear steer and active aero” – as features that most obviously mark the aluminium Electric Premium Architecture out as the more dynamically oriented platform in the Geely Group stable. He also said they have been ‘package-protected’ for “everything we want to do” with future electric cars, suggesting the Type 133 will follow suit with a similar set-up.
“Our type of car – that we want to drive as well as it looks – requires all that technology,” he said, hinting that the ‘lifestyle’ positioning of EVs built by Lotus Technology in Wuhan, China, will not come at the expense of driver engagement.
Kershaw referenced the suspension technologies – “active roll control, CDC [continuous damping control], air-sprung independent active rear steer and active aero” – as features that most obviously mark the aluminium Electric Premium Architecture out as the more dynamically oriented platform in the Geely Group stable. He also said they have been ‘package-protected’ for “everything we want to do” with future electric cars, suggesting the Type 133 will follow suit with a similar set-up.
“Our type of car – that we want to drive as well as it looks – requires all that technology,” he said, hinting that the ‘lifestyle’ positioning of EVs built by Lotus Technology in Wuhan, China, will not come at the expense of driver engagement.
www.autocar.co.uk
Electric four-door will arrive next year as a driver-focused car with all-wheel drive and 592bhp
Having unveiled its crucial Eletre SUV, Lotus will now shift focus to readying its second Chinese-built ‘lifestyle’ EV, the Type 133 saloon, for launch in 2023.
The Type 133, which will follow Lotus convention in getting a name beginning with ‘E’ in production guise, will provide the brand with a more direct rival to the hugely popular Porsche Taycan, which company bosses confirmed as one of the main benchmarking influences while developing the Eletre, despite the two cars’ different positionings.
Gavan Kershaw, Lotus’s director of attributes and product integrity, said dynamic development of the Eletre was “really, benchmarking the platform”, rather than the car itself, with a view to then rolling it out to the Type 133 and a future Type 134 crossover.
Kershaw referenced the suspension technologies – “active roll control, CDC [continuous damping control], air-sprung independent active rear steer and active aero” – as features that most obviously mark the aluminium Electric Premium Architecture out as the more dynamically oriented platform in the Geely Group stable. He also said they have been ‘package-protected’ for “everything we want to do” with future electric cars, suggesting the Type 133 will follow suit with a similar set-up.
“Our type of car – that we want to drive as well as it looks – requires all that technology,” he said, hinting that the ‘lifestyle’ positioning of EVs built by Lotus Technology in Wuhan, China, will not come at the expense of driver engagement.
Kershaw referenced the suspension technologies – “active roll control, CDC [continuous damping control], air-sprung independent active rear steer and active aero” – as features that most obviously mark the aluminium Electric Premium Architecture out as the more dynamically oriented platform in the Geely Group stable. He also said they have been ‘package-protected’ for “everything we want to do” with future electric cars, suggesting the Type 133 will follow suit with a similar set-up.
“Our type of car – that we want to drive as well as it looks – requires all that technology,” he said, hinting that the ‘lifestyle’ positioning of EVs built by Lotus Technology in Wuhan, China, will not come at the expense of driver engagement.
Lotus Emeya out-charges Porsche Taycan | Autocar
Rapid EV records peak charging rates above 400kW and an average of 331kW
www.autocar.co.uk
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Lotus launches Eletre's configurator with high-quality 3D renders
Lotus launched its new Eletre configurator with plenty of cool features. Depending on your hardware, the 3D renders could take a while to load but there are plenty of features to play around with.
You can change the color, wheels, brake calipers and also change the interior color accent. You can set up the Eletre in different environments, which would change the way the ambient light hits the car and as a result, some paint jobs and elements appear differently. You can explore different angles of the car and enjoy some animations of the trunk, front-left door and you can even open the front grille or lift up the spoiler on the back.
https://www.arenaev.com/lotus_launches_eletres_configurator_with_highquality_3d_renders-news-166.php
Lotus launched its new Eletre configurator with plenty of cool features. Depending on your hardware, the 3D renders could take a while to load but there are plenty of features to play around with.
You can change the color, wheels, brake calipers and also change the interior color accent. You can set up the Eletre in different environments, which would change the way the ambient light hits the car and as a result, some paint jobs and elements appear differently. You can explore different angles of the car and enjoy some animations of the trunk, front-left door and you can even open the front grille or lift up the spoiler on the back.
https://www.arenaev.com/lotus_launches_eletres_configurator_with_highquality_3d_renders-news-166.php
FiestaST
Honorary Master
The Lotus Type 133 Electric Sedan has the Porsche Taycan in its sights
After the bold and striking Eletre SUV was released a few weeks ago, many have turned their attention in acquiring information from the British manufacturer for their next expected model; the Lotus Type 133 Electric Sedan which is rumoured to take the EV fight to the Porsche Taycan.
Management at the Hethel based brand have reassured the motoring world that the next model currently known by its “Type 133″ designation will not simply be an Eletre on stilts but rather a completely different looking model which has “some continuity and family identity” to the rest of the range. However, like its electrified SUV sibling, the Lotus Type 133 Electric Sedan will also expectedly be assembled at the state-of-the-art facility in China.
www.carmag.co.za
After the bold and striking Eletre SUV was released a few weeks ago, many have turned their attention in acquiring information from the British manufacturer for their next expected model; the Lotus Type 133 Electric Sedan which is rumoured to take the EV fight to the Porsche Taycan.
Management at the Hethel based brand have reassured the motoring world that the next model currently known by its “Type 133″ designation will not simply be an Eletre on stilts but rather a completely different looking model which has “some continuity and family identity” to the rest of the range. However, like its electrified SUV sibling, the Lotus Type 133 Electric Sedan will also expectedly be assembled at the state-of-the-art facility in China.
The Lotus Type 133 Electric Sedan has the Porsche Taycan in its sights
After the bold and striking Eletre SUV was released a few weeks ago, many have turned their attention in acquiring information from the British manufacturer for their next expected model; the Lotus Type 133 Electric Sedan which is rumoured to take the EV fight to the Porsche Taycan.
www.carmag.co.za
FiestaST
Honorary Master
TG's electric car we're most curious to drive: the Lotus Eletre
It's happened: a fully electric Lotus... SUV. Here's why it's one of our EVs to watch
Why did you give the Lotus Eletre an award?
Lotus’s PR people are keen to press home something they call ‘born British, raised globally'. Whatever that means. The Eletre’s multi-nationality is useful, though. China is a world leader in battery tech, Germany for the hard- and software, Sweden in safety, while the UK oversees the sexy stuff like the chassis tuning and design. Lotus can tap freely into this global brains trust. And, as with Porsche, commercial success in a high-margin sector like the high-end SUV one should mean more bunce to invest in the areas Lotus has traditionally been good in.
Of course, we need to drive it. But I doubt they’ve cocked this one up.
www.topgear.com
It's happened: a fully electric Lotus... SUV. Here's why it's one of our EVs to watch
Why did you give the Lotus Eletre an award?
Lotus’s PR people are keen to press home something they call ‘born British, raised globally'. Whatever that means. The Eletre’s multi-nationality is useful, though. China is a world leader in battery tech, Germany for the hard- and software, Sweden in safety, while the UK oversees the sexy stuff like the chassis tuning and design. Lotus can tap freely into this global brains trust. And, as with Porsche, commercial success in a high-margin sector like the high-end SUV one should mean more bunce to invest in the areas Lotus has traditionally been good in.
Of course, we need to drive it. But I doubt they’ve cocked this one up.
TG's electric car we're most curious to drive: the Lotus Eletre
It's happened: a fully electric Lotus... SUV. Here's why it's one of our EVs to watch
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Light work: The Coventry designers reimagining Lotus
Turning Lotus into a premium EV brand is “a hell of a responsibility”. We hear how it's being done
For most of its life, Lotus Design consisted of an unfeasibly small group of highly talented individuals tucked away in tiny premises adjacent to Hethel, the Lotus headquarters that company founder Colin Chapman opened in 1966 on a wartime airfield south of Norwich.
Their traditional task was to produce simple, light and track-focused sports cars that followed the hallowed 74-year Chapman tradition, imaginatively using proprietary parts because they were good, cheap and plentiful. Lotus has always had a ‘beat the system’ culture. Why use two parts when one can do two jobs? Why build your own engines when existing units work fine at a fraction of the cost?
Lotus cars have been cheap, too, if you judge their capability against that of big-company rivals. Most were so good that a loyal body of buyers (never enough) was prepared to overlook traditional brand shortcomings in areas like access, cabin design, control layout and day-to-day practicality. They enjoyed the driving and felt good about supporting a deserving cause.
In a corporate sense, the Lotus story has been a long succession of under-resourced group managing directors (of very mixed tenure and ability) battling to satisfy uncertain owners and a motley band of dealers who believed they were making their own sacrifices to keep Lotus on the rails. Sometimes the most urgent struggle was to pay the workforce at the end of the week.
www.autocar.co.uk
Turning Lotus into a premium EV brand is “a hell of a responsibility”. We hear how it's being done
For most of its life, Lotus Design consisted of an unfeasibly small group of highly talented individuals tucked away in tiny premises adjacent to Hethel, the Lotus headquarters that company founder Colin Chapman opened in 1966 on a wartime airfield south of Norwich.
Their traditional task was to produce simple, light and track-focused sports cars that followed the hallowed 74-year Chapman tradition, imaginatively using proprietary parts because they were good, cheap and plentiful. Lotus has always had a ‘beat the system’ culture. Why use two parts when one can do two jobs? Why build your own engines when existing units work fine at a fraction of the cost?
Lotus cars have been cheap, too, if you judge their capability against that of big-company rivals. Most were so good that a loyal body of buyers (never enough) was prepared to overlook traditional brand shortcomings in areas like access, cabin design, control layout and day-to-day practicality. They enjoyed the driving and felt good about supporting a deserving cause.
In a corporate sense, the Lotus story has been a long succession of under-resourced group managing directors (of very mixed tenure and ability) battling to satisfy uncertain owners and a motley band of dealers who believed they were making their own sacrifices to keep Lotus on the rails. Sometimes the most urgent struggle was to pay the workforce at the end of the week.
Light work: The Coventry designers reimagining Lotus | Autocar
Turning Lotus into a premium EV brand is “a hell of a responsibility”. We hear how it's being done
www.autocar.co.uk
FiestaST
Honorary Master
First Lotus Eletre rolls off production line at the new Wuhan factory
Lotus Eletre was unveiled at the end of March and 4 months later the first cars have already rolled off the production line. The company that we see now is not the Lotus of the old days - it is owned by Geely with 51% stake and Etika Automotive with a 49% stake. The company is pivoting quickly towards electrification and its first SUV is aimed at the most profitable markets - China and the US.
A new factory was built in Hannan, Wuhan City and is located in a dedicated Electric Vehicle Industrial Park within the Technological Development Zone. The factory was officially opened on July 15.
The facility covers 1,526 acres and the total investment so far is $1.18 billion.
First cars may have rolled off the production line but the sales won’t start until early 2023, the cars produced now are the production intent models that will help the company improve quality of manufacturing and identify issues during the production process. The first vehicles will begin grueling testing soon that will involve driving hundreds of thousands of miles across all climates in all imaginable conditions.
www.arenaev.com
Lotus Eletre was unveiled at the end of March and 4 months later the first cars have already rolled off the production line. The company that we see now is not the Lotus of the old days - it is owned by Geely with 51% stake and Etika Automotive with a 49% stake. The company is pivoting quickly towards electrification and its first SUV is aimed at the most profitable markets - China and the US.
A new factory was built in Hannan, Wuhan City and is located in a dedicated Electric Vehicle Industrial Park within the Technological Development Zone. The factory was officially opened on July 15.
The facility covers 1,526 acres and the total investment so far is $1.18 billion.
First cars may have rolled off the production line but the sales won’t start until early 2023, the cars produced now are the production intent models that will help the company improve quality of manufacturing and identify issues during the production process. The first vehicles will begin grueling testing soon that will involve driving hundreds of thousands of miles across all climates in all imaginable conditions.
First Lotus Eletre rolls off production line at the new Wuhan factory
Lotus Eletre has just become the first Lotus ever and one of the fastest SUVs at the same time, to be made in China.
www.arenaev.com
FiestaST
Honorary Master
FiestaST
Honorary Master
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Lotus Eletre to launch with 893bhp, £120,000 range-topper
Urus-sized, tech-rich, high-performance SUV marks firm's shift to high-tech EV maker
The Lotus Eletre SUV, which begins the historic British brand’s reinvention as an electric performance car firm offering a breadth of vehicle types, will launch with a £120,000, 893bhp range-topper.
Claimed by the British firm to be the world’s fastest dual-motor electric SUV, the Eletre R can hit 62mph from standing in 2.95sec – and continue all the way to 165mph – thanks also to its 726lb ft of torque.
When it arrives next summer, the flagship model will sit alongside two other variants (the standard £89,500 Eletre and the sportier-looking £104,500 Eletre S), which both make 595bhp. All three models come with four-wheel drive.
www.autocar.co.uk
Urus-sized, tech-rich, high-performance SUV marks firm's shift to high-tech EV maker
The Lotus Eletre SUV, which begins the historic British brand’s reinvention as an electric performance car firm offering a breadth of vehicle types, will launch with a £120,000, 893bhp range-topper.
Claimed by the British firm to be the world’s fastest dual-motor electric SUV, the Eletre R can hit 62mph from standing in 2.95sec – and continue all the way to 165mph – thanks also to its 726lb ft of torque.
When it arrives next summer, the flagship model will sit alongside two other variants (the standard £89,500 Eletre and the sportier-looking £104,500 Eletre S), which both make 595bhp. All three models come with four-wheel drive.
Lotus Eletre to launch with 905bhp, £120,000 range-topper | Autocar
Urus-sized, tech-rich, high-performance SUV marks firm's shift to high-tech EV maker
www.autocar.co.uk
FiestaST
Honorary Master
The Lotus Eletre is here: £89,500 price, 'S' and 900bhp 'R' versions confirmed
Welcome to the Lotus that’s unlike any before it. Full specs finally revealed
So, this is Lotus’s SUV. React as you choose (unless that is a YouTube reaction, in which case we’re good, thanks) but the fact is that an SUV pretty much saved Porsche, and solidified Lamborghini for the first time in its almost eternally shaky history.
And with prices starting at £89,500 – €95,990 over on the continent – there’s an argument there that the Eletre will be a money-spinner for Lotus like the Cayenne and Urus were for its German and Italian sport car contemporaries.
With that said, and as much money as £90,000 might be (we counted and it took forever), it’s not like buyers are exactly short-changed for it. With the basic Eletre good for 600bhp and 524lb ft, and the top-spec Eletre R capable of a broadly absurd 900bhp and 727lb ft, we’re free to make any number of overwrought analogies about where your internal organs will be forced under acceleration, or indeed speculate at how many sick bags rear-seat passengers will need. So... erm, ‘enough to put your canines in your coccyx’, and... oh, six sick bags. Yeah.
But motive force alone is rarely enough to warrant a price tag that’s in constant threat of marching over the six-figure mark – even if it is, as Lotus says, the ‘fastest dual-motor pure electric SUV’. So to justify the cost (and probably other reasons, of the ‘keep you alive’ variety) we find active air suspension, torque vectoring and LED headlights. There’s a 112kWh battery that’ll charge from 10 to 80 per cent in 20 minutes – provided you have an appropriately Thor-spec amount of electricity to feed it – and deliver at least 300 miles of range... if you’re able to drive conservatively. Drive your Lotus conservatively. Yeah, we’re sure you’ll get right on that.
www.topgear.com
Welcome to the Lotus that’s unlike any before it. Full specs finally revealed
So, this is Lotus’s SUV. React as you choose (unless that is a YouTube reaction, in which case we’re good, thanks) but the fact is that an SUV pretty much saved Porsche, and solidified Lamborghini for the first time in its almost eternally shaky history.
And with prices starting at £89,500 – €95,990 over on the continent – there’s an argument there that the Eletre will be a money-spinner for Lotus like the Cayenne and Urus were for its German and Italian sport car contemporaries.
With that said, and as much money as £90,000 might be (we counted and it took forever), it’s not like buyers are exactly short-changed for it. With the basic Eletre good for 600bhp and 524lb ft, and the top-spec Eletre R capable of a broadly absurd 900bhp and 727lb ft, we’re free to make any number of overwrought analogies about where your internal organs will be forced under acceleration, or indeed speculate at how many sick bags rear-seat passengers will need. So... erm, ‘enough to put your canines in your coccyx’, and... oh, six sick bags. Yeah.
But motive force alone is rarely enough to warrant a price tag that’s in constant threat of marching over the six-figure mark – even if it is, as Lotus says, the ‘fastest dual-motor pure electric SUV’. So to justify the cost (and probably other reasons, of the ‘keep you alive’ variety) we find active air suspension, torque vectoring and LED headlights. There’s a 112kWh battery that’ll charge from 10 to 80 per cent in 20 minutes – provided you have an appropriately Thor-spec amount of electricity to feed it – and deliver at least 300 miles of range... if you’re able to drive conservatively. Drive your Lotus conservatively. Yeah, we’re sure you’ll get right on that.
The Lotus Eletre is here: £89,500 price, 'S' and 900bhp 'R' versions confirmed
Welcome to the Lotus that’s unlike any before it. Full specs finally revealed