The Lotus Eletre is a
battery electric mid-size luxury crossover SUV
A crossover, crossover SUV, or crossover utility vehicle (CUV) is a type of automobile with an increased ride height that is built on unibody chassis construction shared with passenger cars, as opposed to traditional sport utility vehicles ( ...
produced by the British sports car manufacturer
Lotus Cars
Lotus Group (also known as Lotus Cars) is a British multinational automotive manufacturer of luxury sports cars and electric vehicles.
Lotus Group is composed of three primary entities. Lotus Cars, a high-performance sports car company, is ba ...
. It was revealed on 29 March 2022 as the company's first production SUV and its first vehicle produced in China.
Overview
Conceived by Jean-Marc Gales, Lotus's CEO at the time, the Lotus SUV project originally surfaced in 2016. Prior to this project, Lotus had revealed the 2006
Lotus APX concept crossover SUV, the first SUV that the company had built. In 2020, it was revealed that the internal codename for the new SUV project was 'Lambda' and that the model will be revealed in 2022. Later in 2021, teasers for the SUV were released and the 'Type 132' codename name for the model was revealed. In February 2022, Lotus showed more teasers and revealed that the SUV would debut on 29 March 2022.
Ahead of its official debut, 3D patents published by the intellectual property office on 8 March revealed the Lotus Type 132, showing the SUV's
coupe
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...
-like design.
Later that month, the final production name of Type 132 was revealed to be 'Eletre', consistent with the other mass-production Lotus model nameplates which all begin with the letter 'E'. The name of the car is derived from the
Hungarian word "életre" which means "(coming) to life".
The Lotus Eletre was designed at the Lotus Tech Creative Centre in
West Midlands, England and is produced in
Wuhan
Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...
, China.
Specifications
Battery and platform
The Eletre is based on the Lotus Premium Architecture for the company's future
C-segment
The C-segment is the 3rd category of the Euro Car Segment, European segments for passenger cars and is described as "medium cars". It is equivalent to the Euro NCAP "small family car" size class, and the compact car category in the United States.
...
and
E-segment
The E-segment is the 5th category of the European segments for passenger cars, synonymous with the term executive car.
E-Segment is a niche in Europe (2-3% penetration in 2010s). In 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, E-segment sales accounted for 2.7% ...
electric models. After the Type 132, two more SUVs and a
sports car
A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...
are planned to be released.
For model year 2024, The Lotus Eletre is available in three trim levels: base, S, and R. All models are equipped with a 112.0-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery that supports charging speeds up to 350 kilowatts.
The base and S trims feature a dual-motor powertrain producing 603 horsepower and 524 pound-feet of torque, while the range-topping R trim boasts a more powerful setup (with an uprated rear motor), generating 905 horsepower and 726 pound-feet of torque. The R version, furthermore, is equipped with a 2-speed gearbox for the rear motor. The Eletre R can reach 60 mph in 2.9 seconds.
Technology
In a teaser video released by Lotus, a
LiDAR
Lidar (, also LIDAR, an acronym of "light detection and ranging" or "laser imaging, detection, and ranging") is a method for determining ranging, ranges by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected li ...
sensor is shown rising from the roof of the Lotus Eletre.
Also shown through teasers are
digital side mirrors and a floating
infotainment system
In-car entertainment (ICE), or in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), is a collection of hardware and software in automobiles that provides audio or video entertainment. In car entertainment originated with car audio systems that consisted of radios and ...
.
References
External links
Official website
{{Lotus
Eletre
Cars introduced in 2022
Mid-size sport utility vehicles
Luxury crossover sport utility vehicles
All-wheel-drive vehicles