Lotus is following in the footsteps of rivals: when the company’s first SUV will be launched

Eletre will become the flagship model for the Chinese manufacturer’s new “lifestyle” range of electric vehicles.

Lotus applied its sports car design and performance ethos to develop the all-electric Eletre SUV.

Eletre, unveiled in London, will become the flagship model for the carmaker’s new “lifestyle” range of electric vehicles, which will be built in Wuhan, China, for global markets.

The high-performance SUV is the carmaker’s first five-door car. It will be an electric rival to luxury SUVs powered by internal combustion engines such as the Porsche Cayenne, Aston Martin DBX and Lamborghini Urus.

Eletre marks the British car brand’s embrace of two major industry trends – electric power and high-quality SUVs.

“It’s a significant transformation that has never been done in the automotive industry before,” Lotus Cars CEO Matt Windle said during a preview of the car.

Lotus said that Eletre will accelerate from 0 to 100 km / h in less than three seconds, which would make the SUV faster than Aston Martin’s new high-performance DBX707 variant, which is said to go overboard. at 0 to 100 km / h in 3.1 seconds.

Four lidar sensors

Electre is 5103 mm long, making it 4918 mm longer than Cayenne, slightly longer than 5039 mm DBX and similar to Urus, which is 5112 mm long.

It is lower than its combustion engine rivals at 1630 mm in height compared to 1680 mm for DBX, 1638 mm for Urus and 1728 mm for Bentley Bentagya.

Eletre has up to four separate lidar sensors to deliver what Lotus claims will eventually be “end-to-end autonomous driving.”

The driverless features that the car will offer when the first deliveries start in early 2023 is the ability to park automatically, but other standalone features will be added by the over-the-air software when allowed by regulations. local market, Lotus said.

Eletre is built on a new platform called Electric Premium Architecture with floor-mounted batteries.

The platform combines high-strength aluminum and steel to provide low rigidity and weight, which helps deliver “outstanding rolling and handling,” said Lotus dynamic head Gavan Kershaw.

An original design

Lotus did not disclose Eletre’s weight, although the initial specifications seen by dealers put it at over two tons.

The SUV uses an 800-volt architecture for faster charging. A 340 kilowatt charging system is standard.

Lotus aims for a range of 600 km from the 100 kilowatt-hour battery, which has been described as “high density” without reference to chemistry.

The company said the platform could accommodate larger batteries to create longer-range, higher-performance models.

Lotus claims that the car has the most advanced active aerodynamic package seen on any production SUV.

The most attractive feature is the network of triangles at the front of the machine that can be opened when the battery and other elements need cooling and then closed again.

It was electric

The style reflects the electric era, rather than the current car models that go back to the era of horse-drawn carriages, said Lotus chief designer Peter Horbury.

“Aston DBX, Lamborghini Urus, Porsche Cayenne, Ferrari SUV – all have a massive V8 in front. This is really the technology of the horse-drawn vehicle with the driver in the back, ”said Horbury.

“We could see it parked next to a Urus and a Cayenne and it looks like the newest from afar,” he said.

Inside the booth, the designers worked to create a high-tech look demanded by customers, especially in China, but without distracting.

A 15.1-inch screen in the center of the dashboard folds when not needed, and much of the driver’s information is provided by a standard augmented reality head-up display.

Deliveries to the US and other global markets will begin in 2024.