The Lotus Eletre is an upcoming high-performance
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 ( ...
to be produced by British sports car manufacturer
Lotus Cars. It was revealed on 29 March 2022 as the company's first production SUV and its first vehicle produced in China.
Overview
Conceived by then-CEO of Lotus
Jean-Marc Gales, the Lotus SUV project originally surfaced in 2016. Prior this project, Lotus had revealed the 2006
Lotus APX
The Lotus APX (APX stands for ''Aluminium Performance Crossover'') is a concept car created by the British automobile marque, Lotus Cars, Lotus. It was first introduced at the Geneva Motor Show#2006, 2006 Geneva Motor Show, and was also display ...
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 two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
-like design.
Later that month, the final production name of the 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
Geely
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd (ZGH), commonly known as Geely (吉利 "auspicious"), is a Chinese multinational automotive company headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The company is privately held by Chinese billionaire entrepreneur ...
Design Studio in
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...
and is produced in
Wuhan
Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city an ...
, China.
File:Lotus Eletre rear quarter view.jpg, Rear view
File:Lotus Eletre interior.jpg, Interior
Specifications
Battery and platform
The Lotus Eletre trim levels will be offered in battery packs ranging from 92 to 120 kWh, with an output varying between . Certain models have a time of less than three seconds.
The car's target maximum WLTP driving range is .
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 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.
In 2011, the C- ...
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). As of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, E-segment sales account for 2.7 ...
electric models. After the Type 132, two more SUVs and a
sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
are planned to be released.
Technology
In a teaser video released by Lotus, a
LiDAR sensor is shown rising from the roof of the Lotus Eletre. Also shown through teasers are
digital side mirrors and a floating
infotainment system.
Type 134
The Type 134 is a smaller EV SUV.
References
External links
Official website
{{Lotus
Eletre
Cars introduced in 2022
Mid-size sport utility vehicles
Luxury crossover sport utility vehicles
Upcoming car models
All-wheel-drive vehicles