Lotus has just revealed the Type 132’s silhouette in a teaser video as it prepares the world for its launch on 29 March 2022 at 19:30 hours BST. The video also showed Clive Chapman, the son of Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus. Clive spoke about Lotus making an SUV and how his father would approve of it, even though he was a designer of race cars and sports cars. Clive said his father was a practical man, and that reflected in his choice of a practical car for daily driving.
Colin used a 4x4 for his commuting needs, and there were two parking spots at the office: one for the Lotus, and one for the 4x4. Clive also talks about the practicality of an SUV in terms of off-roading, towing, and daily use. He added that the way the Type 132 was designed, his father would surely approve of it and would have also liked to work on it. In the end, a glimpse of the vehicle is given, and it appears to be more of a final sketch work than the actual model. The teased profile shows a sharp and aerodynamic profile with a coupe-like rear section.
The Type 132 SUV is based on Lotus’s Premium Architecture platform that was developed under Project LEVA. Lotus says that the Type 132 can accelerate from 0-60 MPH in 3 seconds, which will make it probably the quickest electric SUV available in the American market. The Type 132 will also make use of either a 92 kWh or a 120 kWh battery pack with an 800-volt charging system. With this, as per Lotus, the Type 132 can replenish 80% of its charge from 0% in under 20 minutes.
It was just a few weeks ago that Lotus announced the reveal date of 29 March, and along with the date the company teased the SUV in a video titled “Energy and Light” which showed some of the features on the Type 132 that might have made it on the production model. Like the initial four teasers titled Breathe, See, Stretch, and Awaken, this teaser also had four distinct segments: Heart, Power, Energy, and Soul. Also, just like the earlier four teasers, Lotus showed specific human movements and drew connections to what part it might refer to on the car.
The ‘Heart’ section referred to the Type 132’s motor by showing a motor casing that can actually be the drive unit as well. The entire parts appeared to come together to form one unit. The ‘Power’ part of the video gave a glimpse of the alloy wheels which seem to be finished in carbon fiber with large wheels. The wheels were shown to start moving from a stationary state which signified power. Different lights around the Type 132 were shown in the ‘Energy’ part of the video, with the main focus on the thin blue color LED strip.
Lastly, the ‘Soul’ showed the interior blue ambient lighting and the steering wheel with the controls, which had a blue backlight. The color blue might refer to electricity, which is what the Type 132 runs on. Finally, the Type 132 was shown in action where one could make out the full-length rear brake light strip. After the launch, the Type 132 SUV will be available by the end of this year.
