Hethel based lightweight sportscar and hypercar manufacturer Lotus has christened its first all-electric SUV Eletre. As per Lotus, the word ‘Eletre’ means ‘coming to life’ and is pronounced as ‘El-etra’. Following the name reveal, the Eletre (earlier known as Type 132) will have a world premiere on 29 March 2022. In the meantime, Lotus has already dropped teaser videos revealing the design and the patent drawings of the SUV to keep the buzz alive. The design revealed a lot of details about the size, body type, and other nitty-gritty of its exterior.
For starters, the overall design is sharp and aerodynamic with lots of cuts and creases appearing throughout its body. On the front, we have split LED headlamps with the above L-shaped unit working as the daytime running lights (DRLs) and the lower one as the pilot lamp. Lower to the lights we have active grille shutters, a LiDAR sensor on the roof, and a lowered bonnet. Moving to the sides we have cameras replacing the side view mirrors, flush-fit pop-out door handles like the ones on Tesla cars and Range Rover SUVs, and a stretched wheelbase with a more than usual rear overhang.
Moving to the rear we have a full-width LED taillight, a coupe-like roofline, split rear wings, and another LiDAR sensor on top of the rear glass. While on top in between the front and rear LiDAR sensors it gets a full-size panoramic sunroof. Thus overall the Lotus Eletre will look like a low-slung and sporty SUV that would rival either the Porsche Macan or Cayenne and Tesla Model Y or Model X depending on its size. Moving on, bits and pieces of Eletre’s interior has also been revealed in the sketches. Starting with the top view of the cabin, it gets a flat dash and seating for five.
The center console will be devoid of any physical controls and has two cup holders and concealed storage. On top of it, there will be a horizontally placed full-size touchscreen unit. As for the driver side here the instrument cluster is slimmer than usual and the compact three-spoke sports steering wheel features all the necessary control thus negating the need to take hands-off the wheel most of the time. Apart from this, there is a horizontal strip of light running above the dashboard which most probably will be its ambient lighting.
All of this builds on Lotus’ new ‘Premium Architecture’ platform that can be used for vehicles with their wheelbase ranging between 2,889 and 3,100 mm. This platform is capable of having battery capacities in the range of 92.0 to 120.0 kWh. These batteries will send power to Eletre’s dual-motor setup which is rated up to 750 hp. As for the performance, as per third-party sources, the Eletre would do 0-62 MPH (0-100 km/h) in three seconds.
Thus despite Lotus shifting towards EVs, we firmly believe the company will stick to its ethos of making lightweight and fast cars. The latter has already been taken care of while for the former we have to wait for the official release. That said, as a brand, the Eletre will help Lotus test the waters and also provide the launchpad for upcoming EVs in its pipeline. These EVs include Type 134 (a compact crossover), Type 133 (a four-door coupe), and Type 135 (a sports car).
Also, this sudden shift towards SUVs and in general EVs by Lotus didn’t happen overnight. Instead, the brand slowly and steadily approached this inflection by first stopping the production of their three iconic sportscars Elise, Exige, and Evora. Following this, they announced their last ICE-powered Emira sportscar. Thus after Emira now Eletre will take the baton forward for the brand from here towards the future of EVs.
