Lotus has taken its first step into the electric vehicle market with the newly unveiled Eletre SUV, which also marks the first SUV in Lotus’ lineup.
The Eletre is expected to begin production in China at the end of 2022 and should hit the market sometime in 2023. It is also the beginning of Lotus’ effort to bring four new electric vehicles into its lineup by 2025 as it pivots towards becoming an electric performance brand.
The Eletre is expected to feature at least 600 horsepower and launch from 0-60 in less than 3 seconds. That is true supercar territory.
It should provide a range of around 250 miles in just 20 minutes of charging time. Meanwhile, a full charge is expected to extend its range to about 370 miles in total.
Inside, expect to find a massive 15.1 inch touchscreen display that will be the car’s central command center.
Lotus is branding the Eletre as a “hyper SUV” that will compete directly with other performance-focused luxury SUVs like the Aston Martin DBX and Ferrari’s yet-to-be launched Purosangue.
That puts it into some rarified company, although it will be a tough task to tackle them straight on with a purely electric setup.
But, Lotus has proven many times in its past to be able to punch with the heavyweights, so we think the Eletre will emerge as a strong option in the field of super SUVs.
What does this shift indicate for the brand itself? It looks like they will use the learnings (and extra revenues) from this mainstream offering to fine-tune the rest of their sports car lineup and strengthen this core competency.