Lotus Eletre name confirmed for Hethel-based car maker’s first electric SUV just days before its full reveal.
Lotus has announced its new electric SUV, to be unveiled on Tuesday 29 March, will be called Eletre. Posting on Twitter, the brand said: “Lotus Eletre. Coming to life on 29.3.22.”
Earler this month, new design patents of the SUV, prevously known as Type 132, surfaced on Australia’s online intellectual property platform, giving us a first look at the Chinese-built model’s exterior.
The new renderings gave the best look yet at Lotus’s debut mainstream electric car, which will go up against the Jaguar I-Pace, Audi E-tron Sportback and Ford Mustang Mach-E. There has also been a series of official teasers released by Hethel.
It will be defined by a dramatic, angular styling treatment which looks to bring it in line with the new Lotus Emira sports car – the crescent-shaped headlights, wraparound rear light bar and a protruding leading edge of the bonnet are the most obvious links. A heavily raked roofline, slim wing mirror cameras, flush-fitting door handles, sculpted side panels and prominent rear spoiler hint at a focus on aerodynamic efficiency – which should maximise its range – and the renders also show the Type 132’s active aero panel above the front splitter.
The SUV’s active grille-shutter, which features a series of hexagons split into triangular segments, is claimed to be an “authentic Lotus air management system” that serves a dual purpose, both cooling the car and improving its front aerodynamics.
Lotus previewed some of the SUV’s key details in an earlier video, which is named Energy and Light, with the themes of “heart, power, energy and soul”.
Presented features include a steering wheel with illuminated buttons, a digital dial display, an alloy wheel design, the headlights and a glimpse of the powertrain.
The video also featured several cinematic shots of athletes preparing to race, before the Type 132 was shown to quickly accelerate past the camera into the distance, its rear light bar on display.
Lotus expects the Eletre to act as a key element of its bold growth strategy under the ownership of Chinese car giant Geely.
The Eletre has been in development since 2016 and is set to launch with two all-wheel-drive variants, offering between 447kW and 560kW. It will be able to accommodate batteries ranging from 92-120kWh in capacity and will offer 800V charging.
Lotus has also put a focus on ensuring the car can offer performance, claiming it will have a 0-100km/h time of less than 3.0sec.
The Eletre will be built at a new £900 million (AUD$1.57 billion) manufacturing facility in Wuhan, China, and will be one of two Chinese-built EVs that Lotus will launch in the next five years.
The long-awaited Type 135 electric sports car, being developed in partnership with Alpine, will be built at Hethel from 2026.
James Attwood