Every car is an argument about what matters, and the Lotus Eletre makes its case with 2.0 L DHE20-PFZ turbocharged I4 and 450 kW. Lotus built from 2022 — in the decade the industry is turning electric. The shape is credited to Ben Payne.
The story
The Lotus Eletre is a battery electric mid-size luxury crossover SUV produced by the 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. The name of the car is derived from the Hungarian word "életre" which means "(coming) to life".
What is underneath
The engine is 2.0 L DHE20-PFZ turbocharged I4; the output is 450 kW; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. On the scales it comes to 2545-2690 kg. That is roughly 177 horsepower per tonne: quick by any era's standard, the kind of figure a hot hatch or a sports saloon posts. The wheelbase is 3019 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
In the Lotus line-up the Lotus Eletre has a clear place: the factory was Wuhan, Hubei (Wuhan Lotus Technology), China. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Nissan Z, the Porsche Taycan, the Cadillac Lyriq. Nearby in the Lotus catalogue sit the Lotus 100T and the Lotus 101.