Review: Lotus Eletre

What would Colin Chapman say? The late founder of Lotus was a restless innovator whose famous mantra was “Simplify, then add lightness.” Surely the new Eletre, a complex and heavy electric SUV, is the antithesis of everything Chapman stood for?

Maybe, maybe not. For starters, Chapman was also a pragmatist. He introduced commercial sponsorship to F1 racing with the Gold Leaf Lotus 49 in 1968. And he sold the rights to his most enduring creation, the Lotus 7, to Caterham Cars in 1973. Before the Eletre, the carmaker’s range consisted solely of two-seat sports cars. Now it’s poised to become a volume-selling—and potentially very profitable—premium brand.

While the 2,490-kg Eletre may lack a certain “lightness,” it is full of clever design features, including active aerodynamics, 5G-capable infotainment, and deployable lidar sensors. We suspect Chapman, who experimented with everything from gas turbines to ground-effect (the aerodynamics created by exploiting the undercarriage design of cars), and developed the first carbon fiber-bodied F1 car, would find the technology intriguing.

The Electre lineup has three tiers: The 603-horsepower base model costs £89,500 in the UK (that’s about $114,000—US prices are still unknown, but you can reserve here). It comes with twin-motor, four-wheel drive and a 112-kWh battery—good for 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds and an officially certified 373-mile range. The Eletre S is £104,500 (about $133,000) and uses the same drivetrain, but it adds luxuries such as ambient interior lighting, soft-close doors, and a 23-speaker KEF audio system.

Topping the range is the £120,000, 905-hp Eletre R (roughly $153,000). Capable of 0-62mph in 2.95 seconds and a claimed 304 miles on a full charge, it gains chassis tech, such as active roll control and rear-wheel steering, plus a maximum-attack Track driving mode. We’ll be testing that later.

The Eletre is a pivotal car for Lotus. Built in China rather than Norfolk, UK, it will soon be joined by a smaller electric SUV, along with a sedan car to rival the Porsche Taycan. Whatever Colin Chapman achieved in the past, this is his company’s future. So, how does it stack up?

WIRED is trying the Eletre on a brand-hosted drive event in Norway, a country that has embraced EVs more than any other. In 2022, nearly 80 percent of vehicles sold here were electric, encouraged by everything from generous tax incentives to cheaper parking charges. Chinese EV manufacturer Nio is using Norway to trial its battery swap stations too.

The Eletre’s “porous” design is clearly influenced by the Lotus Evija electric hypercar. Its broad grille contains six apertures, which open or close on-demand to improve cooling airflow or retain heat. The pop-out lidar sensors—an apparent world-first in a production car—are hidden at both ends of the roof and above the front wheel arches, supposedly granting the Eletre “a true 360-degree view of the world around it.”

Instead of conventional door mirrors, Lotus offers high-definition cameras that stream the rearward view to two 6-inch displays. WIRED is not a fan of such systems, but you do gain a small aero advantage. An active rear spoiler helps the car cleave through the air and can more than double downforce (to a still-modest 112.5 kg at maximum speed) when required. An overall drag coefficient of 0.26—a shade more than the new Rolls-Royce Spectre EV—is impressive for such an imposing SUV.

The Eletre’s body is more than 50 percent aluminum, and all models ride on air suspension that can raise ground clearance by 25 mm if you venture off-road. Electronically controlled shock absorbers can adjust the car’s damping 500 times per second, while the optional 48-volt active anti-roll system and rear steering (both standard on the Eletre R) boost agility on twisty roads, or indeed a racetrack.

If Lotus purists are struggling with the idea of an SUV, the Eletre’s interior may send them into shock. Instead of the bare-bones sparseness of an Elise, the roomy cabin employs tactile Alcantara trim and tech. “With EVs, the digital user experience has become the most powerful point of differentiation,” says senior chief engineer Serino Angellotti. “It’s the reason many people choose one car over another.”

The infotainment is focused on a 15.1-inch OLED touchscreen with 5G, which looks crisp and responds quickly. Use the native Lotus navigation system and it can calculate energy use, suggest more efficient routes, and precondition the battery before you arrive at a charger. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will arrive via an over-the-air update this fall.

Moving away from the center console, there are up to six additional screens, including those for the door mirror cameras. Their angle is easily adjusted via a finger-swipe, but their position—lower down in your field of view—certainly isn’t optimal. Technology for its own sake, perhaps?

As you’d expect these days, there is “Hi Lotus” voice control, along with a compatible smartphone app that can be used for remote parking in tight spaces. I have to recommend the optional KEF Reference audio system, which boasts 23 speakers, 2,160 watts of power, and Dolby Atmos technology. It sounds sensational.

“Simply being in the car and enjoying the infotainment is a pleasure,” says Angellotti. “In this way, charging can be seen as not losing time, but gaining time.” That’s quite a leap. Still, tempting though it may be to pull up and watch a film or get lost in music, let’s drive the Lotus first.

We start in the middle-rung Eletre S, which shows an 89 percent charge and 278 miles of range when switched on. By the time we finish our journey, after 120 miles of city traffic, flowing A-roads, and country lanes, our energy consumption is a less-than-spectacular 2.71 miles per kWh. Good thing the Lotus can rapid-charge at up to 350 kW (or 420 kW in China), providing you with a 10- 80-percent fill in only 20 minutes.

It’s difficult to detect much Lotus DNA in the way the Eletre drives, but it comports itself well for a large and heavy SUV. The suspension feels cushioned over Oslo’s many speed humps, and refinement is impressive (“We took the decision not to introduce any artificial noise,” explains chassis engineer Sylvain Verstraeten).

There are five driving modes, plus an additional Track setting for the R version. We found the default Tour offers the best compromise between comfort and dynamic poise. Stepping up to Sport makes the suspension and steering feel more nervous and abrupt. Even in the 603-hp Eletre S, you need to be very conscious of your speed, as the electric drivetrain serves up mighty acceleration with very little drama.

WIRED’s final destination is a quiet rural airport, where the Eletre R awaits at the end of an empty runway. The weather has turned a bit Nordic, and rain is falling steadily, but the car seems to have relentless reserves of traction. A full-bore launch control start is not something we’d recommend after eating lunch. The carbon-ceramic brakes can exert mighty g-forces too.

Weaving through a high-speed slalom, the chassis tech gives the car an agility that almost laughs in the face of physics. What’s missing is the final layer of driver feedback you’d get in a traditional Lotus sports car, or indeed an SUV with a Porsche badge.

Then again, perhaps you won’t need to drive at all. Lotus says the Eletre is prepared for Level 4 fully autonomous driving, with no fewer than 34 sensors powered by two Nvidia Orin-X chips, which can complete 500 trillion operations per second. “We say Lotus is ‘for the drivers’ [the company’s ad tagline],” says ADAS director Regis Robert, “but this car allows you to relax as well—on the highway, for example, or when commuting to work.”

Most notable are the four lidar sensors. These can scan 200 meters in every direction and also work in low-light conditions (or Norwegian downpours). At present, legislation dictates that only the lidar sensor above the windscreen be used outside China, so the Eletre is pegged at Level 2 autonomy, with active cruise control and hands-off operation permitted for up to 10 seconds only.

The Eletre is certainly a new world for Lotus. It’s a polished product that offers the power and presence of a Lamborghini Urus for around half the price. It may not be the kind of Lotus Chapman envisioned, but if it allows the brand to emulate Porsche and bankroll fantastic sports cars with the profits it makes from SUVs, we’re all for it.

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