Lotus Eletre: the first electric SUV of the British brand

Lotus is also riding the wave of SUVs with purely electric propulsion and plans to launch the Electre starting in 2023.

The new Lotus Eletre, financed with money from the Geely Group and built at the Chinese plant in Wuhan, will try to compete with the sportiest SUVs, as announced by the British manufacturer.

The car company based in Norwich, United Kingdom, is no longer committed to high-rev combustion engines with as many cylinders as possible, but now boasts the Eletre as the brand's first electric-powered super SUV.

The British anticipated that the price will start at about 120,000 euros (130,000 dollars).

The SUV is 5.10 meters long, 2.23 meters wide and 1.63 meters high, with a wheelbase of 3.02 meters.

According to the manufacturer, the two engines together will produce more than 441 kW/600 hp. The Eletre is one of the few SUVs that can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in less than three seconds. The maximum speed is about 260 km/h.

The engines are powered by a battery of more than 100 kWh, which will allow a range of about 600 kilometers. As the Eletre is capable of using electric current with up to 350 kW, 20 minutes of charging is enough to achieve another 400 kilometers of autonomy.

Lotus also refers to digital exterior mirrors and a retractable LIDAR sensor, which will enable widely autonomous driving maneuvers.

In this way, the British sports car manufacturer follows a trend that Porsche started 20 years ago with the Cayenne. Now only McLaren and Ferrari are missing, although the Italian brand is very close to joining this trend.

For a few days now, the first official photos of the Purosangue have been available, with which Ferrari also wants to enter the SUV segment this year.

dpa