2023 Lotus Eletre SUV Debuts With More Than 600 HP, Angry Face

Codenamed Type 132, the hyper-SUV from Lotus will be produced exclusively in Wuhan. Indeed, that Wuhan you’ve heard about on the news two years ago.

Polarizing would be a fair way to describe the front-end looks of this fellow, which rides on the Electric Premium Architecture developed with the help of Chinese money. The peeps at Geely purchased the company in May 2017, and Fengqing Feng currently serves as the chief exec of Lotus Cars.

The Porsche Cayenne-sized utility vehicle is targeting a maximum of 600 kilometers (373 miles) on the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure. By comparison, the larger and heavier Tesla Model X offers 560 kilometers (348 miles) estimated with the same testing procedure. Speaking of weight, Lotus hasn’t mentioned a single thing about this vehicle’s heft.

Whatever it may weigh, the all-new Eletre promises less than 3.0 seconds to 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) and a top speed of 260 kilometers per hour (161 miles per hour). The battery flaunts over 100 kWh, and the zero-emission crossover also charges at up to 350 kilowatts. In other words, you can juice it up with 400 kilometers (248 miles) in 20 minutes.

5,103 millimeters long, which is just under 201 inches, the all-electric utility vehicle is rocking four- or five-seat configurations. Lotus also made a case for cameras instead of side mirrors and four deployable LiDAR sensors: two mounted on the roof, one above the rear glass, and one above the windshield. The British automaker pompously mentions end-to-end autonomous driving capability, which is nothing more than wishful thinking right now, considering that Autopilot FSD still leaves much to be desired.

The Lotus Eletre is now available to pre-order worldwide, with first customer deliveries expected in 2023 in China, the UK, and Europe. Over in the United Kingdom, the reservation fee is listed at £2,000 (make that $2,620).