RE: Lotus Eletre makes global public debut

RE: Lotus Eletre makes global public debut

Friday 24th June 2022

Lotus Eletre makes global public debut

UK already the biggest market for Eletre deposits - and that was before the Goodwood crowds descended


Having been unveiled in March, the new Lotus Eletre has earned its global public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. And you thought it was a busy stand with the Emira’s unveil last year! The electric SUV is part of what Lotus is calling an ‘ultimate three-car garage’ line-up on its stand, with the Emira V6 and Evija hypercar also on display. Given how Lotus show stands looked not that long ago, it’s an impressive trio of performance cars to show off. A global reveal of an electric SUV still feels so far beyond what we might have previously expected from Lotus - it hadn’t even done a five-door car before this - yet here the Eletre is, promising “pioneering technology, genuine sporting performance and simplicity of purpose”. It’ll give prospective customers a good chance to actually see the car in person, too, not that that has delayed some - the UK is already the biggest market for the Eletre in terms of deposits placed.  

There’s a nice, round 3,000hp between the triumvirate, too, assuming 600hp for the Eletre (apparently up to 900hp is coming). That’s just the road cars, too; the recently announced Emira GT4 - “the start of an exciting new era in performance GT racing for Lotus” - is there for all budding track stars to gawp at, having already sold out its first 12 months of production. Which is some going given the variety of GT4 race cars available. 

It says much of the current situation at Lotus that the 2,000hp electric hypercar isn’t necessarily the headline grabber. But the Evija is on the Lotus stand, and remains unmissable. Very close to the road, too, as MD Matt Windle explained when PH spoke to him: “The first cars are online now; we’ll begin production next month.” There’s never a good time to launch a flagship hypercar, but the delays inflicted by a global health emergency and a supply chain crisis have seemingly hit the Evija hard. Windle suggests that having Evija and Emira going into production at the same time is “not ideal”, which is probably underselling it a tad. Buyers remain keen, however; though exact numbers perhaps inevitably fell under “not that I’m going to share” territory, the Evija is said to be sold out for 2022 and lots of next year. Not bad going at £2m a pop.  

It’s the SUV and the petrol sports car that feel most important right now, though, especially with Emira First Editions due with customers next month. Having been on sale for a year, Windle confirmed that more examples of the Emira had been sold in the past 12 months than Lotus had sold cars in the past six years, which is encouraging. The 81-page thread in the Lotus forum about deposits would attest to the Emira’s popularity already.  

Furthermore, for those customers not so keen on the newer Lotus products - even perhaps the best car yet with the Toyota V6 - there are developments afoot to appease older-school enthusiasts. Asked about the expansion of the Certificate of Provenance programme into something more like Ferrari Classiche - what with the overwhelming majority of Lotuses now in the ‘old combustion era’ - Windle said that it was “in the strategy” of Lotus Advanced Performance to do something along those lines. He added that there were “some exciting programmes planned, some with Lotus Classic.” Lotus Advanced Performance was launched in February, headed up by Simon Lane - previously of Aston’s Q Division. He spoke to Autocar yesterday about some of those plans - and when it comes to the business of realising the dreams of Lotus engineers and designers from decades gone by, it’s safe to say ‘exciting’ was an accurate description. 

In any case, it promises to be a big weekend for Lotus. The Goodwood Festival of Speed is the de facto British motor show now, and it’s one heck of a setup Lotus has on the lawn. Four new cars, enormous screens, music that’s too loud and even some merch you might actually want to buy - it’s some turnaround. Once Emira production is underway, we can expect production intent Eletres in the UK before the end of 2022, with the cars themselves ready from the Wuhan factory for customers early in 2023. So imagine how the Goodwood stand might look in 12 months’ time…


Author
Discussion

Vee12V

Original Poster:

1,329 posts

159 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
I'd be embarrassed to show the Evija by now. Is it even real?

bluemason

1,070 posts

122 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
Vee12V said:
I'd be embarrassed to show the Evija by now. Is it even real?
It is very real and it looks stunning. A real head turner.

Wab1974uk

981 posts

26 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
Clearly the UK is the most brainwashed nation in the world then.

fantheman80

1,412 posts

48 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
The Eletra looks like a Kia or Hyundai product, doesn't have the aggression or bling of say an Urus, important in this market surely, and I just cant see it doing well. Couldnt give a monkeys now either as it will be to generate cash for the electric guff coming...

Edit: Just read UK has most depositS?! I will shut up now

Edited by fantheman80 on Friday 24th June 14:13

PistonTim

499 posts

138 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
Before all the knuckledraggers appear think of this as the Lotus equivalent to the Cayenne - the car which pretty much saved Porsche remember?

Nobodies forcing you to buy it but they will likely sell loads and if that allows them to keep building the sportier models so be it.

Also looks way better in grey / silver than the awful CGI style yellow of the launch model.

Vee12V

Original Poster:

1,329 posts

159 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
bluemason said:
Vee12V said:
I'd be embarrassed to show the Evija by now. Is it even real?
It is very real and it looks stunning. A real head turner.
Is it though. They've launched it years ago but I haven't seen a single fully working one yet. Let alone a launch or even customer deliveries.

Robertb

1,357 posts

237 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
Any idea on Eletre pricing yet... are we talking iPace money, or Taycan etc?

HawthornBowTie

32 posts

35 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
That lovely blue smoke behind the Emira..Reminds me the good years, and the smell of the burning oil in the Kent engine.

Bathroom_Security

3,323 posts

116 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
PistonTim said:
Before all the knuckledraggers appear think of this as the Lotus equivalent to the Cayenne - the car which pretty much saved Porsche remember?
.
And just look at Porsche now. All about the money.

Nothing special made since the 997. Same garbage as any other manufacturer makes playing on their historical heritage like it makes the correct crop of cars something special.

gl20

1,121 posts

148 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
Bathroom_Security said:
PistonTim said:
Before all the knuckledraggers appear think of this as the Lotus equivalent to the Cayenne - the car which pretty much saved Porsche remember?
.
And just look at Porsche now. All about the money.

Nothing special made since the 997. Same garbage as any other manufacturer makes playing on their historical heritage like it makes the correct crop of cars something special.
Cayman GT4? 918 Spyder? Two that spring to mind, but there will be others. Perhaps these cars could have existed without SUVs, but the Porsche sports range was much narrower pre SUV days.

romac

594 posts

145 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
HawthornBowTie said:
That lovely blue smoke behind the Emira..Reminds me the good years, and the smell of the burning oil in the Kent engine.
Yeah, saw that. Wondered if something was literally on fire! furious -- it had smoke behind it on the nearside rear all the way Running up that hill!

Wishing LOTUS all the best with the new range. They, like any other manufacturer, cannot escape the electric future, what with legislation etc.

Edited by romac on Friday 24th June 15:33

Zonda01

11 posts

28 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
Good Luck Lotus,all looking good for 2022.

Johnnytheboy

24,498 posts

185 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
I'm trying to think of a way that vehicle could be more diametrical to my taste in cars.

HighwayStar

4,216 posts

143 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
Vee12V said:
bluemason said:
Vee12V said:
I'd be embarrassed to show the Evija by now. Is it even real?
It is very real and it looks stunning. A real head turner.
Is it though. They've launched it years ago but I haven't seen a single fully working one yet. Let alone a launch or even customer deliveries.
It wasn’t launched years ago… working prototype 1 year ago.

Sulphur Man

224 posts

132 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
Goodwood FOS has become the British Motor Show hasn’t it.

I know there’s still an official Motor Show held out near Farnborough airport but no one really speaks of it and nothing gets debuted there.

FOS has grown into our take of the Geneva motor show

fantheman80

1,412 posts

48 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
Robertb said:
Any idea on Eletre pricing yet... are we talking iPace money, or Taycan etc?
Lotus call it a 'Hyper SUV', its gonna be a few quid

Vee12V

Original Poster:

1,329 posts

159 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
HighwayStar said:
Vee12V said:
bluemason said:
Vee12V said:
I'd be embarrassed to show the Evija by now. Is it even real?
It is very real and it looks stunning. A real head turner.
Is it though. They've launched it years ago but I haven't seen a single fully working one yet. Let alone a launch or even customer deliveries.
It wasn’t launched years ago… working prototype 1 year ago.
That doesn't really count, does it. it wasn't running on full power, lots of clever torque vectoring and other electronic features didn't work, etc.

av185

18,433 posts

126 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
Bathroom_Security said:
PistonTim said:
Before all the knuckledraggers appear think of this as the Lotus equivalent to the Cayenne - the car which pretty much saved Porsche remember?
.
And just look at Porsche now. All about the money.

Nothing special made since the 997. Same garbage as any other manufacturer makes playing on their historical heritage like it makes the correct crop of cars something special.
Yeah nothing special at all since the 997. rolleyes

Except the 991.1 GT2 RS.

Oh yes and the 991.2 GT3.

Oh yes and the 991.2 GT3 RS.

Oh yes and the 992 Turbo S.

Oh yes and the 718 GT4.

Oh yes and the 718 Spyder.

Oh yes and the GT4 RS.

Nothing special at all then. rolleyes

Panamax

3,931 posts

33 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
fantheman80 said:
The Eletra looks like a Kia or Hyundai product
Yes, that's exactly what I thought.

I guess if these new Lotus cars are any good people will buy them and if they're not, they won't.

Kipsrs

422 posts

48 months

Friday 24th June 2022
quotequote all
Is the front end designed to slice and dice pedestrians?
Just saying, it looks like it would do some real damage if one hit a pedestrian!