Lotus starts production of the Eletre in Wuhan
Geely subsidiary Lotus has completed construction of its vehicle plant in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where it produced the first example of its all-electric Eletre SUV model. The Wuhan factory is designed for an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles.
Lotus Technology is also currently building its global headquarters in Wuhan. The plant’s capacity is not expected to be exhausted in the coming years. Earlier, Lotus said it plans to sell 100,000 e-vehicles in 2028 – 90,000 of which will be sedans and SUVs from the Wuhan plant. The remaining 10,000 vehicles – the electric sports cars – will be built at Lotus’ Hethel plant in the UK.
The Eletre, unveiled in March, is scheduled for delivery from early 2023 and will also be exported to Europe and elsewhere. The 800-volt electric car is the first of four electric models announced by Lotus by 2026. As Car News China writes, the Eletre is “also one of the fastest electric SUVs made in China”. Propulsion is provided by an electric all-wheel drive system with 441 kW of system power. According to Lotus, this should enable the Eletre to accelerate from a standstill to 100 km/h in less than three seconds.
The premiere vehicle, a yellow Eletre, is thus also the first Lotus to be built in China – although it is not specified exactly whether it is already a customer vehicle or still a pre-production model. In the past decades, the British brand had tried under various owners to expand its own model range beyond lightweight sports cars. Under Geely’s leadership, this is to be done in future with electric cars – from 2028, only electric cars are to be sold.
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