Lotus announces prices for the Eletre

Lotus has priced its Eletre in Europe. The electric SUV, which was presented in March, starts at £89,500, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2023. However, the two more powerful variants are significantly more expensive.

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For the price of £89,500 (95,990 euros on the mainland), customers will get the base model of the Eletre without any further name addition. Compared to March, however, the technical specifications have changed slightly: Instead of an electric all-wheel drive with 441 kW output, there is now talk of a “single speed” drive with 450 kW. It is presumably still an all-wheel drive with two engines, but just with only one gear stage.

In contrast to the premiere in March, Lotus now also mentions the battery’s energy content of 112 kWh. This should make a range of 600 kilometres possible. At a suitably powerful fast-charging station, the Eletre should be able to charge its battery from ten to 80 per cent in 20 minutes. If the 112 kWh is the net energy content (which is not specified exactly), the Eletre would be able to charge 78.4 kWh in 20 minutes – which corresponds to an average charging power of a whopping 224 kW.

Already from the factory, the base Eletre comes with an air suspension, torque vectoring, matrix LED headlights and 22-inch wheels. Four-zone automatic climate control, the “Intelligent Cockpit” infotainment system and electrically adjustable front seats are also standard. Lidar technology is also fitted from the factory.

The Eletre S has the same drive as the base model, but is priced at £104,500. Features include privacy glass, an active rear spoiler, configurable ambient lighting, illuminated side skirts, Soft Door Close, auto-dimming exterior mirrors and an air quality system. And, instead of a 15-speaker, 1,380-watt audio system, there’s a 23-speaker, 2,160-watt system.

The flagship model Eletre R uses the same battery as the other two versions, but has a 675 kW ‘Dual Speed’ drive. Due to its higher power and significantly better performance (e.g. 2.95 instead of 4.5 seconds to 100 km/h), consumption is higher, which reduces the range to 490 kilometres.

“Two-seater sports cars are not for everyone, and we want to offer a Lotus for every stage of your life. The Eletre is the start of that,” says Matt Windle, Group Vice-President and Managing Director of Lotus Cars. In July, Lotus had completed the construction of its vehicle plant in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where it produced the first example of the Eletre.

Update 28 June 2023

The first all-electric Lotus is now available for configuration in Europe. Lotus is launching sales of the Eletre in parallel in Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. In the UK, the electric SUV is available from £89,500. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the summer of 2023.

lotuscars.com, lotuscars.com, lotuscars.com (configurator, both update)