You're looking at the future of Lotus. / (min cost $ 0 ) or signup to continue reading Although the petrol-powered sports car looks most like what we've come to know and love from Lotus, the all-electric SUV and sedan will be the cars driving its volume. Where the Emeya lobs in a crowded pool of electric sedans and liftbacks, the Eletre SUV is competing in a very different market.
It doesn't really have any direct electric rivals yet, given it's a bigger and sportier take on the formula than the and . Instead, it's shooting for the likes of the , , and – does the Eletre have what it takes to make an impact? The Eletre has been treated to some of the biggest price cuts we've seen in recent times, with between $35,000 and $50,000 removed from the starting sticker. This is a really impressive cabin, as is the case with the related Emeya.
Although the idea of clean lines and lots of high-resolution screens isn't unique, the execution here sets it apart. From the waxy leather trim to the toggles on the steering wheel, to the finish on the transmission tunnel, it feels high-end. It's also very comfortable.
The front seats are generously padded, with enough bolstering to keep you in place in the corners, and the expansive central tunnel leaves plenty of space for your elbow on long trips. Flashy gold highlights on some of the toggles and details like the soft-drop bases on the cupholders, add to the high-end feeling. Lotus was one of the first brands to commit to using the Unreal Engine to drive its cabin graphics.
The same tech underpins popular video game and it makes for infotainment that is right at home in the iPad age. There's still some work to be done on the finer details, though. Changing drive modes brings up a slick graphic, but when it goes away the car defaults to its home screen instead of whatever you were doing previously – which means you manually have to reopen CarPlay, for example.
It's the sort of thing that can be fixed with a software update, thankfully. The slim displays in front of the driver and passenger are a nice touch, given a growing number of brands want to run everything through a single display. All the boring, practical stuff is taken care of here.
There are usable cupholders, and plenty of storage bins around, not to mention enough USB-C ports to keep an army's worth of devices charged. Rear seat space is impressive. Although it looks quite compact in pictures, the Eletre is actually a similar length to a .
That means there's acres of legroom, even behind tall adults, and plentiful headroom. It's properly palatial back there, and kids will appreciate the air vents and USB-C charge points – not to mention the touchscreen between the front seats, which allows them to take charge of their own climate control. ISOFIX points feature on the outboard rear seats, and there's a trio of top tether points for child seats.
Despite its prodigious outputs, this isn't the most powerful version of the Eletre. Our time behind the Eletre was brief. We've spent some time with the Eletre in Brisbane, and will spend more time with the car in the coming weeks.
What stood out during our quick spin was the refinement. Having hopped out of the Emira, which is noisy and direct, the Eletre was like another world entirely. From the cushy air-sprung ride to the level of noise suppression on scrappy Australian country highways, this is a luxurious way to get around.
It's also fast, when you consider how big and heavy it is. Put your foot down and it squeezes you back in your seat, with no fuss or noise. Although a claimed 4.
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When you're not in a hurry, there's a real sense of refinement behind the wheel. Road and wind noise are conspicuous by their absence at 80km/h on coarse Australian country highways, and the electrically assisted steering doesn't seek out cambers or follow ruts in the road like the chatty hydraulic rack in the Emira sports car. That's in keeping with this car's remit as a long-haul cruiser with space for the whole family.
Ride quality from the air suspension is impressive. It isn't floaty or loose, but it breathes nicely with the road. Flicking into Sport tightens things up, but based on our quick spin the Lotus engineering team has kept one eye on rough-road comfort across the range of suspension setups.
Worth noting here are the driver assist systems, which were very sensitive. From the lane-keeping assist to the driver attention monitor, the Emeya falls into the same trap as countless other Chinese cars. As is the case with the infotainment, a software update could be all that's required.
There are three members of the Eletre range. There are various standalone and packaged options available. You can view details on these on the .
The Lotus Eletre hasn't been crash tested by Euro NCAP. Lotus backs its cars with a five-year warranty, extending to eight years on the lithium-ion battery. Like the Emeya, the Eletre is a clear statement of intent from Lotus.
Although it won't speak to the purists, there's every chance some of those purists have a or in the garage to tow their Elise to the track on the weekend...
and take their kids to school during the week, of course. Lotus still has some kinks to iron out, but they're related to software rather than the hardware. All the metal, leather, and plastic bits look and feel pretty damn special, and we've already experienced what the Eletre can do in the corners.
Will the latest price cut help Lotus get the Eletre up and running on the sales charts? It has a better chance than before. Content originally sourced from: Advertisement Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date. We care about the protection of your data.
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