Lotus to launch four new electric cars

Based on a new family of vehicle architectures that allows wheelbases between 2889mm-3,100mm, the company says its much-anticipated debut SUV will be an E-segment contender, so very much in the large executive SUV class. A 3.1m wheelbase would line it up against the gargantuan BMW X7. 

Lotus says its battery power would range between 92-120kWh and be designed to work with the 800-volt high-speed EV charging system. And while this potential Tesla Model X rival might be big, it promises not to be slow: Lotus suggests 0-62mph in under 3.0 seconds.

There’s no confirmation, but any vehicle this size is likely to have three rows of seats of the kind that is now so popular, especially in countries like the US and, what will be its home market, China. 

The so-far unnamed SUV will be assembled in an all-new factory in China due to open later this year and capable of turning out 150,000 cars a year. The plant is part of a £900m investment by Lotus owners Geely that includes a new Lotus Technology HQ in Wuhan, due to open in 2024.

The new factory will be where the new “lifestyle” electric Lotuses will be assembled, leaving Lotus’s traditional home in Hethel, Norfolk, to build sports cars like the Type 131 – the new Lotus Emira that recently debuted at the Goodwood Festival of Speed – and coming new electric sports models. 

With Lotus this week mapping out details of its product plan, this is how the range will shape up over the next five years as Lotus heads towards its 80th anniversary in 2028: 

• Type 130: the electric Lotus Evija hypercar, built at Hethel 
• Type 131: the Lotus Emira sports car with Toyota V6 or AMG four-cylinder power, built at Hethel and the last new purely petrol-powered Lotus to be launched
• Type 132: E-segment SUV built in China for global markets as a Tesla Model X rival and due in 2022
• Type 133: an electric E-segment four-door coupe, built-in China as Porsche Taycan rival and due in 2023
• Type 134: a more compact new D-segment SUV, made in China and due in 2025
• Type 135: Hethel-developed and made battery-powered sportscar due in 2026 and developed in partnership with Alpine.

With the backing of Geely and new investor NIO, the product plan, known as Vision80, confirms Lotus’s global ambitions and two-centre manufacturing, with China assembling what Lotus calls the lifestyle models, developed by the new China-based company Lotus Technology, and the spiritual home of Hethel responsible for the sportscars.

“Transforming Lotus from a UK sportscar company to a truly global performance car company has always been at the core of Vision80,” Lotus Cars managing director Matt Windle tells us.

“The launch of Lotus Technology is a major milestone on the road to making that a reality, while adhering to the unwavering Lotus principles of pure performance, efficiency, motorsport success and, above all, being ‘For the Drivers’.”

One place where drivers won’t be needed is the new plant’s integrated “intelligent” test track, claimed to be a world first. From the 140mph, 16-corner track, the new cars will be transported into workshops using autonomous driving technology – without any human intervention.