2024 Lotus Eletre S: Quick drive

If a 1500kg sports car were going to upset the die-hard Lotus crowd, a two-and-a-half-tonne electric SUV was sure to create endless drama. Which it did, but for Lotus and its parent company Geely it created plenty of free buzz. It wasn’t the first production EV for Lotus, however – that honour goes to the insanely powerful Evija hypercar.

I first saw an Eletre in bright yellow behind the glass of the main dealer in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. I stood gazing at it a while wondering how Lotus could possibly make this one stick.

Then I considered what folks like me thought peering through the glass of a Porsche dealer two decades ago – how could they make this stick? There are millions of people alive who won’t remember that Porsche almost died and most likely would have without the Cayenne (and Macan). 

While Porsche’s volumes didn’t dip to the deep lows that Lotus has over the decades, and had not experienced the kind of ownership malaise the British brand has suffered, the situation for Lotus in 2017 was not dissimilar to Porsche’s in the early 2000s.

Porsche product was very limited: two-door sports cars, the 911 and the Boxster. The 968 and 928 were gone, the glory days of the 959 well behind them, and the company was staring down the barrel of an ignominious end to its independence. That came later, but that’s a story for another time.

By 2017 and under the stewardship of Jean-Marc Gales, Lotus had actually turned a profit, which was a remarkable and rare feat. But with three extremely niche models on offer – Elise, Exige and Evora – Lotus didn’t have a lot to play with. The profit was modest, but it was clear something big had to happen or the brand would be outlived by Caterham, which had taken on the design of the first Lotus, the Seven, and kept it alive for many more decades.

Some complicated financial moves went on behind the scenes and out popped a new, rather more committed ownership structure – the majority of shares in Lotus now owned by Chinese vehicle giant Geely and the rest owned by Malaysian holding company Etika Automotive. Critically, this change meant a huge cash infusion that would save the company and spawn Vision80. 

This was a strategy to take the company from 1500 sales per year to 150,000 by 2029. And open up a huge box of toys to Lotus for the first time ever, despite once being owned by now-faded giant General Motors, which famously provided the Elise with its Barina indicator stalks and not much else.

Like Porsche over 20 years ago, the new management saw that for Lotus to generate sales quickly, the brand needed an SUV, and so the Eletre was born.

Surprisingly, the new machine was to be a battery-electric vehicle, a complete departure from anything Lotus had done before. The Eletre is not here to impress the folks who talk spring rates, damper settings, and track day tyre pressures. It’s to deliver Lotus into a position where its investors can get back its $2 billion and grow the business to Porsche levels of sales.

That’s a fairly long-winded introduction to a very quick drive, but it’s worth noting that the 'new' Lotus probably has more in common with Dany Bahar’s wild vision of the company’s future from 15 years ago, it’s just that this time there’s the money and the support to make it happen.

The Eletre takes a huge whack of Geely’s global electric car platform expertise to create a hefty five (or optionally four) seat large SUV. The bedrock of the Eletre range is a 112kWh battery with 109kW of usable capacity.

In the entry-level Eletre ($189,990 plus on-road costs) that delivers a WLTP range of between 535 and 600km, while the S ($229,990 plus on-road costs) falls to 490–535km. Both share the same twin-motor 450kW output along with 710Nm. The Eletre R ($279,990 plus on-road costs) – not yet available for us to drive – offers the same battery pack with a lower range courtesy of a thumping 675kW/985Nm powertrain. That’s 900hp delivering a sub-three-second 0–100km/h time.

At best that means the Eletre eats about 21.4kWh per 100 kilometres, so that large battery pack is essential for a usable range, and the kind of range a $190K price tag commands. Presumably that better range figure is on the standard and unattractive 20-inch five-spoke wheel rather than the split-spoke 22-inch wheels on the S.

Charging the battery can be a quick affair if you can find a 350kW charger. Lotus quotes a 10–80 per cent recharge time of just 20 minutes at a steady 240kW DC or just under six hours at a 22kW AC charger.

The cabin is by far the most luxurious of any Lotus. That’s not exactly clearing a high bar given you can essentially hose out an Elise.

Given the Eletre’s size, you’d also expect it’s the easiest Lotus to get in and out of. Again, an Elise requires the bendiness, pain tolerance, and short-term memory of a toddler falling down the stairs. Being able to just step into a Lotus is a whole new ball game, and that alone will sell a few.

The cabin is quite lovely, with really nice choices of materials and colours, at least in the car I drove. There’s a pretty awful snot green option – sorry, Malachite – and a mildly obnoxious-looking gold interior theme. But the basic Jasper nappa leather or the light Quartz vegan leather look pretty good.

There are some nice touches like the sprung cupholders, Alcantara covering on the high transmission tunnel, and really nice detailing around the place. It looks and feels really well put together. Not classically elegant, but it should age well.

Standard in the Eletre entry-level model are 20-inch alloys, air suspension, powered steering column, seats and mirrors, automatic matrix LED headlights, four-zone climate control, efficient heat pump heating, heated steering wheel, keyless entry and start (either with a key card or a very cute and substantial-feeling 'stone' key fob) and a tyre repair kit.

The head-up display is gigantic at 23 inches, and while that sounds too big to be useful, it’s actually not as invasive as I was expecting and I quickly got used to it. That goes with a 12.6-inch digital dash, 15.1-inch media screen and another 8.0-inch screen in the rear. You’ll be fine for screens.

Geely’s big box of tricks means a fully-featured touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (also wireless charging), FM and DAB radio as well as plenty of settings and status screens. The head-up display also features semi-augmented reality, but I didn’t get a chance to use that function.

A KEF-branded audio system has Dolby Atmos, but I also didn’t check the stereo as this was a short drive.

Lotus Connect offers emergency and roadside assistance calling via the car’s inbuilt 5G connection. You can also use your phone as a digital key, and preset the satellite navigation (which will also route you via charging stations if required) via the phone app. 

In the car, there is the usual voice control, over-the-air updates, and an app store.

The Eletre S swaps the 20s of the base model for 22-inch wheels shod with bespoke Pirelli P-Zero tyres, lighter brake discs and six-piston brake calipers, up from four-piston units. You also get active aero, soft door close, hands-free tailgate operation, photochromatic glass roof, parking pack and 23 KEF speakers – as well as a few other bits and pieces.

Stepping up to the Eletre R adds a whole heap of styling parts, a truckload more power and torque, a two-speed transmission, all-wheel steer, anti-roll suspension, track mode, carbon-fibre styling additions and, again, a few other bits and pieces.

Lotus offers a five-year, 150,000km warranty for the vehicle along with roadside assist for five years, unlimited kilometres. The battery pack is covered for eight years, 200,000km against more than 30 per cent degradation.

The safety list is appropriately long with adaptive cruise, sensors and cameras all-round, forward and reverse AEB, cross-traffic assist, blind-spot detection and various lane supports.

If you get into the Eletre muttering “This isn’t a Lotus” you won’t ever be happy. But if you go in with an open mind, I think the spacious yet cosy cabin will impress. The squared-off steering wheel looks suitably racy and small enough to fool you into thinking you’re in a smaller car.

The slightly chintzy paddles could do with a bit less shine and a more substantial action, but they’re quite clever. Technically, there are four paddles, because while they look like a single unit, they’re split in two so you can, for example, change driving modes or change the regen mode. They’re quite intuitive to use once you work them out, and given this interior is identical to the Emeya, I had double the time to learn.

Dominating the interior is the big central screen. It’s really easy to use and navigate, although some of the targets could do with being bigger. I think user interface designers need a corner of the office with one of those pub-style bucking broncos. If you can’t use the screen with one of those on low, then keep going until you can. Even with air suspension, the car moves enough on broken surfaces that you can easily miss the function you’re going for.

Vision out is pretty good considering the glasshouse isn’t expansive. Its profile is reminiscent of the Ferrari Purosangue with styling more akin to the Lamborghini Urus. It does have presence, though, and from the rear particularly ties into the Evija hyper EV.

It’s a very easy car to drive. In standard mode you’ll be quite happy pottering around, and given its length – just over 5.1m – it does well to hide its bulk and size when you’re on the move.

That body shell hides a cabin with plenty of room for four, and probably five, adults. The floor is higher than a petrol SUV’s, but not Tesla Model S high, so your knees won’t be in your face. 

The boot is a whopping 688 litres in the five-seat cars with 1532L available with the seats folded (again, only in five-seat cars – the four-seat configuration is fixed). If that’s not enough, there’s a 46-litre front boot big enough for charging cables or something small you really want to hide. 

You can tow up to 2250kg of braked trailer and whack another 90kg on the roof. The base Eletre’s payload is a healthy 535kg, while the S and R lift that figure slightly.

As with my Emira drive, this was just a short one. The Eletre is very handy off the line but won’t beat, say, an Urus. It will probably eat one in the mid-range, though, as a flattened throttle will squeeze your rib cage into the seat. Many EVs with this kind of power let the nose lift under this kind of abuse, but the Eletre stayed flat.

The air suspension coped very well with the short, potholed drive route. Yes, this is a 2.5-tonne SUV and physics will eventually catch up, but it’s remarkable how quickly you can conduct it.

The long wheelbase (just over 3m) means a plush ride, but somehow Lotus has dialled in a very responsive front end. You even get some communication up through the wheel, with a good feel for the road surface and what the tyres are doing.

It’s incredibly quiet too. Part of that is courtesy of active noise cancellation, but wind noise is also well suppressed no doubt via a combination of slippery aero, thick glass, and heavy input from Lotus’s fabled engineering division (now a separate entity).

The only thing on my wish list is a more assertive regen braking. I get why the sportier mode doesn’t have any braking at all – a mid-corner lift generating too many gs of braking would upset things – but one-pedal driving around town feels some way off. Perhaps I didn’t get it right and more time playing with modes will get it there.

Like every Lotus I’ve ever driven, the depth of engineering in the Eletre is obvious. It feels great to drive and left me wanting a lot more time with it. No, it’s not what Colin Chapman would likely have wanted (debatable I suppose – if it’s a smash hit, I’m sure he’d have liked the cash to pour into his next idea). It’s obviously not what every Elise-owning tinkerer wants. 

But is it good enough to be successful? It certainly feels that way. With a big market on its owner’s doorstep and enough brand capital elsewhere, this is a car with global appeal.

It won’t rocket Lotus into the stratosphere, but as the company has two more cars to come in the coming years, it will put it in buyers' heads who previously wouldn’t or couldn’t have considered the brand.