When it comes to the history of racing and supercaring, there are always three resounding names of Ferrari, Porsche and Lotus: when it comes to Ferrari, high-performance engines can always ignite people's desire for speed; when it comes to Porsche, the legendary sports car 911 is an eternal classic topic; when it comes to Lotus, the breakthroughs in F1 have made countless fans crazy. The world's three major sports car brands represent a brilliant era of enthusiasm and speed in the minds of senior car fans.
With the roar of the engine developing decades later, the three major brands ushered in the era of electrification and intelligence, how to inherit the historical accumulation at the same time, quickly out of their own transformation road, has become a common problem faced by the three. Supercar brands that win with speed on the track also have unique determinations in the face of transformation, of which Lotus is the most important.
In 2018, for us in China, the hot land of intelligent electric vehicle development, electrification and intelligence have long been familiar. Coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the brand, Lotus released the Vision 80-year brand rejuvenation plan and proposed the "Sino-British dual engine" strategy, which will firmly transform to electrification and intelligence, becoming the earliest and most thorough transformation among global supercar brands.
Subsequently, Lotus's world's first pure electric supercar Evija debuted, kicking off the pure electric prelude; followed by the brand's last fuel sports car Emira released globally, playing the final chapter of fuel; not long ago, Lotus released the world's first pure electric Hyper SUV - Lotus Eletre. In just 3 years, Lotus has continuously expressed its determination to transform and its strong return to the ultra-luxury track with amazing products, and the future product planning and global layout are also clearly visible.
For Eletre, Lotus has poured the blood of a global team. Looking closely at this product in the name of "new life", it is not difficult to find that it is the continuation of lotus brand personality, the unbridled track personality, unique avant-garde aerodynamic shape and Lotus's most outstanding ultimate driving experience, in the new life car track, with the attitude of SUV highlighting lotus's super running soul.
Extreme performance, interpreting the soul of HYPER
The word Hyper tends to be supercar, but it appears on the Eletre SUV without being at all prominent. Whether it's the design language from Hyper Car Lotus Evija, the zero-hundred acceleration that ranks among the "2-second club", or the industry's top 800V high-voltage platform, Eletre has interpreted in its own way that SUV can also be the ultimate pure Lotus.
Hyper Soul, attached to lotus's best aerodynamics. When you first see the Eletre, you will naturally be attracted by its bold and exaggerated design. Through design ingenuity, Lotus made the Eletre SUV as visually impactful as a sports car. On closer inspection, every design detail of Eletre incorporates the aerodynamic ingenuity of Lotus, the "king of pneumatics". There are 7 sets of air ducts on the front edge of the body, above the hood, behind the front wheel arch, behind the rear wheel, and even on the top of the D-pillar. The advantages of such a design in the wind resistance are self-evident, reducing the resistance of the car body to cut the air, letting the wind pass through the body, rather than the body "hitting" the wind, just like directly wearing the air on the body, which can effectively improve the endurance, speed and performance, which is the efficient design pursued by Lotus. While reducing the wind resistance, Eletre achieves a vehicle downforce of 90kg through the pore design when driving, and raises the active rear spoiler, which can increase the downforce of up to 116kg, so that the body is firmly sucked on the road.
Hyper Soul, derived from the ability to accelerate into the 2-second club. Born with the Gene of Lotus Circuit, Eletre will never compromise in terms of speed - the whole series of four-wheel drive, with front and rear dual motors, the maximum power will reach nearly 1000hp, is a full-fledged performance beast. The powerful core coupled with Lotus's unique wind technology allows Eletre zero hundred to accelerate up to 2.95s, and many supercars are difficult to achieve, lotus has actually done it on an SUV.
Hyper Soul begins with a new architectural platform built for performance. In Eletre, Lotus independently developed EPA luxury pure electric high-performance architecture for the first time, it has high-tech, lightweight and sporty shape, fast charging and appropriate battery, extreme power and control of the four core concepts, can perfectly meet the dual high standards of Lotus model "performance + technology", focusing on high-performance luxury models. Matching this is lotus's newly developed 800V high-voltage platform, mainly composed of aluminum and high-strength steel chassis, combined with the two advantages of lightweight and structural rigidity, not only allows Eletre to have extremely fast performance, but also achieves extremely fast charging, when using 350kW charging pile, only 20 minutes of charging can achieve 400 km (WLTP) endurance.
Design, power, architecture, Eletre aptly interprets the word "Hyper", and it does more than that.
Smart Technology, Racing Smart Track
Entering the intelligent era of the Internet of Everything, intelligent technology basically determines the value of products. Autonomous driving, human-vehicle interaction, vehicle-machine entertainment, human-vehicle-road interconnection... New words have emerged in the car, and people expect their cars to no longer be just a means of travel, but a real travel companion.
But in the supercar world, which values fine control and driving pleasure, the attribute of "intelligence" does not seem to have entered the hearts of consumers. Even after the launch of the Taycan, which is the pioneer of Porsche electrification and intelligence, the discussion is still focused on performance, and when the owners have picked up the car, there is no shortage of voices to complain about its intelligent functions.
Today, Lotus, as one of the most rebellious and innovative members of the industry, leads ultra-luxury brands to open up a new blue ocean, just as it balanced the inseparable contradiction between wind resistance and downforce decades ago, to balance intelligent experience and driving pleasure.
Eletre is a member of lotus's "lifestyle car" family, since it wants to enter the user's life, in addition to the flamboyant performance and design, naturally there must be delicate wisdom.
Through Eletre, Lotus, born on the track and famous on the track, threw out the differentiated concept of "track-level intelligent driving". Eletre deploys a total of 34 industry-leading sensors, 12 ultrasonic radars and 6 millimeter wave radars are evenly distributed in the front and rear of the car, 7 8MP cameras, 4 2MP surround view cameras and 4 128-line lidar are arranged in the front, rear and sides, and the whole vehicle has a 360-degree stereoscopic surround view. Such a strong perception ability, not to mention the traditional luxury fuel brands that are also in transition, even some new forces known for intelligent driving technology are difficult to reach.
In the choice of "brain", Eletre will be equipped with 2 of the industry's top NVIDIA 7nm Orin chips to achieve 580TOPS computing power, providing extremely fast computing power in track-level driving, accurately and quickly analyzing every frame of the scene and executing every command.
As with its brand mission "For The Drivers", Lotus Track-class Smart Driving aims to assist drivers with advanced software and hardware while improving safety and road performance to provide a more valuable and reassuring driving experience, both on the track and on the road. Lotus believes that intelligent driving exists to create stronger driving confidence, while retaining driving pleasure and freedom for drivers in the era of intelligent electric vehicles.
At the Eletre global launch, we can also clearly see its highly technological interior. The 15.1-inch horizontal OLED touchscreen in the center console automatically adjusts the angle when the driver is in position, which is more convenient for information and is also a warm greeting. In terms of human-computer interaction, Lotus implements the simple concept that has always been implemented, so that 95% of functional users can click on the home screen no more than 3 times, adding another convenience to driving.
Matt Hill, Interior Design Manager at Lotus Tech, said of Eletre's interior design: "In lifestyle cars, performance is no longer just for the driver, but about trying to get a balance. "Eletre main co-pilot bar LCD screen cleverly integrated into the center console, in the main driver's seat as a dashboard, with huD head-up display system to present driving information, in the co-pilot's seat is the output terminal of information and entertainment, the rear also designed a 9-inch TFT touch screen for passengers, really let every member feel valued."
The Eletre is a true Lotus, with both the Soul of Lotus Racing and the higher value of an SUV. Its exaggerated avant-garde design, extremely efficient performance, pioneering technology, exquisite craftsmanship, advanced materials, track genes, all highlight the dazzling light of Lotus in the era of great changes in the industry.
Meeting expectations is only qualified, and exceeding expectations is the ultimate. You can always believe in Lotus, a rebellious, pioneering, sophisticated, full of personality brand, when the Eletre million-level pure electric SUV arrives, an extreme and intelligent supernova, will shine in the new category of "Hyper SUV".