Whether you love the idea or hate it, Lotus is making an electric SUV

Enlarge / Purists may be aghast, but the commercial reality is that Lotus needs a volume-seller, and that means an SUV. At least it is fully electric. (credit: Lotus)

This week we found out what an electric Lotus SUV will look like when the company showed off a new car called the Eletre. Not everyone will be a fan of the styling, and others will just object to the idea of Lotus making an SUV, electric or otherwise, in the first place.

But keep an open mind, at least until the first road tests. As long as it drives like a Lotus, it might be just the thing to bring a lot of new customers to the marque, not just in Europe and China but here in the US from 2024. And as Porsche so ably demonstrates, it's a good way to pay for the stuff that makes car nerds get hot under the collar.

The English manufacturer of lightweight sports cars has been in an unusual position these last few years-sufficiently funded, thanks to the same deep pockets that rejuvenated Volvo. Instead of having to warm over an increasingly old platform for small two-seaters, Lotus got to work developing not one but four new architectures.

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