Lotus is readying a 900bhp Eletre hyper-SUV

By topgear, 31 March 2022

The new electric Lotus SUV is already fast, but soon it'll be untouchable

It’s not slow, Lotus’s new Eletre. And it’s only going to get faster. In case you were in any doubt, the Eletre that was unveiled last night - a twin motor car with 600bhp and the ability to hit 100kph in 2.9secs - is the entry level version. It’s in with a shout of being proclaimed the world’s fastest SUV with better sprinting ability than a Lamborghini Urus (3.6secs), Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT or Aston Martin’s DBX 707 (both 3.3secs). Tesla claims a 0-100kph of 2.6secs for the forthcoming Model X Plaid.

This means the Lotus is light. Comparatively. 600bhp is less than any of those ICE rivals, and although electricity’s torque-from-zero and zero gearshifts hands it an advantage, it means Lotus’s claim the Eletre weighs around two tonnes dead likely holds true. The 2,455kg Model X needs over 1,000bhp to go 0.3secs faster. And that’s impressive when there’s no escaping the sheer mass of a 105kWh battery. We’ll have to assume the lightweight philosophy has been applied successfully elsewhere.

Anyway, Lotus refers to the Eletre as a Hyper-SUV. Of course it does, the super-SUV is so passe these days. But it’s only a few tenths faster, and is actually likely to substantially undercut its rivals on cost, starting at around £100,000 (RM551k). Not very hyper.

But the next one just might earn the tag. We learned the flagship Eletre, due in a couple of years, will have 900bhp thanks to a second 300bhp motor on the back axle. If this proves true, it should drop the 0-100kph time well below 2.5secs, putting it completely out of reach of any internal combustion rivals. The fast-SUV game is now making the transition to electric.