The world didn’t end when Porsche launched the original Cayenne in 2002 and we’ve also avoided an apocalypse when the Aston Martin DBX, Lamborghini Urus, and Ferrari Purosangue were introduced. To the dismay of purists, Lotus now has its very own SUV. Adding insult to injury, it’s purely electric. The Eletre is fashionably late to the high-performance, high-riding genre but it’s making up for last time with supercar-beating acceleration.
Carwow’s Mat Watson was given the opportunity to hop behind the wheel of a prototype of the Eletre. Not just any version of Norfolk’s first SUV, but the range-topping R. It has a dual-motor setup with a combined output of 905 horsepower (675 kilowatts) and 726 pound-feet (985 Newton-meters) of torque. The journalist wanted to put Lotus’ numbers to the test and see whether the massive EV is as quick as advertised.
It did the 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) sprint in 3.06 seconds and hit 100 mph (161 km/h) in 6.33 seconds before completing the quarter mile in 10.82 seconds. It wasn’t the best of launches as the way it put power on the road was a bit unsettling since the vehicle’s rear jiggled a bit. It proved to be more stable in the subsequent sprint, which lowered the 0-60 mph time to 2.99 seconds and the 0-100 mph time to 6.28 seconds, with the quarter mile taking 6.28 seconds.
The British marque owned by Geely says the Eletre R is even quicker by mentioning it takes 2.95 seconds to reach 62 mph (100 km/h). That seems plausible as a production vehicle could very well be quicker than this prototype. It’s impressively quick for such a large vehicle that weighs somewhere in the region of 4,410 pounds or 2,000 kilograms. This is a massive vehicle, stretching at 5103 millimeters (201 inches) long and 2231 mm (87.8 in), riding on wheels as large as 23 inches.
Hopefully, the success of the Eletre will help Lotus fund the development of sports cars, much like the Cayenne and Macan are helping Porsche invest in the 718 and 911 lineups.
