Lotus Eletre name confirmed ahead of SUV’s reveal tomorrow

Lotus has confirmed that its new SUV will bear the name Eletre, following its unveiling in London tomorrow (March 29).

Little is known about the model, which has been running under the condename Type 132 until now, but it will be the first mass production electric vehicle to come from the British firm.

Renderings found on Australia’s intellectual property platform have given a hint of what the car will look like. It appears to look similar to the Lamborghini Urus, with a chunky front bumper, sharp angles in the bodywork and a full-width light bar at the rear.

The light bar is confirmed in a teaser posted on social media, which shows a shadowy vehicle driving away from the camera with the rear light illuminated.

Elsewhere in the video there’s a view of some of the steering wheel buttons. These show drive mode buttons that show that the driver will likely be able to switch between sporty- and comfort-focused characteristics.

Lotus is best known for building lightweight sports cars, but is delving into the world of SUVs for the first time, hoping to jump on their huge popularity in the premium segment.

Other niche manufacturers have joined the SUV segment in recent years, such as Aston Martin and Lamborghini, with even Ferrari recently teasing its own high-riding model, the Purosangue.

Lotus’s major selling point is that its cars are typically considerably lighter than rivals. When it launched the Evija, a limited-run electric hypercar, it revealed that it was applying the same principles to EVs, which are notoriously heavy because of the batteries.

So while an electric SUV appears to go against the typical Lotus ethos, expect to see innovative materials and design innovations to keep its weight lower than would be expected.

The Lotus Eletre will be revealed at an event in London tomorrow night (March 29) at 7.30pm.