SUVs are not often called beautiful. Rugged, cool, or even stylish on occasion. Range Rover, Toyota, and Volvo have long since left their utilitarian roots behind, but marketing departments still like to pepper SUV launches with adjectives that tap into our primordial instincts to haul stuff or ram through forest roads. SUVs are increasingly important for looks as opposed to ability. The Eletre is a beautiful SUV inside and out.
SUVs are new to Lotus. Lotus remained a sports-car-only company even after the release of their first SUVs. With SUVs becoming the dominant passenger vehicle type, it may have been inevitable that Lotus would eventually throw its hat into the ring. The design and manufacturing of the Eletre was influenced by Lotus's old sports car tricks.
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Light me up.
The founder of Lotus Cars had a saying that summed up the entire 74-year history of the company: "Simplify, then add lightness."
Since large packs of batteries make EV heavier than internal-combustion-powered vehicles, the Eletre pulls out a few tricks to chop as much weight as possible from the SUV. It is about the size of a Ford Explorer and a foot longer than the Ford Mustang Mach-E, a performance-oriented, all-electric SUV.
The Eletre uses carbon fiber and aluminum to keep the weight down, according to Lotus. Carbon fiber is used in the black exterior trim pieces, such as the wheel arches, rear spoiler, and side-view mirrors. The seats are wrapped in a wool-blend fabric that is 50 percent lighter than leather and the hard interior trim pieces are carbon fiber.
The front center console is similar to the interior of the Lotus EV, where an open pass-through between the left and right footwells trims weight.
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