The Lotus Eletre is an electric SUV with hints of hypercar

The Eletre, a plug-in SUV with design language inspired by the Evija hypercar, was unveiled by Lotus. The Eletre will be the first of three new EV's that Lotus plans to roll out over the next four years.

The Eletre is the second electric vehicle from the Geely-owned automaker and will feature futuristic components like camera-only side-view mirrors and a lidar sensor affixed to the front and rear of the roof.

Lotus is emphasizing the performance capabilities of its new electric SUV. The Eletre will be able to sprint from 0-100 km/h (0-62mph) in less than three seconds, with Lotus claiming a spot in the exclusive Two Second Club.

The Eletre isn't built like an SUV just because it can tear it up on the track. With all-wheel drive, the five-door EV will be fairly compact, but it will still pack a lot of power, including a battery capacity that's over 100kWh.

The Lotus says that a 350 kilowatt charger can deliver 400 km of range in 20 minutes. The maximum driving range for the car is 600 km. It comes with the ability to accept 22 kilowatts of AC charging, which reduces the time plugged in.

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The Eletre has a forward-leaning nose and a rakish roofline. Designers are pulling from their experience in building sleek sports cars. The proportions are SUV-like.

The Eletre is the first five-door production car, the first non-sports car model, the first lifestyle EV, and the most important for Lotus. It will be the company's first car to be built in China, where its parent company is based.

The Eletre will be built on Lotus' new Electric Premium Architecture, a low-to-the-groundskateboard design that is flexible to accommodate different battery sizes. Lotus claims that the Eletre will include end-to-end automated driving technology and over-the-air software update capabilities. The platform will be used for a range of premium performance vehicles from Lotus.

Lotus is referring to self-parking capabilities. The company says that a customer can use their app to request their Eletre to drive to them autonomously from a nearby parking space, and then autonomously repark once the journey is complete. The EV will have 5G.

The Eletre will come with a number of advanced driver assist features. The Eletre is likely to require driver supervision at all times.

Over the last decade, the Chinese group has added everything from Volvo to an electric vertical takeoff and landing company. The company had a reputation for reviving old brands, like it did with Volvo or the Polestar brand.