Made in China, rich with technology, about the same size as Lambo’s Urus, and based on an all-new Electric Premium Architecture (EPA). That's the Lotus Eletre in a nutshell. As for pricing, well, if you must ask...
According to reports, the British automaker is targeting a listing below the psychological £100k threshold, meaning it should be available in the United States somewhere around the $130k mark. That is certainly not affordable, even when considering that we are dealing with an EV super-SUV.
As a measure of comparison, the Dual Motor AWD Tesla Model X goes for $115k and the 1,020-horsepower Plaid is $139k. So, there’s big logic behind Lotus promising not only higher-powered Eletre versions but also an entire EV family in the next few years. So, after Eletre (Type 132), we are also going to see a Type 133 four-door coupe, Type 134 D-segment crossover, and Type 135 sports car developed in partnership with Alpine, among others.
Well, the virtual artist better known as Theottle on social media has decided to also play with the 2023 Lotus Eletre battery-powered SUV and make it more affordable, thus focusing his CGI skills on the upcoming Type 134. And for that, he used a remarkably interesting yet highly logical unofficial base of digital operations.
In the pixel master’s latest behind-the-scenes making-of video (embedded below) he took the unsuspecting Mazda CX-4 as the virtual starting point. The sloping-roof compact crossover was first presented at the 2016 Beijing Motor Show as an exclusive product for China and has been in production since 2017 by the joint venture FAW Mazda.
While Mazda might never lend its styling to Lotus, the CX-4 and Eletre SUVs being China-made products is probably what brought them together for the unofficial creation of the upcoming smaller, more affordable Type 134 battery-powered crossover SUV. Naturally, this is merely unofficial wishful thinking. But it also poses a good question: is Lotus going to clone the Eletre design on future models or will they lend different styling personalities to each new introduction?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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