Lotus Continues Big EV Push With Four New Models, Headquarters, and Plant
Lotus, the 70+ year-old British maker of sports cars, is branching out in an entirely new direction with all-electric SUVs.
While some automakers continue to pretend like electric vehicles aren’t the future, others are going all-in on electrification. That includes legendary British marquee Lotus, which forged its reputation by building sporty, lightweight vehicles and race cars. Now, with its 80th anniversary coming in 2028, Lotus is reinventing itself into a global EV brand in a big way and has just announced the road map it will follow to get there.
After recently revealing the all-electric Evija hypercar and the Emira – its last internal-combustion powered vehicle – Lotus has announced that it has four new EVs in the works – an E-segment SUV codenamed Type 132 for the 2022 model year, an E-segment four-door coupe dubbed Type 133 for 2023, a D-segment SUV named Type 134 for 2025, and the Type 135 sports car, planned for 2026.
The Type 132 SUV will be underpinned by the Lotus Premium architecture – one of four new dedicated EV platforms from the automaker – and marketed as a “premium lifestyle vehicle” with impressive performance. The all-electric utility will reportedly accelerate from 0-60 mph in less than 3.0 seconds, and it will utilize 92-120 kWh batteries that charge via an 800-volt high-speed charging system.
In addition to these future vehicle announcements, Lotus also broke ground on its brand new headquarters in Wuhan, China, which is scheduled to be completed in 2024. That facility will be adjacent to the automaker’s brand new production plant – which will feature an integrated intelligent test track and autonomous assembly lines – currently expected to open later this year. Both of Lotus’ existing factories in the UK will continue to produce vehicles as well, but the addition of the new plant will boost the automaker’s capacity to 150,000 units annually.
“This is an important day in the transformation of the Lotus business and brand,” said Feng Qingfeng, CEO, Group Lotus. “Lotus Technology will accelerate the innovation which has always been at the heart of the business. Together the China and UK teams will empower our journey towards an expanded, intelligent, and electric future, achieving the ambitions and goals that have been in the making for 73 years of the brand.”
We already knew that the British automaker was going all-electric following its acquisition by Chinese automaker Geely via its Vision80 plan, but the fact that it intends to diverge from decades of building nothing but sports cars and supercars is a huge surprise. However, the move promises to make Lotus a truly global brand with a much broader reach than ever before.
Photos: Lotus