Lotus on Tuesday introduced plans for 4 new electrical fashions, together with two SUVs, a four-door coupe, and a sports activities automotive—all to be launched over the subsequent 5 years.
The primary SUV, codenamed Sort 132, will launch in 2022, a Lotus press launch stated. The four-door coupe, codenamed Sort 133, will observe in 2023. The second SUV (Sort 134) and the sports activities automotive (Sort 135) will debut in 2025 and 2026, respectively.
Lotus beforehand stated it could swap to an all-EV lineup, claiming the just lately unveiled Emira sports activities automotive might be its final internal-combustion mannequin. Its first manufacturing EV would be the 1,973-hp Evija hypercar, which is scheduled to start out manufacturing later this yr and might be restricted to 130 examples.
Lotus EV teaser
The corporate has confirmed a number of EV platforms in growth, together with an Excessive platform for the Evija and an Evolution platform for a minimum of one SUV. It seems the 4 new fashions might be primarily based on a 3rd platform, known as Premium. It is designed to assist automobiles in a number of market segments, with 92-kwh to 102-kwh battery packs and 800-volt electrical architectures, Lotus stated.
The British automaker concurrently introduced the groundbreaking for the headquarters of its new Lotus Expertise division in Wuhan, China. The headquarters is scheduled to open in 2024, and a close-by manufacturing facility will open later this yr, the corporate stated. Lotus can even keep its current services in the UK.
The growth into China is a mirrored image of Lotus’ present backing. Chinese language automaker Geely acquired Lotus in 2017, offering regular financing to fund new fashions. As well as, the brand new Lotus Expertise division counts Li Bin, founding father of Chinese language automaker Nio, amongst its buyers. Nio is among the few EV startups to realize traction, posting respectable gross sales in its house nation, and introducing a community of battery-swapping stations.