Why the Lotus Eletre is the Worst Sports Car-turned-SUV Yet
Okay y’all…this is the last straw.
First came the Porsche Cayenne back in 2002. Okay, that’s weird and ugly, most of us thought. Surely no other sports car brand will make the mistake of producing an SUV.
Spoiler alert: we were wrong.
Fifteen years after that, the designers at Lamborghini asked the question, what does the car world need right now? How about something ugly? So they created the Urus.
Not to be outdone by those darn Europeans, Mustang announced the Mach-E in 2019 -- an electric SUV. Though it was slightly less ugly than the Cayenne and way less ugly than the Urus…was it really a Mustang?
Not long after the Mach-E was released, Aston Martin announced the DBX and Ferrari the Purosangue. Both SUVs were improvements in terms of design, but again, these were sports car brands creating utility vehicles. We threw our hands in the air and asked, “Why?”
but ultimately decided to shrug our shoulders and laugh it off.
Until now.
The Lotus Legacy
To fully appreciate our blowing up over the Lotus Eletre, there are a few things you need to understand.
Around our studio, Lotus is a big deal. Ray Mattison, lead designer of Design EyeQ, has been a huge fan for years. Back when he was still a student at the College of Creative Studies in Detroit, he applied for a position on their design team. He framed the rejection letter he received and looks forward to the day he can hang it in his Lotus office. The brand represents a key feature of good design: the elegance and brilliance of simplicity. Or at least, it used to.
Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus, was a man who said things like, “Simplify, then add lightness,” and “Any car that holds together for a whole race is too heavy.” This F1-inspired Lotus that scared the hell out of Jeremy from Top Gun is precisely the kind of car Chapman would have engineered.
The prime example of this philosophy is the Lotus Elise, originally released in 2011. Weighing in at 1800 pounds and only 189 horsepower, this car defies so many of the assumptions we make about sports cars. Most of us believe they have to be either muscular and powerful or zippy and hard-to-handle. The Lotus Elise is neither of those things. It has superb handling, looks friendly and can hold its own on a race track. That’s because of its lightweight, immaculate design.
The less-is-more legacy of Lotus has left its mark. The company has been bought and sold on more than one occasion, and it has greatly influenced the design of many cars, most notably the Tesla Roadster.
Why You Gotta Betray the Brand?
That is exactly why the Lotus Eletre should, by all rights, not exist. At the very least, don’t call it a Lotus.
The Eletre is a solid electric SUV. It has between 600-750 hp, a range of about 370 miles, and self-driving features. And for all those reasons, the Eletre is not a Lotus car. It has utility for crying out loud! Colin Chapman must be rolling in his grave.
Here’s our hot take: it’s totally fine to make electric SUVs. We have nothing against them. But stop putting sports car brands on them. At best, it’s a poor marketing decision. No one who has the money to buy a sports car is thinking, “You know what I want? Something practical.” At worst, the decision to put the Lotus name on an SUV is a betrayal of the founder’s principals. For shame.
The Worst Has Yet to Come
If you’ve spent any time reading our blog, you’ll know Corvette is also a favorite around here. That is why we nearly gagged when we heard rumors about a Corvette SUV. For the love of Zora, just say no.
What do you think of the Eletre?
Let us know on LinkedIn or Facebook. For more information about us, you can read our blog, check out our design process, or contact us directly.