“This launch marks another milestone in the partnership of Autohub Group and Lotus. I am so thrilled to unveil the Eletre, an innovative and progressive electric vehicle, especially during such a momentous time in the local electric vehicle landscape. The 11th Philippine Electric Vehicle Summit was such a stimulating display of the potential of electric vehicles, and I am so glad that Autohub and Lotus were a part of it,” said Willy Tee Ten, president of Autohub Group.

Lotus’ first model outside sportscars, the Eletre, in the locally available R guise, produces 918 horsepower. Zero to 100 km/h takes just 2.95 seconds, while top speed is pegged at 260 km/h thanks to a two-speed gearbox. With a 111.9-kWh battery, the Eletre R can go up to 500 kilometers between charges, and thanks to a 800-volt architecture, it can add 400 kilometers in just 20 minutes using a 350-kW DC fast charger.

The Eletre is designed around the concept of “porosity” where air is made to flow through the car as well as under, over, and around it. This makes it the most advanced production SUV aero package-wise. For instance, it has an active front grille with interconnecting “petals.” It also comes fitted with the world’s first deployable LIDAR system and an ultra-powerful Dual Orin-X chipset which makes it capable of advanced levels of autonomous driving. The driverless features it will offer initially is the ability to self-park but further autonomous features will be added by over-the-air software (OTA).

Underneath, the Electre rides on a dedicated platform with a flat skateboard-style battery pack for a low center of gravity and ideal weight distribution. It has two electric motors, one driving the front wheels and other driving the rear wheels. For handling, standard equipment includes 23-inch alloy wheels, air suspension with continuous damping control, rear axle steering, and torque vectoring, and carbon-ceramic disc brakes.

Inside, the Electre can be ordered with four individual seats, although a more traditional five-seater version is available. It has a 46-liter “frunk” and a 688-liter cargo hold.

The overall theme is one centered around being visually lightweight and as such trims down the instrument panel to just 30 mm high. The same strip is found on the passenger side, where different information can be displayed. Yet, the Eletre gets features such as ambient interior lighting, a large panoramic glass roof, and a 15.1-inch OLED centrally-mounted touchscreen. The screen can fold flat when not in use. Standard for the Philippine market is a 23-speaker, 2,160-watt KEF Reference speaker system.

It comes with Nappa leather as standard, but customers can also go more sustainable with man-made microfibers used on the primary touchpoints and wood-blend fabric seats on the seats. Even the hard materials, made of carbon fiber, are made from recycled materials trimmed from weave edges.

The Lotus Eletre R is priced at P 10,499,000, but for a limited time, it comes with an introductory price of P 9,999,000. It comes standard with a 5-year, 150-kilometer warranty. The battery, meanwhile, carries a 8-year or 200,000-kilometer warranty.

Plans are also underway to offer both the base Eletre and mid-performance Eletre S at a later time.