Lotus Eletre review

Is the Eletre – all 5.1 metres and 2520kg of it – honestly the vehicle that’s going to drag Lotus kicking, if not screaming into the 21st century, making it credible once again on the world stage? Is it the car that’s going to put Lotus back on the map?

Maybe, maybe not, but one thing about this all-electric new ‘Hyper SUV’ is surely not in much doubt. It is not a car Colin Chapman would have warmed to. To a man who coined the phrase ‘Simplify, then add lightness’ you’d have to assume the idea of a two and a half tonne electric sports utility vehicle might not have held much appeal.

But whether it’s even relevant to discuss what the great man might have made of this car isn’t really the issue here. We’ve surely moved well beyond the era of Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious. In light of which, should we not be embracing the Eletre as a new kind of Lotus, for a new kind of world, with or without ACBC’s theoretical approval?