Piggybacking off the Lotus Eletre, the refreshed brand brings in a new contestant to their lineup– the Emeya.
Lotus has been in the news more times in the past three months than it ever has in the past three years. Part of that is on purpose. Bought out by Chinese mega-conglomerate Geely, the small skunkworks garage-kept project has transformed into a money-making machine that can solely be seen as a return on investment.
Or you could just appreciate the cool cars they’ve been churning out. Either way, it’s no mindbending plot that Lotus’ newest concoction in the Emeya rides off the newly found success of the Eletre SUV. Groundbreaking? Sure. But the Emeya represents a shift away from the low-profile track oriented vehicles the brand is accustomed to making, now setting their sights on vehicles like the Porsche Taycan and the Lucid Air.
The Emeya is touted as Lotus’ hyper-GT, whatever that means. In our eyes, the Emeya sits as a high-performance grand tourer similar to the Eletre. Except the Emeya shows itself off as much more of a traditional sedan-like vehicle if you could even call it that. Riding lower, with sleeker lines, as well as a much more aerodynamic design– the Emeya might share a lot of its inner workings with the Eletre but it doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out it’s a much different driving experience.
Underneath, a massive 102.0 kWh battery pack lies alongside much of the Eletre’s parts. Just like its big-brother SUV, the Emeya varies drastically in power on its trim spectrum. Its standard setup will feature 603 horsepower and 523 pound-feet of torque. Plenty fast and quick, something we’ve grown to expect from a Lotus. Step up to the highest trim and you’ll get Lotus’ premier performance package.
905 horsepower and 727 lb-ft of torque make for a thrilling adventure. Paired alongside the fact that the Emeya sits much closer to the ground and its ability to provide instant torque as an electric vehicle play heavily into the fact that the Emeya tries its best to skirt its way around the fact that its much heavier than previous Lotus models.
Lotus claims that the Emeya can sprint its way to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds– 2.8 to be exact. The brand has also reported a top speed of 159 miles an hour, a hefty figure for an electric vehicle of the Emeya’s stature. It’s fitted with a standard air suspension and features all sorts of active aerodynamic elements such as front-grille shutters, a rear diffuser, and a rear spoiler that deploys to create more downforce at speed.
We expect the Emeya to retain its numbers in terms of range as close as possible to the Eletre. That means somewhere in the ballpark of 260 to 315 miles and being capable of DC charging. Pricing is yet to be released but we expect it to start somewhere in the six-figure range as with the Eletre.
Lotus’ design language has clearly changed from niche sports cars to what the brand has called lifestyle luxury electric vehicles. While it seems like a bunch of marketing buzzwords and semantical jargon, it’s clear the direction that the company wants to set its bearings towards. As with most companies bought out by a large corporation, the touch has been lost in a way– but that won’t stop the brand from churning out new electric vehicles, something it might be worth it to lean into.
Whether or not it will beat out the Lucid Air Sapphire and the Porsche Taycan is a test to be seen. Both have started to make their mark in their respective sectors of the market, and a relatively unknown brand trying to lap up market share will certainly prove to be somewhat difficult.
