Lotus' reinvention begins with Eletre SUV in 2024

After 75 years of doing the same thing — manufacturing super-lightweight, low-production, hand-built sports cars in the U.K. — Lotus is now beginning the difficult business of reinventing itself.

The Eletre SUV — the brand's first — arrives in about a year, while the Emeya five-door sedan comes in the first quarter of 2025.

Both will be made in China. They are part of Lotus' goal to wean itself off internal combustion engines by 2030 and morph into a mainstream premium performance-luxury brand competing against Porsche, Audi, Lucid and others.

The current Emira sports car — powered by a souped-up Toyota V-6 — is not only the last internal combustion-powered Lotus, but also the last British-made Lotus. The Emira goes out of production in 2030 and no plans for output at Lotus' Hethel, England, plant have been announced.

You may recall that China's Zhejiang Geely Holding — Geely — bought a controlling interest in Lotus in 2017. The company, which also owns Volvo, has done a masterful job investing in the right products for Volvo and allowing the Swedish brand to remain so and grow — even though some Volvos are made in China.

But even if Geely executives grant that same freedom to Lotus, success is not assured. The move Lotus is attempting is far different from Volvo's evolution. Further, it goes against almost everything founder Colin Chapman envisioned when the first Lotus hit the road in 1948. Chapman was all about lightweight and simple. The Eletre and Emeya are not that.

The Eletre weighs around 5,500 pounds — almost twice that of a 1994 Lotus Esprit, and 2,500 pounds more than the Emira. Put another way, the Eletre weighs more than an Esprit and a Lotus Elise combined. That's important, because the brand has long set the bar for weight efficiency.

The Emeya shares its underpinnings and likely powertrains with the Eletre. The Lotus name has appeared before on a super-fast sedan — the 1980s Lotus Carlton, a joint effort with Opel's U.K. sister brand Vauxhall.

Lotus provided a preproduction Eletre for road testing in Detroit last week. It does what a Lotus is supposed to do: The 905-hp SUV is shockingly fast, reaching 60 mph in less than 3 seconds. It handles more like a sports car than an SUV. The tight turning radius is especially impressive, the brakes are powerful enough, it seems, to stop a Boeing 747. The comfortable interior is high tech and loaded with advanced features. The lidar deploys from the roof and the front fenders look like something straight out of James Bond.

No prices have been announced, but the Eletre will sticker just under $150,000 or so, while the Emeya, which will compete against the Porsche Taycan, likely will start around $100,000.

Lotus has a core group of dedicated fans who have supported the company through tough times. Lotus could always count on its faithful base to buy a few thousand cars a year. To be successful with Eletre and Emeya, the automaker will have to vastly expand its reach to include more than just driving enthusiasts.

It's going to take crypto bros, athletes, entertainers and wealthy buyers who really want to drive something different to propel Lotus to a global sales goal of 100,000 vehicles annually by 2028. Since 1948, total Lotus production has tallied 100,000 cars.

Critics will carp about the Eletre and Emeya being built in Wuhan and not England. But I can't see that as affecting sales if the cars are built well and are reliable and competitive in price and equipment.

Current-generation MG models made in China are some of the hottest-selling vehicles in Europe, South America, Asia and Mexico. If Lotus can duplicate MG's recipe, the next 75 years might be its most successful yet.