Author: Wang Xuan

On the evening of June 1st, Lotus, together with New Pants Band and actor Liao Fan, presented a mischievous festival and the Chinese debut of the Lotus Eletre model.

As early as March, when Lotus Eletre made its global debut, the vast majority of information had already been made public, but the most important price was not revealed in this domestic debut.

Although the amount of information is limited, we still want to take this opportunity to talk about how to make a legendary brand shine with new life.

Understand the Essence and Dregs of the Story

Before Geely took over, Lotus was in decline, and it can even be said that it was an incomplete car company. Even though they had world-class chassis engineers and aerodynamic engineers to create the body, the 1.8 and 3.5-liter engines they used were purchased from Toyota. Those familiar models were all outdated. Without Geely’s entry, Lotus would have fallen long ago.

Eletre is undoubtedly the most radical product in Lotus’ history. Perhaps Colin Chapman never thought that Lotus cars would be electrified one day. What is the story of Lotus after electrification?

In last night’s promotional video, Liao Fan said, “Only madmen can control the wind,” which is the most touching words for Lotus fans. “Wind” is the mainline of Lotus’ story throughout. Although the price of Lotus Eletre has not been announced yet, we cannot easily compare it with any models based solely on its appearance, but this car is unique just based on its appearance alone.# Story of the Lotus Eletre: the Perfect Blend of Aerodynamics and Design

Enzo Ferrari once believed that racing was simply a matter of horsepower. Although Ferrari engineers possessed extraordinary mechanical talents, at one point, their cars were outperformed by those of Lotus, which had an aerodynamic advantage. After that, people discovered that designs created for complex aerodynamics could not only greatly enhance performance, but also appeal to our sense of aesthetic pleasure. This is the very reason why we find sports car designs so alluring.

So, we are naturally drawn to the Lotus Eletre, which radiates a sense of immediate fascination. Lotus designers do not need gaudy catchphrases to sell their designs. Over the past 70 years, everything Lotus has done with aerodynamics is the epitome of perfection, and the Eletre is the culmination of all that work. By providing fans with new fruits of their labor, Lotus has created a design that speaks for itself.

Lotus engineers are obsessed with aerodynamics, as demonstrated by the hidden, retractable top-mounted LiDAR solution. It is thanks to this that the Eletre has a minimum drag coefficient of 0.26Cd and a maximum net downforce of 90kg for the entire car while driving.

If you want to revitalize a brand, it is essential to understand the essence and the false elements of its story. Aerodynamics and chassis tuning are the core of the Lotus brand, and they are not like other sports car brands in terms of power. Therefore, electrification is not a bad thing for Lotus.

Leveraging the power of electrification, the Lotus Eletre has achieved further advances in power. It utilizes high-performance front and rear dual permanent magnet synchronous motors and SiC (silicon carbide) controllers to improve component power density, resulting in greater energy conversion efficiency. As a result, the car can do 0-100 km/h in just 2.95 seconds and has a maximum output of 905hp. The Eletre offers two power versions with 450kW and 675kW, respectively, and a driving range of 600km and 517km, according to the WLTP standard.Although electrification has made power more affordable, the limit is also harder to break through. The power characteristic of electric motors makes the power decay more serious at high speed, and the weight of the battery pack will also change the posture of the whole vehicle during driving. Since Lotus Eletre is positioned as a Hyper SUV, these problems must be solved.

The Eletre rear electric drive system adopts a 2-gear transmission, which can further increase the torque at high speed. At the same time, it meets the driving needs of both economic and comfort modes and makes the motor run in a high-efficiency range, effectively reducing the vehicle’s energy consumption and improving the range.

The front and rear five-link suspension, air suspension, 48V active stabilizer bar, CDC active control shock absorber, and One-Box braking system jointly constitute the chassis system of Eletre.

During the dynamic driving process, the air suspension with CDC active control shock absorber automatically switches, which can instantly improve the support stiffness or comfortable driving experience and adjust the suspension hardness more quickly. The front and rear five-link suspension system solution is equipped with multiple electronic control systems to ensure that it can achieve good comfort while pursuing the ultimate handling performance.

The leading third-generation 48V active stabilizer bar is equipped on both the front and rear axles, which can actively adjust the vehicle’s lateral stiffness. The maximum torque that can be provided on a single axis is 1400N·m, which further improves the vehicle’s handling limit, achieves a smoother cornering posture, and can also be left and right “actively disconnected”, improving comfort.

Of course, in addition to full power output, higher energy recovery efficiency will also enhance the user’s experience. Eletre is the first model under the Lotus brand to adopt a full 800V high-voltage architecture, with more stable output performance, higher energy utilization, and faster charging speed. With the support of a 420kW supercharging station, it can travel more than 120 kilometers in 5 minutes of fastest charging (* this data is based on the WLTP test standard), and can be charged from 10% to 80% in the fastest 20 minutes. At the same time, it meets the driver’s demand for strong performance and rapid charging.

Is the channel network all over the country, and is it still a niche brand?

Lotus’s launch of a pure electric SUV also indicates that they hope to gain a broader market. The reason is the same as when Porsche launched the Cayenne 20 years ago, but unlike Porsche, Chinese consumers do not have a clear understanding of Lotus because in the past, its positioning was too niche.”Product discontinuation and no one asks, and it’s hard to find a place for repairs” is a portrayal of Lotus in China in the past. Even in first-tier cities like Beijing, Lotus only has one after-sales service center located in Jinguang.

To make an automotive brand known to more people, expanding channels is crucial. Along with Lotus Eletre’s debut in China, they also have a new sales service plan.

Currently, increasing online touchpoints is an essential strategy. After June 1st, we can learn about Eletre through Lotus’s mini-program and make a deposit of 5000 yuan.

In addition, Lotus will establish experience stores and centers in first- and new-tier cities and modular stores in other cities. By the end of this year, nearly 50 stores will be opened in approximately 20 cities nationwide. The first batch of experience stores will cover key cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wuhan, and Chengdu. Other cities, such as Changsha, Chongqing, Suzhou, Foshan, Ningbo, Xiamen, Dongguan, and Qingdao, will follow suit and open stores while also setting up after-sales service centers in those cities.

Based on the energy digitization platform, Lotus Energy has a nationwide core location fast-charging network and relies on integrated intelligent digital solutions. Lotus Energy mainly includes “Intelligent Home Charging” and “Lotus Flash Charging” services. Nearly 200 self-operated high-end flash charging stations will be built in about 20 cities nationwide.

If you want to take root in China, you must understand the rules.

Sports cars will always be toys for a few people. After launching SUVs, Lotus will become a more diversified brand. Of course, users will assess its products based on various dimensions. Since Lotus wants to compete with Chinese intelligent electric vehicle brands, its intelligence capabilities must not be a weak point.

In terms of the cockpit, Eletre uses the industry-leading dual Snapdragon cockpit platform (Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip). Lotus claims that the car can achieve five-screen linkage, but did not elaborate on which five screens they are referring to.We can see from the interior picture that both the instrument screen and the co-pilot screen adopt a slender design, so we can assume that there will not be too many built-in application ecosystems in the co-pilot screen. A large-size screen is located in the center control, the fourth screen is located on the central armrest of the rear seat, and the fifth screen should be a HUD.

Eletre’s smart cockpit is equipped with UNREAL Engine, which has super graphic rendering ability and powerful 3D real-time rendering ability, presenting users with smooth, realistic and high-quality images and 3D scenes.

This also makes Eletre’s UI/UX interface and navigation interface more realistic and three-dimensional. In terms of the most commonly used software by users – navigation, Lotus concentrates on common navigation functions on the first screen, simplifies operations, and makes information presentation more efficient; customized interactive interfaces, holiday surprises, and POI exclusive 3D special effects settings make navigation full of personality everywhere.

Another important piece of information in the cockpit is that Eletre is equipped with the British flagship audio brand KEF, marking the first cooperation between the audio brand and a car brand. Eletre can provide up to 23 high-quality speakers, 2160W power, and is equipped with innovative Uni-Q and Uni-Core technologies.

• Uni-Q technology: The coaxial alignment technology achieves single sound source for mid-high frequencies, making the sound purer and less distorted so that each position in the car is the best listening position.

• Uni-Core: Extreme low frequency in minimal space reinterprets the extraordinary performance of speakers and subwoofers in size and performance and breaks through the traditional design of dissipating power, allowing super-compact enclosures to deliver rich and accurate bass.

In terms of advanced driving assistant hardware, Eletre’s layout is indeed worthy of the positioning of Hyper. The entire perception system is composed of 34 high-performance sensors, including four lidars, two 4D imaging millimeter wave radars, four corner millimeter wave radars, seven 8 million pixel cameras, four 2 million pixel panoramic cameras, 12 ultrasonic radars, and one in-car camera. The intelligent driving platform uses two NVIDIA Orin-X chips to provide 508TOPS high-redundancy computing power.

In terms of functionality, Lotus has not revealed much, but from the preset hardware, it is clear that this is another player aiming for L4 technology. Of course, we also look forward to bringing you a detailed evaluation of assisted driving after we get our hands on Eletre’s actual car in the future.

Finally

At the press conference, the CMO of Lotus Technology, Qing Yan, did not refer to their potential consumers as “users”, but as “fans”. This interesting detail makes me wonder, what are the conditions for a car brand to turn its users into fans?

Perhaps it is the story, as evidenced by the trophies of the F1 teams and drivers; perhaps it is the persistence, as Colin Chapman’s pursuit of aerodynamics has long become the brand’s genetic continuation.

These accumulations are the prerequisite for Eletre’s assault on the ultra-luxury pure electric SUV market. In addition to this, we also hope that Lotus’ story can be told for a longer time.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.