Considering it’s an immensely powerful electric SUV, the Lotus Eletre is about as far away from the original Lotus mission—remember simplify, then add lightness?—as a car can get. Add in that it is extremely expensive in the United States due to tariffs on vehicles made in China, and it’s no surprise that Lotus has not seen the sales it hoped for from its flagship behemoth.
Lotus is now changing tack, unveiling the internal combustion Eletre variant promised late last year. Unfortunately for fans of the Lotus ethos of simple-and-light, the unfortunately-named Lotus For Me is both more complicated and about as heavy as its all-electric relative.
Internal combustion power comes from a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, integrated in a plug-in hybrid system with two electric motors and a relatively massive 70 kWh battery. This adds up to a maximum output of 939 hp, beating out the most powerful existing all-electric Eletre. Since the battery has only 38 kWh less capacity than its all-electric relative, it should be no surprise that the jump to internal combustion does not come with a heavy weight cut; instead, plug-in hybrid Eletres will come in around the same 5800-pound range the EVs hit.
That unique (and somewhat unfortunate) name, Lotus For Me, will probably not follow the car outside of its debut market of China. Autocar reports that this name is likely to change when the For Me makes its planned arrival in Europe and North America. But until that new model name is revealed, the For Me suffers from one of the most confounding badges ever put on a performance car.
In addition to announcing the For Me, Lotus has also unveiled an engineering standard called “Lotus Tuned Specification.” Historians of the automobile may note that the badge on the front of a car has, historically, been its own official designation that a car meets its manufacturers given engineering standards.
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Fred Smith’s love of cars comes from his fascination with auto racing. Unfortunately, that passion led him to daily drive a high-mileage, first-year Porsche Panamera. He is still thinking about the last lap of the 2011 Indianapolis 500.
