Type 133 - Lotus Emeya

[Bibs]

Thanks @hedgerley

https://play.acast.com/s/the-driven-chat-podcast/lotusmdmattwindle-andamysbroughtanothernewcar..-

[hedgerley]

From what Matt is saying and the teasers, I'm beginning to get quite interested in the 132. But as a huge fan of Dany's Elite back in 2010 (I felt the Eterne was a bit frumpy) I'm intrigued by the 4-door sedan, the 133. Apart from the original 4 model in covers shot when the model plan was revealed I've not seen anything or for that matter heard anything in these interviews about the 133.

I realise its very early days but does anybody have any snippets I might have missed?

Couldn't resist...... Does anyone else see hints of the Emira, especially in the rear?

 

[Il fenomino]

I'm looking forward to this car. I nearly bought an Exige 5 years ago. This would have been a big mistake. But a Lotus limousine... sign me up. A daily driver with AWD and a good portion of power, but also comfy enough to make the 3 hour drive to the family and small enough to park in a garage without the fear of damaging the car. Hopefully not as expensive as it is made in China. This is my dream. At the moment I drive a Golf Variant Diesel, but I want to go electric as soon as possible. 

[Bravo73]

2 hours ago, Il fenomino said:

At the moment I drive a Golf Variant Diesel, but I want to go electric as soon as possible. 

You might want an ID3 then. 

[Il fenomino]

You are right. I thought about buying an EV till Lotus offers the type 133. But the small displays, software and the materials of the ID.3 are turning me off. The new Renault Megane E-tech looks great. You never know how much the Type 133 will cost or if it is any good. So maight as well switch now and sell the car, once there is the right car for me. I wonder how many current Lotus drivers would sell their car for an Lotus EV. Especially since the real interesting one (Type 135) still takes 4 or 5 years. 

[Il fenomino]

On 10/12/2021 at 12:35, hedgerley said:

From what Matt is saying and the teasers, I'm beginning to get quite interested in the 132. But as a huge fan of Dany's Elite back in 2010 (I felt the Eterne was a bit frumpy) I'm intrigued by the 4-door sedan, the 133. Apart from the original 4 model in covers shot when the model plan was revealed I've not seen anything or for that matter heard anything in these interviews about the 133.

I realise its very early days but does anybody have any snippets I might have missed?

Couldn't resist...... Does anyone else see hints of the Emira, especially in the rear?

I think they are concentrating on the Type 132 for now. Teasering the Type 133 would take interest away from the next car they want to sell. 
I'm totally with you. A sporty, lightweight, aerodynamic car with AWD and around 300-500 HP, where you can still drive your kids around would be my dream car. Not to big, as the german car parks are still reasonable sized. 

[eUKenGB]

That is the first I have seen of the 'Elite' as shown in the video above and it is THE car I would have - as an EV. It actually incorporates everything I want, just ditch the ICE.

Sadly, being a 4 door, the 133 probably misses the mark for me. Still, wait and see eh?

[JimH]

First Autocar Type 133 render (squashed Eletra!) attempt :

[NedaSay]

Can we call this a lazy render?! Reuse Eletre key marker, check . Do not look at the teaser provided by the brand for the upcoming models, check! Give the render the hood of an ICE luxobarge check.

[AK70]

For me, it depends what the size of the 133 will be. If it is around the same size like Tesla 3 or Ioniq 6 than I‘m veeery interested. If more like Taycan (2m wide..) than thanks, but no thanks 😉

(why the hell have all cars become bigger and bigger, when all the room and parking place remain small…??) 

 

[KusaKusa]

It'll most likely be Taycan sized, especially considering the size of the Zeekr 001. 

[AK70]

Good to now. So nothing for me then.

I just wonder, how car companies let Tesla win with its Model 3... Seems clear to me what buyers want. Long-Range in a mid-size car...

[NedaSay]

In the Geely group, this segment is assigned to premium brands Polestar and Volvo. Lotus is positioned higher. Lotus is hunting the Porsche hence the decision to come up with a Taycan competitor. Besides margin on upper echelon cars  are much more interesting and Lotus needs each car they make to generate substantial margins...

[KusaKusa]

Porsche was exploring making a smaller EV sedan similar to the Audi A4. Not sure where it's gone so far:

 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/electric-cars/porsche-expand-line-new-bmw-i4-rivalling-saloon

[jonwat]

Lotus primes Type 133 saloon to rival Porsche Taycan 

[Il fenomino]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/new-2024-polestar-5-final-design-uk-developed-ev-revealed

The Polestar 5 should play in the same league as the Lotus type 133. The Power is the same or even more. The price is the same or even more. They even aim for the Taycan, as does the Lotus. Strange for Geely to gun for Porsche with two brands. 

[KusaKusa]

There are some pretty significant differences to the Polestar 5 and the Lotus Type 133, even if they're both in the large luxury EV sedan category under the same umbrella company.  The Lotus will be on the same Lotus Premium Architecture that the Type 132 is on (based on Geely's Sustainable Experience Architecture), which seems to be a typical steel and aluminum (and carbon fiber?) platform, but the Polestar 5 will be on an entirely new bonded aluminum platform currently only announced for the 5.  Type 133 will (likely) use the same motors as on Type 132, but the Polestar 5 will use a new Polestar-designed EV drivetrain with a 2 speed transmission.  The only thing they may share is that the battery and 800V technology is co-developed by Lotus, Polestar, and Volvo, so all the group has access to it.

[hedgerley]

A little more info and a decent render in the new issue of CAR magazine. I'd buy one......

 

 

[Il fenomino]

Luckily, these early renders never look anythink like the finished products. I think this car looks awefull. Hopefully, the front will look sleaker. I don't like the double headlights. The ones of the Eletre look better. If I could wish for one thing, it would be a backside like one of those Aston Martin Zagatos. Something special, not just your typical Taycan, E-tron GT, Model S style. The Polestar 5 is a good example. It's something new and stands out from the mass of sport coupés. Oh and it should have a low drag coefficiant. But most of all, I hope it is not as long as the Eletre. 5 Meters is the absolute maximum for me and the parking garage at my job . But probably none of this wishes will come true, as the car will be made with chinese customers in mind.

Edited June 12, 2022 by Il fenomino

[NedaSay]

On 06/06/2022 at 12:51, Il fenomino said:

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/new-2024-polestar-5-final-design-uk-developed-ev-revealed

The Polestar 5 should play in the same league as the Lotus type 133. The Power is the same or even more. The price is the same or even more. They even aim for the Taycan, as does the Lotus. Strange for Geely to gun for Porsche with two brands. 

Audi E-Tron GT and Porsche Taycan are firmly in the same market it doesn't seem to bother VW group much. I don't know why Geely would be bothered by Polestar and Lotus trying to cut a slice of such a juicy pie.

[KusaKusa]

On 12/06/2022 at 02:45, Il fenomino said:

Luckily, these early renders never look anythink like the finished products. I think this car looks awefull. Hopefully, the front will look sleaker. I don't like the double headlights. The ones of the Eletre look better. If I could wish for one thing, it would be a backside like one of those Aston Martin Zagatos. Something special, not just your typical Taycan, E-tron GT, Model S style. The Polestar 5 is a good example. It's something new and stands out from the mass of sport coupés. Oh and it should have a low drag coefficiant. But most of all, I hope it is not as long as the Eletre. 5 Meters is the absolute maximum for me and the parking garage at my job . But probably none of this wishes will come true, as the car will be made with chinese customers in mind.

Type 133 will have double rows for the headlights, based on the teaser below, but probably not like what Car rendered. 

 

[Il fenomino]

15 hours ago, NedaSay said:

Audi E-Tron GT and Porsche Taycan are firmly in the same market it doesn't seem to bother VW group much. I don't know why Geely would be bothered by Polestar and Lotus trying to cut a slice of such a juicy pie.

It's not that they are in the same market. It's that they target a similar audience, when they both gun for the Porsche Taycan. Lotus could target the Taycan and Polestar the Mercedes EQS/EQE, BMW i7 but they are not. Every week I drive through Ingolstadt, but in my whole life, I have only seen two E-Tron GT's on the road. I see a lot more Taycans. And the Porsche is more expensive. For me, it seems the VW Group should be bothered   

[NedaSay]

Geely won't be. Geely's own brand has many cars which are competing with eachother , Geely Bo Rui vs Emgrand GT, it is just an example but Bin Ray vs Emgrand GL is another... These cars are different, but it is very much only skindeep and in terms of market segmentation the overlap is real. Geely's logic it that it is better to have so many options that clients just give up on going to the competition cause the minute the step into the showroom they have too many options already.

Besides Taycan and E-tron GT are essentially the same car platform with a different outer envelop. Companies are gunning for the yardstick and in luxury EV realm, the taycan is the yardstick. Polestar and Lotus are both sport brands ; Volvo will target Mercedes and BMW, but Polestar and Lotus do have free reign they go where want to go. And there's no group strategy to curb that as of now. Polestar is Volvo Group,  Lotus is part of Geely Group. It is essentially the same group, but operationally everybody enjoys a great deal of latitude to do what they want provided they all contribute to Geely holding bottom line.

The underpinning of all  premium Geely group products in the future are going to be based on Sustainable Experience Architecture or SEA but Volvo calls it SPA2 while Lotus calls it Evolution or premium or lifestyle... each entity can tweak the architecture as it is mostly a skate and you can put the body you want on it as long as you respect a few key hardpoints.

Point is Lotus and Polestar are free to duke it out, they are unlikely to steal sales from one another, they both want to steal sales from Porsche.

[DarrylV8]

Having been in Vancouver for a few days, can’t believe how many Tesla’s there are, who is going to be chasing their future sales?

[NedaSay]

Within the Geely Group?! Volvo, Polestar, Zeekr and Lynk & Co, I could add Geometry.... and yes Lotus for the very high end stuff.