Lotus was reportedly working on a saloon to compete with the Porsche Taycan

Lotus was reportedly working on an electric saloon to compete with the very Porsche Taycan. Some sources have claimed it will be based on the Lotus Type 133, meaning the new model will have four doors and arrive next year, in 2023. It is also said to be a driver-focused model with all-wheel drive and 592 CV of power.

The Lotus Eterne was one of six concepts the brand showed at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, although its launch date was 2015. The concept could have been prepared to duel with the Aston Martin Rapide, which had a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 engine.

A few days ago, we got to see the SUV called Eletre, and the brand may change its focus to prepare its second electric vehicle built in China. Lotus may launch the Lotus Type 133 in 2023.

Everything we know about the Lotus Type 133

The new Lotus Type 133 will follow the brand’s line and have a name starting with the letter “E”. As announced, Lotus intends to provide a direct rival to the Porsche Taycan. At the time, the company’s bosses already confirmed that one of the main benchmarks, despite the differences between the two models, was the Taycan.

Gavan Kershaw, Lotus’s director of product attributes and integrity, has said that the dynamic development of the Eletre was “really benchmarking the platform” rather than the car itself, with a view to implementing it in the Type 133 and a future SUV, the Type 134.

Kershaw also referred to suspension technologies: “active roll control, CDC [continuous damping control], independent active rear steering with air suspension and active aerodynamics”, which he said most obviously set the aluminium Premium Electric Architecture apart as the most dynamically oriented platform in the Geely Group. He added that they have been “packaged protected” for “everything we want to do” with future electric cars, which suggests the Type 133 will do the same with a similar setup.

“Our type of car, which we want to drive as well as it looks, requires all that technology,” he added, hinting that the “lifestyle” positioning of the electric vehicles built by Lotus Technology in Wuhan, China, will not come at the expense of driver engagement. Details of the new model have not been revealed, but it uses two electric motors that will allow it to deliver more than 550 CV of power.

These specifications could put the Porsche Taycan GTS on the ropes. Indeed, Lotus’s managing director, Matt Windle, has confirmed that the power figure is “where we are starting, there is more to come”. Lotus’s senior vice president of design, Peter Horbury, wanted to stress that while “there has to be some continuity and family identity” across the entire Lotus EV range, “families are not made up entirely of triplets or quadruplets. Each family member can have its own character”.

So the Type 133 can be expected to borrow cues from the Eletre but adopt a different overall design, although it is still strongly influenced by Lotus’s focus on aerodynamic efficiency. Windle has confirmed that “you can have a Lotus for every stage of your life. That is something that wasn’t there before, and we hope people buy into the brand and understand what we are trying to do”.