Lotus teases four new electric cars

Lotus has kicked off a spending frenzy that begins with the construction of a new factory in Wuhan, China, and ends with the introduction of an all-new family of pure-electric vehicles.

In total, the new plant is claimed to soak up around £900 million ($A1.7bn) of parent Geely's cash.

The new factory will build Lotus' first-ever SUV that's being developed under the 'Type 132' codename, and will also become home for the British sports car brand's new Lotus Technology division whose job is to exclusively develop EVs.

Following on from the first SUV, Lotus says it will launch its Type 133 – a fast four-door coupe due in 2023 that's likely to battle it out with the Porsche Taycan.

Next up is a larger flagship SUV, known for now as the Type 134, which will go head-to-head with the Porsche Cayenne and Bentley Bentayga.

Finally, in 2026 the eagerly-anticipated sports car collaboration with Alpine will make its debut. Instead of being assembled in China, the Norfolk-based brand says it will be built on home turf at its Hethel plant.

As well as benefiting from Geely's investment, Lotus has also sought a strategic alliance with Chinese EV brand NIO.

NIO chief executive Li Bin is believed to have invested heavily into Lotus Technology as part of plans to co-develop yet more model line-ups with the small British car-maker.

Once open later this year, the new Lotus Wuhan factory will cover around one million square metres and be capable of manufacturing 150,000 vehicles per year – 15 times more that the Hethel plant.

This suggests Lotus could build cars for other brands.

Lotus claims it has also integrated an "intelligent test track" within the plant to assess vehicles, without human intervention, at speeds of up to 225km/h. And not just in a straight line either, with the British car-maker saying its in-house circuit will feature as many as 16 corners.

Back in the UK, Lotus has already revealed that both the current pure-electric Lotus Evija hypercar and the recently revealed Lotus Emira sports car will be built at the Hethel factory.

All of the new Lotus EVs, meanwhile, will be based on the car-maker's new Premium architecture that was detailed earlier this year.

Said to underpin vehicles with wheelbases ranging from 2889mm to 3100mm, Lotus says it can build everything from a Volkswagen Golf or T-Roc-sized vehicle right up to a full-size luxury limo on the versatile new architecture.

The new platform will also package batteries ranging from 92-120kWh in size, while an all-new electrical architecture will accommodate charging up to 800 volts, enabling the next-gen Lotus models to use advanced high-speed charging infrastructure.

There's no word on how powerful the new models will be, but Lotus says whatever the shape, it will be capable of a 0-100km/h time of less than 3.0 seconds.

It's already been reported that the inaugural Type 132 SUV will be offered in 450kW and 560kW guise, with both models all-wheel drive.

The battery-powered SUV is also expected to be able to travel up to 500km between charges.