It's raining in Norway. Not a gentle patter, either, more a deluge wrapped in a downpour, the sweet smell of petrichor swamped by the sheer volume of water hosing out of the sky. The forest holds a gloomy edge, sweating myth and looking like a thousand dark bedtime stories, suspicious, soggy huddles of spruce and alder plotting with the Norwegian pines. And yet the roads are good. Incredible, even. Two lanes of scarred tarmac that shift and loop through the landscape following the contours of the lakes, rising and falling like a breath. Apart from the disconcerting drag of the pools of standing water, driving doesn't get much better than this - a Lotus doing what it was born to do - attack an interesting, twisty road with vim, engaging and fun.
Except that this isn't your usual Lotus. It's 2.5 tonnes of electric SUV wearing a Lotus badge, potentially a sheep in wolf's clothing, big and yellow enough to look like someone chipped off a shard of sun and plonked it down on a road somewhere outside Oslo. Recalibration is needed. This is the Lotus Eletre. It is not what we're used to.
Of course, according to the court of public opinion, the Lotus Eletre should not exist. Mainly because it's not a sports car. Worse than that, it's an SUV, is electric and tech heavy, and produced in Wuhan, China instead of in the UK in Hethel, Norfolk. It is therefore, according to some sections of the intellectual bin fire that is social media, the antichrist with 22-inch wheels.
This story is from the August 2023 edition of BBC TopGear India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 2023 edition of BBC TopGear India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Next Great Family MPV?
“Whoa, that’s a nice-looking Minivan!” Said no one ever.
MG COMET
A LOT OF PEOPLE HAD THOUGHT THIS CAR TO BE COMPLETELY useless when it came out.
BMW i7
WHEN THE i7 PULLED INTO MY GARAGE AND PARKED ITSELF next to the Mercedes EQA and the MG Comet, it just struck me that this is how the future will be.
SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
McLaren's finest faces off Corvette's nat-asp swansong as the Brits and the Americans square up... in a Spanish playground. Expect fireworks
NEXT LEVEL
Thought the 750S was fast? The McLaren P1's successor - the W1 is ready to spread its wings
MANUAL LABOUR
Two cars from opposite ends of the performance spectrum with one crucial thing in common...
PRO VS SLOW
At last, we have our hands on the Valkyrie. But is its performance only accessible for the pros... or can anyone enjoy it?
THE OUTBURST OF OFFROADING
The high-volume market is a point of interest for all manufacturers here in India.
THE BATTLE OF CRUISER-COMMUTERS
WHO DOES THE BEST COMMUTER WORK WHILE NOT BEING A TRUE COMMUTER MOTORCYCLE?
LEAVING EVERYTHING ON THE TRACK
FT. YMRP ROUND 3 From being second, I DNF'd from the race on the last corner