Lotus Eletre X review: electric SUV now gets… a hybrid version. Wait, what?

Is this Lotus engaging reverse gear?

The world's switch to electric power isn't going backwards. But it isn't accelerating forwards as quickly as people expected a couple of years ago. Especially not in the luxury end of things. Lotus has been badly caught out by the scarcity of demand for the Eletre and Emeya.

So it's adding this hybrid to the Eletre line-up in the hopes of soaking up buyers who are fearful of finding a charger.

It's not just Lotus in this pickle – Porsche has just said it'll build a giant petrol SUV in place of the electric Eletre competitor it was planning.

What sort of hybrid is it?

Good question. There are multiple hybrid systems out there. This one is very much electric biased. Mostly the Eletre X acts as a plug-in hybrid with a range extender engine/generator.

The pub stats are little short of astounding, even in this power-deluged era. Combined output of the petrol and electric systems is 952bhp, for a 3.3-second dash to 62mph. Which is as sprinty as a top-end Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT.

But unlike most PHEVs, the electric setup isn't just some feeble add-on. The battery is a substantial 70kWh slab. Real-world that'd likely get you 150 miles or so. And even with the petrol engine switched off, it's still a proper high-performance EV. It runs at 900 volts, meaning that hooked up to the latest chargers it can recoup from 20 to 80 per cent in nine minutes.

The engine is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo, mounted transversely in the nose. When it's running, it largely drives a 150kW generator. But it can also clutch into a single-speed transmission to drive the front wheels. That's the most efficient way of using petrol at cruising speeds. You've a 50-litre fuel tank, so it's going to have to be efficient – 50 litres wouldn't get a bulky conventional petrol SUV very far at all.

But mostly it's the electric motors, front and rear, that shove you along. And shove they do.

But it looks just like the electric Eletre…

There's more cooling grillage at the nose, and exhaust pipes at the back. The interior, except for some hybrid info on the screens, is just the same.

But beneath the waterline it's very very different. Lotus engineers call it a 'new Geely platform'. Beside the all-battery Eletre R it has different structures for front end and floor, plus new suspension parts. The other Geely car that uses versions of this platform and drivetrain is the Zeekr 9X, a boxy quasi Range Rover.

The Eletre X weighs 2.6 tonnes, about the same as an Eletre R. The engine and generator are added masses, but a portion of the battery and the R's two-speed rear gearbox are removed to compensate.

Lotus has done lots of its own homework on the new platform. The Eletre X has air suspension, a 48V anti-roll system, adaptive dampers and bespoke tyres. Even on Lotus's test track it has comportment. But I'm mostly here to test it on the road.

How was that?

I have a new yardstick for 'fast'. From about 20mph the road was clear, so I floored it. My phone flew clean out of the inductive charge tray and didn't just end up in the rear footwell carpet, but landed on the back seat cushion.

So sheer brute acceleration isn't in question. More interesting is how it's doled out. Does it come in waves, like a hard-worked 2.0 turbo engine and gearbox? Does it come with delayed twangy response and odd pauses like a conventional PHEV? Does it emit annoying outboard-motor sounds like a Toyota-style epicyclic hybrid?

None of the above. It's uncannily like an electric Eletre. Smooth, silent, instant, free of jerks or steps, proportional to your right-foot request. Simple as.

But how come? It's a hybrid not an EV.

Indeed. But basically it's a range-extended EV, not a petrol hybrid with a bit of battery range tacked on. It's got modes, of course, so you can to an extent encourage or disbar the petrol engine, depending on state of battery charge. If it's above 20 per cent, it's an EV until you floor it. Or until you hit the charge sustaining mode.

Then the engine does come on to generate some extra electric current, but so quietly you don't notice. There's no four-cylinder thrash. Not even when you're pasting. Listen out, and the revs will climb and fall. But tyre and wind rush (themselves pretty subdued) mostly drown it. And when it clutches to the wheels at steady revs it's when you're cruising, so again you don't notice.

What about this new chassis?

Disclosure – I was driving the Chinese version because it's being sold there first. Still, among all its modes the engineers had set up for me an 'individual' one where the damper rates pretty closely correspond with what Europe will get. I was also on 21-inch wheels, not the 23-inchers a British Eletre R gets.

Whatever. It works well. The suspension has no bother with rough and undulating roads. It sails along, composed as you like. Roll-rock on straights isn't an issue either, because the adaptive system keeps the anti-roll bars decoupled until they're needed. The ride is sporty but not hard. Most 'performance' SUVs shake and shudder more. Only sharp potholes give it a thump.

Then the Eletre peels neatly into a bend. There's no delay for roll, and it acts like it's lower to the road than it is. Clings on hard too. On the way out of a bend, if you mash out the full torque – and it comes instantly don't forget – it leans more on the back tyres than the front, which is very satisfying. You absolutely do feel the tyres' efforts. This is a bulky car that takes up a whole lot of B-road, but at least you can guide it very precisely. It also helps that it doesn't tramline on cambers.

The brake discs and calipers are huge, and the high-voltage system means the car will harvest back a lot of energy through regeneration, well-blended into the friction brakes. In normal road driving it's easy to feather them, and in harder use this 2.6 tonner stops convincingly.

On track I'm a bit of a chicken with my braking points so I always hit the pedal too early and too gently at the end of the Lotus track's straight. But hauling down from 130mph for a hairpin never seemed a problem even after several laps.

By the way, each of the steering column paddles has an up and a down action. So the left one controls regen and the right one the drive mode. No need to dive into the screen.

Big inside as well as out?

The cabin, like most of the exterior skin, is just as per the electric version. It's somewhat of a triumph – individually and handsomely designed, richly trimmed, highly specified.

The symmetry is attractive but I'd rather have less of it and a bigger binnacle with simulated round dials. And, as noted, it needs a bigger retaining lip around the phone charging tray.

It's roomy, yes, front and rear. For more details, see our full Eletre review.

By the way, if you really don't want to hear the four-cylinder engine, turn on the absolutely wonderful KEF hi-fi. That's 23 speakers and 2,160W, but you can't define car stereos by numbers. This one doesn't sound like a hi-fi, it sounds like music. Which is what you want.

So will it dig Eletre sales out of a hole?

People looking for the theatre of a Cayenne's petrol V8 won't be drawn in. Unless you're really paying attention, this drives just like the electric version.

If you're nervous of charging away from home, the Eletre X gives you options. But the fuel tank is relatively small so you're relying on hybrid efficiency to stretch its range. Fine in give-and-take driving, but hybrids don't have much efficiency advantage over non-electrified cars in the one circumstance when you really want long range: steady-speed motorway driving. So after a few hundred miles you'll have both a flat battery and an empty tank.

But people tend to look at theoretical range when they choose an EV or a hybrid. And the X, when it gets its WLTP rating (so far we have only the more lenient Chinese stats) will have more range than the R.

Mind you if it's the salvation the Eletre needs, why are they putting it on sale in China now but not in the UK until early next year?