Geely-owned Lotus has introduced a plug-in hybrid variant of its Eletre SUV in China, rebranded as the Lotus For Me, breaking the naming tradition the company has maintained since the 1956 Lotus Eleven sports car.
Set to launch in China in the first quarter of 2026, the Lotus For Me marks the first of three hybrid models the brand plans to roll out over the next three years.
Based on the battery-electric Eletre SUV, the For Me replaces the EV setup with a 2.0‑liter turbocharged four‑cylinder petrol engine, dual electric motors, and a 70kWh CATL battery—unusually large for a plug‑in hybrid.
Delivering a combined 710kW and all-wheel drive, the For Me accelerates from 0–100km/h in 3.3 seconds and offers 420km of electric range under the lenient CLTC test cycle.
In contrast, the range-topping electric Eletre delivers 675kW to all four wheels, sprints from 0–100km/h in a claimed 2.95 seconds, and provides 400km of WLTP range from its larger 107kWh battery.
The For Me could offer quicker charging than the Eletre, as it uses the Electric Premium Architecture also found in the Lotus Emeya electric liftback. With a 900V system rather than Eletre’s 800V setup, the For Me can recharge to 80% in just over eight minutes.
With the shift from BEV to PHEV, the SUV abandons Lotus’s long‑standing practice of naming models with an initial ‘e’—a convention established in 1956 with the Lotus Eleven, when founder Colin Chapman sought to move away from Roman numerals.
Lotus has equipped the For Me with adaptive dampers and active anti-roll bars, along with Pirelli P Zero tires and high-performance six-piston Brembo brakes on the top-spec variant, which also features an active rear spoiler.
The debut of the hybrid comes as Lotus seeks to recover from steep sales declines and financial losses following its recent push into electric vehicles.
Lotus has yet to reveal pricing for the For Me and has not announced plans to launch the PHEV beyond the Chinese market.
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