In the past, the British carmaker, Lotus, was known for its ultra-lightweight and simple sports cars like the Elan, Elise, Exige, and later the Evora, which were axed. While the Lotus Emira still upholds the brand’s old philosophy, Lotus is forced to move with the times. This means electricity, and after Lotus’ first EV hypercar, the Evija, and its first SUV – the all-electric Eltere – the brand is introducing its first EV sedan. It’s called the Type 133, and it promises to be the most luxurious model Lotus has ever made.

While the current SUV craze makes the Lotus Eltere a necessary evil for Lotus to prosper in the future, similar to what the Porsche Cayenne was 20 years ago, Type 133 is an even sharper deviation of what old Lotus cars stood for. That said, the design of the elegant, all-electric sedan from Lotus was revealed ahead of its scheduled release in 2023, and it looks both innovative and familiar. We won’t specify which parts of the EV sedan remind us of other models. We leave that to you. But we will say that this is Lotus’ first sedan, made completely in-house and not based on another car like the 1992 Lotus Carlton, dubbed the ultimate sleeper in its day.

Since 2017, Chinese automaker Geely owns 51 percent of Lotus. Naturally, this opens opportunities for sharing components. The Swedish company Polestar is also owned by Geely, which explains why the Lotus Type 133 is so similar, in its concept, to the Polestar 5, which is scheduled to debut in 2024. With that said, Lotus managing director, Matt Windle stated, in front of Autocar that Type 133 will not benefit from the Polestar 5’s development. While it may be a missed opportunity, Windle expressed the importance of remaining as individual as possible.

"With Lotus being a smaller company, and with us growing up, it makes sense to take technologies from our sister companies. For a small company, that really helps. But it works the opposite way as well: our sister companies and Geely come to Lotus for powertrain development, EDU development, ride and handling development - it's a really flexible, organic organization. "We're stronger as a group, but we're individual enough in that group that you don't all become morphed together. It's a fine balancing act and I think they do it very well."

With that said, we still don’t know what powertrain the Type 133 will come with. It may share the Eltere’s dual-motor 600-horsepower (441 kilowatts) setup or the Polestar 5’s dual-electric motor setup good for 884-horsepower (650 kilowatts) and 663 pound-feet (900 Nm). There’s also said to be a variant of the Eletre that will have around 900 horsepower, although it is unknown whether it will be the Polestar 5’s electric powertrain that provides the power or not. Whatever the case, the same setup may also be found in Type 133 when it makes its official debut.