Lotus Emeya News

Let’s get a couple of things out of the way here.First, we know electric cars are fast, Tesla fans haven’t stopped talking about this since the mid-2010s and there have been countless videos with evidence of the Model S leaving supercharged V8s in the dust at drag strips.Even ‘slow’ EVs feel quick due to their instant application of torque from stand-still. An electric car with a 0-100km/h time of 6 seconds can feel fast because of it.And since I’ve mentioned 0-100km/h, that’s the method we’ll be using to rank which of the electric cars available in Australia is fastest - not their top speed, given you’ll almost never be able to do anything with that.Finally, we are talking about production cars currently available through manufacturers in Australia, so hypercars like the YangWang U9 or anything Rimac is cooking up are off the list.Some of you will be happy to know this means you’re not seeing a photo of the Ferrari Luce here.Conveniently, this means we have five electric cars with a claimed 0-100km/h acceleration figure in under three seconds. Porsche’s frontiering Taycan might soon be on the chopping block according to rumours of an incoming VW model cull, but for now you can still get to 100km/h in a couple of smidgeons over two seconds. That’s if you have almost $300K to spare, given you’ll probably tick one or two boxes on the options list over its $419,000 before on-roads asking price.The Taycan draws power from a 93kWh battery, making 815kW and 1340Nm for all four of its wheels, and even without the Weissach pack removing some weight it’ll manage the run to the tonne in 2.3 seconds.Only second on this list because of alphabetisation, the top-spec Audi e-tron (the Audi RS e-tron GT Performance to give it the proper name) hits 100km/h in a claimed 2.5 seconds, on par with another Porsche.You won’t be surprised to know the e-tron shares a platform with the Taycan, though its most powerful version isn’t quite as vicious - 680kW and 1027Nm draw from a larger 105kWh battery, and it’s not quite as pricey either. A relative bargain at  $309,900 before on-roads, in fact.Tied for second place is this absolute unit, two-and-a-half tonnes of Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen (built in Bratislava, Slovakia, though) capable of hitting 100km/h in 2.5sec thanks to some frankly silly numbers.Its 850kW and 1500Nm outputs are available from even less than the two cars preceding it on this list, $272,100 before on-roads, and the 113kWh battery means the family SUV can travel up to 623km on a single charge, Porsche says.An oil-cooled rear motor, active aero, a drag coefficient of 0.25 and even the ability to tow 3500kg make the Cayenne Turbo a one-of-a-kind family car.England’s Lotus has ruffled feathers by ‘going electric’, likely something that would indeed upset founder Colin Chapman, but staying relevant in the 2020s probably required moving on from popping superchargers on Toyota engines and using them to power (extremely dynamic) cars about the size of shopping trolleys.Lotus claims the top-spec version of the Emeya, a $259,990 four-door grand-tourer with 675kW and 985Nm up its sleeve, can hit 100km/h in a very specific 2.75 seconds. It does weigh around 2.5 tonnes, so imagine how quick it would be if you took the classic quote often attributed to Chapman “simplify and add lightness” to the Emeya.Apologies to anyone hoping for variety in this list - we’ve got three Volkswagen Group cars and two Lotuses with essentially the same specifications.The Lotus Eletre R is two tenths slower to 100km/h according to the manufacturer, but the SUV uses the same 675kW/985Nm dual-motor drivetrain and 112kWh battery, it’s just a little heavier thanks to its SUV shape.It’s also a little more expensive, asking $20,000 more at $279,990 before on-roads.

In a world of monstrously big SUVs and terrifyingly giant utes, there still exists the super large saloons for those who prefer to maintain a powerful presence with class and sophistication. We're talking limos - not the party kind - we mean the luxurious transport for business executives or those who prefer to be driven rather than drive.We've put together the top 5 largest cars currently sold in AustraliaLength: 5139mm Width: 2241mm Height: 1464mmA Lotus was not on my list of possible big-car candidates, but here we are with the fully electric 5139mm long Emeya four-door lift back. The Emeya is the first of its kind from a brand that forged its iconic reputation by building tiny sportscars in a shed. Things have changed and Lotus is now owned by Chinese manufacturer Geely, and the Emeya is built in China. While not the longest car here, the Emeya is actually the widest with its wing mirrors out. Despite its enormous exterior dimensions the Emeya isn’t particularly voluminous on the inside, but there are four seats and a 509-litre boot. Dual motors make 450kW and 710Nm, 0-100km/h in 4.1 seconds. The starting price is $190K.Length: 5139mm Width: 1900mm Height: 1450mmSecretly loving that a Toyota, sorry Lexus, quietly slipped into this top 5 elite party. At 5235mm end-to-end the LS isn’t small, and nor is it short on luxury.Lexus positions itself as a Benz or BMW on a budget, but with a starting price of $200,000 the LS isn’t all that cheap. The value is outstanding, however, compared to the others here, and while rolling up in a Lexus to meet business executives at the airport doesn’t have the same impact as a BMW 7 Series, but as a car girl, I honestly think the LS is more opulent.Powered by a V6 hybrid the LS is without a doubt the most reliable and cheapest to maintain limo here.Length: 5391mm Width: 1950mm Height: 1544mmBMW’s 7 Series is seriously imposing, a cliff face on wheels, with its gigantic grille and its sheer vertical drop, but it’s not just all front - this beast is 5.39m end to end. As a reference the Australian design rules state a car park space must be 5.4m long and 2.4m wide. So it’ll fit… just.   Updated for 2026/27 with BMW’s next-gen Neue Klasse design the 7 Series looks even more menacing and futuristic, while the interior is sporty and hi-tech with screens everywhere. As for powertrains you can burn fossil fuel with a 3.0-litre inline 294kW/580Nm six-cylinder engine on offer but the electric i7’s enormously powerful and torquey motors (making up to 400kW and 745Nm) and seamlessly brutal ability to get out of its own way suits the big BMW limo better.  The 7 Series starts at a list price of $272,900.Length: 5469mm  Width: 2109mm  Height: 1510mmThe Mercedes-Maybach S-Class is a super luxury version of the S-Class and it’s even longer than one too. A regular S-Class long wheelbase is 5289mm end to end while the Maybach version stretched 180mm at 5469mm in length.While more or less the same car as the S-Class the Maybach offers more legroom, more decadence and more engine - with a V12 offered on the higher grades.The Maybach is also more expensive - almost double the price of an S-Class LWB at about $630,000Length: 5982mm, width: 2154mm Height: 1656mmOf course the biggest car sold in Australia is a Rolls-Royce and it’s not just the Phantom Extended, it’s also the Ghost Extended at 5715mm and the Spectre Series II at 5453mm. But if we had included them, then the top 5 biggest cars would have all been Rollers.So we’ve gone for the largest Rolls-Royce car, the Phantom Extended, which at 5982mm is more a train than a car and 220mm longer than the standard wheelbase Phantom.While there are only four seats in a Phantom Extended they are the size of lounge chairs in a sumptuous hotel lobby and legroom is, well you can literally lie down back there because the seats become beds.In Australia the Phantom Extended starts at more than $1.1m but as with most Rolls-Royce’s the customers will want to personalise it with bespoke touches taking the final price much higher. 

Many so-called “all-new” models aren’t all that new. In fact, a sizeable chunk are reskinned versions of what came before, with fresh sheetmetal over the same general hard points.

Lotus has announced it will adopt hybrid technology as the brand joins a growing list of automakers in watering down its plans to go fully electric.