British Lotus’ first SUV to be “made-in-China” at Geely’s Wuhan plant

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Lotus Cars, a majority-owned supercar brand of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, is going to see its first SUV model, the Lambda, put into mass production in Wuhan, capital of China's Hubei province, according to a local media outlet, citing a document from Department of Ecology Environment of Hubei Province.

(Photo source: Zhejiang Geely Holding Group)

The new SUV will come with three powertrain solutions—the oil-fueled, the hybrid and the pure electric—for consumers with different needs. Of those, the all-electric one will be the first product manufactured at Geely's Wuhan plant.

The Wuhan production of the Lambda is expected for launch in 2020. The annual capacity is forecasted to be 20,000 units.

With a similar size to that of the BMW X5, the Lambda measures 4,900 long, 2,017 wide and 1,625mm tall, and has a wheelbase spanning 2,999mm. It will vie with such models as the BMW X5 (including the iX5), the Mercedes-Benz GLE, the Porsche Cayenne and the Tesla Model X.

Built on Volvo's SPA (scalable product architecture) platform, the Lambda will offer two options of seat configurations—one four-seat and one five-seat layout.

The fuel-burning version is likely to carry Volvo's 2.0-liter engine. As for the BEV version, two electric motors can continuously drive both axles with a system output of 550kW and 710/1140 N·m and the NEDC-rated range reach up to 579km, according to the governmental file.

Following the Lambda, Lotus Cars will start producing the China-made Sigma and Alpha BEVs in 2023 and 2024 respectively, according to a local report.