Lotus has announced that its hyper electric SUV, ‘Eletra’, and hyper electric GT, ‘Emeya’, have won the prestigious Red Dot Design Award in the product design category on the 1st of the month.
The Red Dot Design Award is considered one of the world’s three major design awards, alongside Germany’s ‘iF Design Award’ and the American ‘IDEA Design Award’. Each year, design experts conduct rigorous evaluations to select award-winning works across various categories, including product design, brand & communication design, and design concepts.
Eletra and Emeya were highly praised by a panel of 39 design experts for reflecting Lotus’s rich 76-year tradition in the design and engineering of British sports cars. These two models represent a new type of pure electric vehicle that combines Lotus’s dynamic performance with world-class refinement, technology, and comfort.
Eletra caters to a new customer base that requires a family vehicle while applying hypercar design concepts and robust aerodynamic performance. Its styling, blending elements of sports cars and SUVs, along with a digitally integrated driving experience, is deemed attractive enough to catch the attention of the new generation of customers.
Emeya, on the other hand, is a GT model that reinterprets the aesthetic of Lotus’s unique mid-engined design into an electric sedan. Its exterior features innovative aerodynamic elements such as an active front grille, rear diffuser, and rear spoiler, all designed to enhance driving stability through a low center of gravity known as ‘Hyperstance’. Combined with an electronically controlled air suspension system, it provides passengers with a smooth ride.
Additionally, Lotus’s latest electric bicycle, the Type 136 E-Road bike, has also received a Red Dot Award 2024. The Type 136 is based on excellent design and engineering derived from Lotus’s more than 30 years of successful cycle racing experience on roads and tracks. To reduce air resistance, the handlebars are V-shaped and the fork is designed in a wing shape. Despite the addition of a motor and battery, the use of a carbon fiber frame and advanced components keeps the total weight at just 9.8 kg.
This isn’t the first time Lotus has received design awards. The infotainment system ‘HyperOS’, which is common to both Eletra and Emeya, won the iF Design Award 2023 last year. HyperOS embodies Lotus’s philosophy of showcasing a car for drivers, optimizing the user experience through digitalization.
Ben Payn, Lotus Group Vice President of Design, stated, “Eletra and Emeya embody our core design values of pure ‘emotion,’ ‘performance,’ and ‘refinement’ while representing a new form of electric vehicles. Winning this Red Dot Award not only recognizes us globally for outstanding product design but is also a significant honor for the creative spirit of the Lotus design team.”
Meanwhile, the Kolon Mobility Group, which established Lotus Cars Korea under an official partnership contract last May, is the only Lotus official importer in Korea and conducts sole distribution. Furthermore, leveraging its long history and know-how in premium automotive distribution, Kolon Mobility Group is leading a comprehensive mobility business through structural reorganization and expansion, launching a new mobility service brand ‘702’.
Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr