Lotus’s Taycan rival set for 2023 debut

The long-awaited Lotus Type 133 – a sleek luxury saloon to rival the Porsche Taycan – is on track to be unveiled this year, having started testing on public roads in production form.

Pictures published to Chinese social media platform Weibo show what Autocar understands to be an early development mule for the upcoming saloon. Its camouflage and cladding leave much to the imagination, but even at this stage it’s clear that the Type 133 will be a close relation to the brand’s larger Eletre SUV.

Lotus’s first saloon car since the legendary Carlton will be given a name beginning with ‘E’ when it reaches showrooms, Autocar understands, but this is unlikely to be ‘Envya’, as has been widely reported.

Lotus EV saloon (below) has been spotted testing