Eletre R

There is one luxury on the Costa Smeralda worth more than horsepower: silence. Slipping out of a villa above the Pevero at dawn without waking a soul, gliding between the junipers towards the Marina with nothing but the sound of tyres on granite — the Eletre R turns every transfer into a discreet gesture. For anyone staying between Porto Cervo and the coves of Gallura, it is a new way to move without announcing yourself.

Sardinian distances work in its favour, too: the daily run between beaches, restaurants and moorings sits comfortably within the reach of the 112 kWh battery, and the car recovers its energy while you dine or sleep. We covered it in our guide to luxury SUVs to rent on the island: very few combine stage presence and zero emissions with this much authority.

The first full press of the accelerator rewrites your expectations: 918 hp delivered instantly, no revs to wait for, 0-100 km/h dispatched in 2.95 seconds while the cabin remains wrapped in an almost unreal calm. It is an acceleration you feel in your sternum rather than your ears, the all-wheel drive putting every last unit of torque to the ground even on the undulating asphalt of Gallura's back roads.

The 2-speed transmission — a genuine rarity in the electric world — keeps the thrust alive all the way to a claimed 265 km/h, while air suspension and active aerodynamics marshal the mass with a composure no SUV has any right to. The steering, tuned by the people who have been building chassis at Hethel for seventy years, remains the most Lotus trait of all: direct, faithful, never synthetic.

The letter R marks out the most powerful Eletre: dual motors, active torque vectoring and a performance-led set-up finished with carbon-fibre detailing. Inside there are five real seats and a cabin that makes much of the competition look dated — pared-back screens, exquisite materials, controls reduced to the essential.

It is the choice for anyone who wants to stand apart on the most watched stretch of coastline in Italy without raising their voice. Petrol-powered alternatives live in our selection of high-performance SUVs for rent in Sardinia, while the rest of the Hethel range has its own page under Lotus rental. For your dates, check availability with our WhatsApp concierge.