Enlarge / Lotus followed up the Eletre S with a far more powerful Eletre R. Lotus purists might not like how much mass it carries around. (credit: Seyth Miersma)

The Lotus Eletre R is an electric SUV with 900 hp (671 kW), a curb weight of approximately 5,820 lbs (2,640 kg), and a six-figure sticker price. If you’re a longstanding fan of the British brand—look around, is there a small model of a race car within sight or Colin Chapman biography on your bookshelf?—that opening sentence likely causes some distress. If you are like most Americans, however, a mention of "Lotus" is just as likely to conjure up thoughts of gardening as grands prix.

Therein lies the puzzle for a company that is in phase one of a total reinvention. Lotus cars have never sold particularly well, but for seven decades now if you bought one you knew what you were getting: a minimalist sports car with a focus on extreme weight savings. Folks, the Eletre R ain't that.

I think it's more important to ask if this Lotus is any good, rather than arguing about whether or not it's a "real Lotus." The EV revolution may be underway in earnest, but it's not as though we're awash in quasi-exotic electric SUVs with outrageous power outputs and challenging design language. Brand aside, what does this car compete with, and does it have a chance to win?

Enlarge / This is a prototype of the new Kia EV9 electric SUV, which goes on sale in the last quarter of 2023. (credit: Kia)

Kia has announced pricing for its next electric vehicle as it gets closer to release toward the end of this year. It's the EV9 , a three-row SUV that uses the company's E-GMP architecture, also used to good effect in smaller EVs like the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 . When the EV9 arrives in showrooms, the range will start at $54,900 (plus destination charge).

"We knew we had to get the EV9 pricing right, and we believe today's announcement will be a wake-up call to the industry," said Kia America's COO, Steve Center.

"A well-equipped three-row SUV EV doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive. It should offer the perfect balance of standard features, the ability to fast charge, and be equipped with the technology savvy EV buyers are looking for. The EV9 provides all of this, and we can’t wait for it to go on sale later this year," he said.

Enlarge / If luxury means having stuff that makes your life easier or more pleasant but which isn't absolutely necessary, then the Genesis Electrified GV70 is very much a luxury car. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

Among the definitions of " luxury " are descriptions such as "great comfort," and something that adds pleasure of comfort that isn't absolutely necessary. Those seem like perfect descriptions of the Genesis Electrified GV70, a handsome electric vehicle that maintains the Korean brand's seemingly perfect hitting streak.

That may come as a surprise to some, because some electric vehicle purists have a tendency to look down on EVs like the Electrified GV70. That's because it uses a platform that was designed to be powertrain-agnostic, rather than riding on a bespoke EV architecture. Genesis has access to one of those—one of the best in the industry in fact, called E-GMP. It underpins the quirky-looking GV60 crossover , as well as some very good EVs from Hyundai (which owns the Genesis brand), but not the GV70.

That hardline take might feel intellectually rigorous, but it's misguided. Both BMW and the Korean OEMs have developed rather fine platforms that can be used to build pure EVs or cars with combustion engines, and I'll go as far as to say the Kia Niro EV , BMW i4 , BMW i7 , and Genesis G80 are each better than their hybrid or gas-burning variants, albeit more expensive.

Enlarge / This is Acura's first battery-electric vehicle, the new ZDX. (credit: Acura)

Today in California, Acura took the wraps off its first electric vehicle. It's called the ZDX, and it's the product of a partnership between Honda (which owns Acura) and General Motors, using the latter company's new battery platform and battery EV architecture. Acura says the first customer deliveries should begin in early 2024, with single-motor versions priced at around $60,000.

"The arrival of the new ZDX is an exciting moment for the Acura brand," said Assistant Vice President of Acura National Sales Emile Korkor. "It signals our transition to a zero-emissions future and demonstrates our commitment to precision crafted performance in the electrified era."

Honda is still at work developing an in-house EV architecture it can use for North American vehicles, but it has also partnered with GM to create a range of other EVs for this market. The ZDX and the related Honda Prologue, which we got a preview of last year , are the first two, but in the coming years, we also expect to see some smaller, affordable EVs as a result of the collaboration.

Enlarge / Toyota took better photos of the bZ4x than I did, so I'm using theirs in this review. (credit: Toyota)

A few weeks ago, we reviewed Lexus' new battery-electric vehicle and came away underwhelmed. Today, it's the turn of its Toyota cousin, the closely related (and unfortunately named) bZ4x. The electric Toyota had a troubled launch last year when the cars had to be recalled due to wheels that might fall off . That's all solved now thanks to new bolts, washers, and wheels, so we finally spent a week with the bZ4x. Given this EV's initial reception, I was prepared to be disappointed, but by the end of the week, I was pleasantly surprised. The Toyota isn't particularly flashy, but it is more efficient than I was expecting.

Let's start with the name, because it's a little weird. But there's a reason behind the alphanumeric jumble. Toyota's plan to reach carbon neutrality is called Beyond Zero, so the EVs it's building to get there adopt the bZ moniker, thus bZ4x. You may want to call it Bizzyforks as at least one friend of mine does—no one will stop you if you do.

Like the Lexus and the Subaru Solterra, the bZ4x uses Toyota's e-TNGA platform; I mistakenly wrote in that Lexus review that it was an existing platform—it's actually not. It's roughly the same size as the Lexus, too—the wheelbase is an identical 112.2 inches (2,850 mm), but it's a bit shorter (184.6 inches/4,689 mm), a bit narrower (73.2 inches/1,859 mm) and slightly taller (65 inches/1,651 mm).

Enlarge / A new grille and wheels are the key giveaway that this is an AMG EQE SUV. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

Mercedes-Benz provided a flight from DC to San Diego and a return from Los Angeles, plus four nights in hotels so we could drive the AMG EQE SUV as well as see the Vision One-Eleven and drive the AMG S-Class . Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

A few months ago, we tested out Mercedes-Benz's EQE SUV , the German automaker's newest midsize electric vehicle. It was a solid performer—not exactly exciting but comfortable and equipped with one of the industry's best infotainment systems. Now it has been given the AMG treatment, worked over by Mercedes' in-house tuning division. There are some subtle styling tweaks, suspension upgrades, and new AMG-specific electric motors that increase power to 677 hp (505 kW). But has the makeover from Affalterbach managed to infuse more excitement into the EQE SUV recipe?

You can tell you're looking at the Mercedes-AMG EQE SUV and not the regular Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV in a couple of different ways. The black panel at the front is new, with chromed vertical strakes that call to mind the radiator grilles on air-breathing AMGs. The front bumper is sportier, and gloss black accents are used in place of chrome, as well as on the aerodynamic bits like the various air vents and diffusers.

There's an AMG badge on the hood in place of the usual three-pointed star, and the highlight of the AMG treatment, to me at least, was the black 21-inch AMG alloy wheels, which come wrapped in EV-specific Michelin Pilot Sport tires. But overall, the tweaks are subtle and unlikely to be noticed by a casual observer.

Enlarge / And then there were four: after debuting the EQS sedan and SUV and then the EQE sedan, it's now time for the EQE SUV. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

Mercedes-Benz provided flights from DC to Lisbon and back, plus three nights in hotels so we could drive the EQE SUV. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

LISBON, PORTUGAL—On the whole, Americans love SUVs. And Mercedes-Benz loves selling cars to Americans. So we weren't at all surprised when it first revealed an SUV version of the EQE sedan, nor when we learned the EQE SUV would be built in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

That's now underway, with cars arriving in dealers any week now. After spending a couple of days driving different models in the EQE SUV range, it's clear that Mercedes' engineers have been listening to and incorporating feedback as their ideas meet real-world driving conditions. The result is a competent electric SUV, if not one that necessarily gets the heart racing or demands you drive the long way home.

The EQE SUV is the fourth new Mercedes EV to use the company's EVA2 platform after the EQS sedan and SUV , and the EQE sedan . That much should be obvious when you see one—all feature ultra-streamlined designs that can resemble the "speed shapes" that some car showrooms use to show off different paint colors. That wasn't the design brief, though—making it as slippery as possible was. And the designers succeeded, with a drag coefficient of 0.25. In a contest of elegance, I'm not sure the SUV would triumph over the sedan, but then I'm not sure it's supposed to.

Enlarge / This is a prototype of the new Kia EV9 electric SUV, which goes on sale in the latter half of 2023. (credit: Kia)

Kia provided flights from DC to Seoul and back, plus two nights in a hotel, so we could meet the prototype EV9. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

SEOUL, KOREA—In 2021, Kia used that year's Los Angeles Auto Show to debut a new electric concept called the EV9. Today, Kia took the wraps off the production version, which goes on sale in the second half of this year. The production EV9 is definitely an evolution of the show car but with some of the concept's more outrageous design details toned down a bit.

It's a large three-row SUV that uses Kia and Hyundai's advanced new electric vehicle platform called E-GMP , which has already impressed us and many others in new EVs like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia's EV6 . Those two are smaller crossovers, but the EV9 is bringing that 800 V technology to a larger vehicle, one that should be well-suited to North American tastes.

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  The production EV9 has much less scalloped doors than the concept we saw in 2021. It's a little shorter than the Kia Telluride but with a much longer wheelbase. [credit: Kia ]

"The journey over the last couple of years to get to where we are now in terms of design could only happen when designers and brands work together, and this design philosophy— opposites united —is very much based on that idea of movement and richness through movement," explained Karim Habib, head of Kia Global Design. "It's about the juxtaposition of [a] man-made structure in nature and how that contrast actually can be very beautiful or even within nature itself."

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

Ah, the annual end-of-year roundup, when it's time to sit down and think about all the vehicles we tested in 2022. Comparing this year to years past, it's notable how many electric vehicles make the list. Partly that's because the industry released some pretty compelling new EVs this year, but it's also a reflection of our coverage priorities—in the past, you've told us loud and clear you aren't that interested in reading about new gasoline or diesel models. Read on to find out what impressed us most in 2022.

1. Kia EV6

Our winner is actually one of the first cars we tested this year, and it's the Kia EV6 . It uses a new 800 V EV architecture called E-GMP, shared with last year's winner, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 , that delivers impressive levels of efficiency for larger, heavier EVs while also boasting some of the best fast-charging in the industry—just 18 minutes from 10-80 percent on a 350 kW charger. Despite the shared roots, the Kia drives very differently compared to the angular Ioniq 5, with a sportier nature. And unlike the Hyundai, the EV6 is sold in all 50 states.

Sadly, Kia dropped the cheapest configuration from the roster this year—the $40,900 EV6 Light used a smaller battery and motor but only accounted for about 3 percent of customer orders, according to the company. Earlier this month, we got a chance to test the other end of the spectrum—the $61,400 EV6 GT, which is very fast but might just be overkill.