The Lotus Esprit is finally back, and once it’s launched in Spring 2013 it will put Lotus firmly back in the road-going supercar world. That means Lotus has got about 2 years to develop this car, and their engine partnership with Toyota should be able to give them a little head start as engine development does not have to be from scratch.
The preliminary specs (more of a product planning target) aims to give the Esprit a massive 620 PS and 720Nm of power to lug around 1,450kg of weight up to 100km/h in 3.4 seconds. Lotus will most likely take a big Toyota V8 and supercharge it to be able to reach its intended performance goals. The V8 is supposed to be mounted
V8s generally sound very good, and Lotus quotes a redline of 8,500rpm in its specs sheet so its going to be a screaming high revving unit. The final piece of equation is the kind of intake sounds that forced induction makes. Should be very fun to trash around indeed just for the aural soundtrack.
In the intro video where key Lotus personnel introduce the Esprit, it’s interesting to note that the old Esprit’s product placement in James Bond movies was mentioned. Perhaps we could see this new Esprit in a future Bond movie?
Look after the jump for a video, press images as well as live images of the new Lotus Esprit concept car.
GALLERY: Lotus Esprit live at Paris 2010
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GALLERY: Lotus Esprit
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welcome back Lotus Espirit…one of my childhood dream car…
theres something 458-ish about it from the side, the lines, the doors and windows
Looks more like they nicked some styling cues off the Reventon
2013? Too late. By 2012 we all will be dead….
Bravo!!! love it
1st look like McLaren.
How I wish Lotus go the Pagani/Spyker/Koniegsegg way with their radical out of this world design. But seeing this new Esprit Concept, I would say Lotus did a great job of trying to position themselves as a rival for Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin.
This would be the ultimate The Stig supercar.
Damn you Ben Collins!
they need sales.. just compare the sales figure for those 3 radical supercar makers with ferrari & lamborghini.
nice & clean lines.. well done lotus!
Very nice design language. And only 9 months to come up with 5 models. Thumbs up for Mr Bahar & his team.
Hey, why not make some of these Lotus affordable in Malaysia? Really nice to see the Esprit again. It is true that auto magazines in the 80’s and early 90’s often compare the Esprit to the Porsche and Ferrari.
Because they are made in Britain and it’s not exactly “affordable” in the UK too.
I like this design!!!Cool!
the espirit looks lamborghinish
if u guys look properly, if we compact this car, it will look like the Lotus City Car a.k.a EMAS rebadge
actually the rear part looks like the bmw’s vision ed concept.
i thk this model lotus is want to challenge Lamborghini Gallado LP560-4
Thumb up Lotus! Look at the clip – “Faster than sound”
Lovely car.
Plz let it be in a Bond Movie….the Current DB9 looks old and uncool….
I’m so impress with Lotus new concept design….hope to see it turn up into reality…but i can see the interior has Proton built quality ……
Lotus said they’ll be using more aluminium for the BIW, hence there’ll be less work with bonded-al and CFRP body, as to reduce cost.
However, Lambo has came out with their Six Element concept, which they said their ‘forged graphite’ is 1/3 of current CRFP. Its a sub-1 tonne car with superbike pace!
As all Lotus show cars are still concept, so maybe there’s time for Lotus to rethink because as per their quotes, only Elise is still sub 1 tonne car.
It´s too much high. 1.25 meters! (The ESPRIT original: only 1.15 m). In videos looks pretty becouse the picture is flattened; but this car is like bubble in fotos. What a pity!