Esprit [Spy Shots] 2022 Lotus Esprit successor


The Lotus Esprit is a sports car built by Lotus Cars from 1976 to 2004 at their Hethel, England factory. It has a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. Together with the Lotus Elise / Exige, it is one of Lotus' most long-lived models.

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Lotus Esprit successor spied for the first time

Lotus Esprit successor spied for the first time
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It should arrive early next year.
Lotus first hinted at an Esprit successor a decade ago at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. We waited and waited and then waited some more, but the car never materialised. The last decade saw ownership change, with the Lotus lineup never expanding as intended. But, 2020 is a new decade, and it looks like Lotus is finally following through with that plan. New spy photos show the Esprit successor is in the works, though that’s difficult to tell from the photos.

The photos show a Lotus Evora, though it’s been widened. The Esprit will use the same underpinnings, though they’ll be modified for the new, long-rumoured model. Much of what we know about the upcoming car comes from rumours and gossip with little “official” news. The car is supposed to arrive sometime in early 2021, which makes a late-2020 reveal possible, though it may not use the Esprit name. Lotus could pick something different.

When Lotus first teased the styling concept in 2010, it packed a Toyota-sourced 5.0-litre V8 engine. It was supposed to produce 500 bhp (373 kilowatts) in the base offering with the Esprit R pumping out 550 bhp (410 kW). But the powertrain landscape has changed significantly since then. New rumours suggest Lotus will still go to Toyota for the engine, but it’ll borrow the Japanese automaker’s 3.5-litre V6 instead and electrify it. The hybrid powertrain is still expected to produce around 500 bhp – more than the 400 bhp (298 kW) offered in the Evora 410.

Gallery: Lotus Esprit spy photos
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Rumours also suggest the Esprit – or whatever Lotus calls it – will be a mid-engine two-seater with a decent amount of storage space, making the car more usable than other Lotus offerings. It’ll also meet both North American and Chinese regulations, boosting appeal, and, hopefully, sales, too, borrowing design cues from the Evija electric hypercar. Expect to see a lot more the Esprit in the coming months as Lotus likely prepares to reveal the car sometime later this year or early next.

Source: CarPix
 
Looking forward to new Lotus (and Maserati). Should make things again a little more exciting.
 
RIP Elise and Exige. There never has or will be any cars like you.

:cry:

Future classics, I'm sure. Also, from an armchair perspective, I find them genuinely good looking cars (model dependent), which is unusual for me and this type of car.
 
Future classics, I'm sure. Also, from an armchair perspective, I find them genuinely good looking cars (model dependent), which is unusual for me and this type of car.
They are indeed future classics.

Manual
Light weight
Superb steering feel
Not mileage sensetive
Aren't abusive on tyres
Attainable on the used market

Eventhough their appeal is niche, they have alot going for them. Driving either is transformative and give you a unique perspective on cars.

The replacement won't me anything like them. However life must go on and I look forward to chapter of commercially more successful Lotus models.
 
not like many care about it. a good think new lotus is coming. elise exige are 20 years old.
Yes they are dated. Used they are great value but brand new, the Exige can appear overpriced against a Cayman/718 GT4.
 
I bet the Elise is the one that has mini Evija headlights. The one from the opposite side must be the Evora replacement since it looks more GT and bigger. The question is what is in the middle? Doesn't look like an Exige replacement...
 
Wish Lotus all the best, they produced some cracking cars in the past...
 
not like many care about it. a good think new lotus is coming. elise exige are 20 years old.
24-25 years old actually, the first Elise came in 1996 or 1997. I remember it weighted 590 kg and had 120 ps. Later it got heavier and more powerful.
 
Danny Bahar's vision for Lotus will be realised!

jalopnikbehar.jpg
Let's hope it's gonna end up anywhere close to being as spicy. The 2010 Esprit was supposed to have 620hp coming from a supercharged 5L V8, a DCT, and was supposed to compete directly with the 458 and the Gallardo. The 2010 Elan was planned to have 450hp, coming from a 4L supercharged V6. Both cars were quite heavy, though. The Esprit at 1495kg dry and the Elan at 1295kg dry. Even the 2010 Elise, planned with 300hp, 2L turborcharged I4 weighed 1095kg dry.

I think with these new upcoming cars we can forget about a V8 and probably will be quite lucky if we get a V6. I4 with a hybrid assistance is certainly not out of the question. The weight? Who knows, but probably not good. Geely is likely gonna build Lotus up to be the premium brand in the portfolio - which inevitably means sacrificing the lightweight design principles for more features and creature comforts. Also all the new models are supposed to be built around the same basic chassis, which certainly works and saves money, but it's really not that exciting. We don't want to end up with another Mclaren, that builds 10 "different" models all using the same chassis, engine and gearbox. The chance of the manual surviving also isn't very high. From the rumors I heard only the Elise replacement has a chance of being offered with a manual, and in the end they might very well decide to use the same DCT for everything since it's so much simpler to do.

Well, I guess I should save up my negativity for when we actually know what the new models look like. But based on their newest car weighing 1680kg - being the lightest very heavy car on the market - and them also planning to do an SUV, my hopes certainly are not terribly high. Lotus might very well survive, but how interested am I in that if they make the exact same cars everyone else is making...
 
Lotus might very well survive, but how interested am I in that if they make the exact same cars everyone else is making...

what is the point of choice when at the time of selecting all pick up the german brands?
 
Danny Bahar's vision for Lotus will be realised!

jalopnikbehar.jpg
He’s doing the same shady stuff as always: ripping off parts dealers, employees, customers, and young designers. Lotus can be happy it’s under the leadership it is under right now!
 
Let's hope it's gonna end up anywhere close to being as spicy. The 2010 Esprit was supposed to have 620hp coming from a supercharged 5L V8, a DCT, and was supposed to compete directly with the 458 and the Gallardo. The 2010 Elan was planned to have 450hp, coming from a 4L supercharged V6. Both cars were quite heavy, though. The Esprit at 1495kg dry and the Elan at 1295kg dry. Even the 2010 Elise, planned with 300hp, 2L turborcharged I4 weighed 1095kg dry.

I think with these new upcoming cars we can forget about a V8 and probably will be quite lucky if we get a V6. I4 with a hybrid assistance is certainly not out of the question. The weight? Who knows, but probably not good. Geely is likely gonna build Lotus up to be the premium brand in the portfolio - which inevitably means sacrificing the lightweight design principles for more features and creature comforts. Also all the new models are supposed to be built around the same basic chassis, which certainly works and saves money, but it's really not that exciting. We don't want to end up with another Mclaren, that builds 10 "different" models all using the same chassis, engine and gearbox. The chance of the manual surviving also isn't very high. From the rumors I heard only the Elise replacement has a chance of being offered with a manual, and in the end they might very well decide to use the same DCT for everything since it's so much simpler to do.

Well, I guess I should save up my negativity for when we actually know what the new models look like. But based on their newest car weighing 1680kg - being the lightest very heavy car on the market - and them also planning to do an SUV, my hopes certainly are not terribly high. Lotus might very well survive, but how interested am I in that if they make the exact same cars everyone else is making...
"Light" cars are a thing of the past. Even many recent hot hatches are well over 1,500kg.

An article on Evo state they the new Lotus will use a family of engines. They will neither be in-house engines nor related to the Toyota ones in the outgoing models.

It will be interesting to see whether the 4 and 6 pot engines will be geely developed or whether the smaller one will be from Mercedes.

Apparently prototypes of the car will only hit public roads this summer. Therefore launch is likely 2-3 years away.
 

Lotus

Lotus Group (also known as Lotus Cars, and doing business as Lotus NYO in China) is a British multinational automotive manufacturer of luxury sports cars and electric lifestyle vehicles. Founded in 1948 by Colin Chapman (1928-1982), it is owned by Chinese multinational Geely.
Official website: Lotus Cars

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