Lotus has officially confirmed that it will show a concept for an upmarket supercar at the Paris motor show in September.
In the latest of a series of cryptic statements, the Malaysian-owned, Norfolk-based sports car company reveals its new show car will be “perhaps even more” than a replacement for the mid-engined Esprit supercar — which it pointedly reminds us was first unveiled as a Giugiaro-designed concept at the Paris show exactly 35 years ago.
See Autocar's Lotus Esprit rendering, plus the firm's latest teaser
Lotus has been working for at least three years on various iterations of an Esprit replacement, but the company’s latest management, led by ex-Ferrari commercial boss Danny Bahar, has signalled a decisive move upmarket for all future products, apparently into Ferrari-Aston territory.
Lotus spokesmen are hazy about future product, but agree that the new concept is an accurate guide to their future intentions for production models.
Read the full story on Lotus's radical new direction
When sales ended in 2004, volume of the old Esprit — which lasted 18 years through a dozen different models — amounted to 10,700 cars.
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Re: Lotus confirms new supercar
Yep. As was the slant four it was based on. I think i'm right in saying that all the Esprits had Lotus engines.
Before they took to making their own engines they also had the Twin cam unit based on a Ford Cortina 5 main bearing block. It was designed by former Autocar editor and designer of the Jaguar V12, Harry Mundy but Cosworth reworked it before it made production.
Re: Lotus confirms new supercar
The headlights also have a look of the 458 Italia, I might be mistaken but I'm sure this is a render from before we saw the Italia. I was also thinking those air intakes are very Lamborghini.
Re: Lotus confirms new supercar