Lotus Is Cooking Up A New Esprit For 2020
Hold off on the DJ Khaled memes, as we have a Lotus story to bring you today that doesn’t involve yet another tweaked Elise/Exige/Evora. Nor are we talking about Hethel’s incoming - and arguably inevitable - SUV.
Nope, this time we’re looking at an actual new Lotus of a much more palatable kind for us petrolheads - a supercar. Speaking to Autocar, CEO Jean-Marc Gales revealed that Lotus has two new sports cars are on the way, and one - expected to arrive in 2020 - will be positioned above the Evora. In other words, it’ll be a successor to the Esprit.
Will Lotus resurrect the famous name? We can’t be sure at this stage, but we certainly hope so. The brand announced its intentions to create a new Esprit in 2010, previewed by a concept (below) cooked up as part of the now-infamous ‘five cars’ plan which never came to fruition. On this occasion though, it’s all looking a lot more promising.
Lotus is now owned by Chinese automotive giant Geely, which will be investing heavily in its new property over the next few years. As a result, the company will be in a position to make a car that can “take the Evora a step further” while sticking to the core “lightweight, aerodynamic and handling” attributes people expect from a Lotus sports car.
As for the other sports car, very little is known about that at this stage, although a new Elise seems a likely candidate. Both it, the Esprit successor and the SUV are all expected to borrow technology from Geely-owned Volvo.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Hot Wheels, is that you?
I remember Lotus revealing a concept of this in 2010. I hope the production model looks similar to that stunning thing.
It was a great looking concept, to be fair. The problem was the plan was crackers…
Hope they continue from where the old concept left off. When Bahar was ousted the Esprit was actually close to being ready for production; they had a pre-production car going around Hethel
Finally some actual new, new stuff from lotus. Welp I’m prepared for the esprit to last for a decade with 100 different “new” models
The 2010 Concept hs similar lines as a Huracan
You mean the Huracan has similar lines to the 2010 Esprit concept
And Brace urself for doug’s quirks and features
Please look like this……. Please look like this……
Lambo front, Mclaren rear
Lotus: And here is the brand new ESPRIT
fans: PASS
Now we know where Tesla got the roadster styling from
front reminds me of this
Please have a V8, please have a V8!
2020: The new Lotus Esprit
2 months later there is a Track version. 4 month later there is a 1000hp special edition. 1 month later there will be a special edition of the special edition of the special edition…………. you get the Point
Pagani style 👌
Months later: fastest car in the world edition
Nice!!
Can’t wait for it
Basically saying they are similar