Lotus is probably in the best financial position it’s been in for years, with its debts about to be cleared and production at full capacity focus now turns to what’s in-store for the future. In a recent interview with EVO, Lotus CEO Mike Kimberley spilled the beans on the future plans for the niche sports carmaker from Norfolk. Of special interest, Kimberley revealed that not only will there be a replacement for the mid-engined Esprit in 2009 but an all-new 2+2 GT coupe will be launched at the London Motor Show next year.

Codenamed Project Eagle, the new 2+2 will be positioned between the Elise/Exige range and the new Esprit. The car’s body will be constructed from a bonded aluminum tub and fiberglass composite body with most of the chassis being designed with all new components. There’s no word on what will be powering the new coupe but the smart money is on a new 3.2L V6 sourced from Toyota with an available 300hp.

As for the next-gen Esprit, the only details Kimberley was willing to give up was that the car is being developed with a “a very well respected prestige carmaker.” Most are predicting it’ll be powered by a BMW-sourced V8 engine but a recent tie-up with Aston Martin could mean the Vantage V8’s mill could be the engine of choice. It seems previous plans to build a front-engine RWD coupe and a crossover are not to be.

Lotus plans new high-end supercar and more …

Posted on Tuesday 16 October 2007


The fact that Lotus will be building a replacement to the Esprit supercar is no secret. However, Lotus USA boss Mike Kimberly has confirmed in a recent interview the Esprit will not headline the model range. Instead, Kimberly said that a new supercar worthy of being the ‘jewel in the crown’ is currently being planned for 2010 onwards. If built, such a car would be able to propel Lotus to competing head-to-head with the likes of Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini.


Kimberly also discussed his ambitious plans to almost triple Lotus’ output from 2,875 cars last year to 8000 in the medium term. The key to gaining such figures is a car codenamed Project Eagle, a 2+2 GT coupe that is expected to be shown at the next British International Motor Show in mid-2008 and go on sale by 2009.

Old school Esprit fans will be saddened to know the revival was delayed by powertrain issues that required the engine to be changed and subsequently pushed back the release date by a year. It’s now on track for a 2010 debut, Kimberly confirmed in Lotus’ official newsletter.

Fans will also remember Lotus collaborated with various mainstream marques to build go-fast versions of their models including the Ford Cortina and Vauxhall Carlton. Kimberly claims shareholders are in favor of building such versions with cars from Proton, its parent company, but more consideration needs to be given to the market segment such a car would fit in.

New Models: Lotus reveals plans for Eagle and Esprit

31 Oct 07 12:46


CEO Michael Kimberley

Lotus has revealed that it is to build an Elise with the supercharged Toyota engine of the Exige, detuned to 220bhp by deleting the intercooler (and enabling the rear-view mirror to remain useful in the process), and a more luxurious, better-finished Europa.

Also on the way are an Exige SR with a launch control system and the 2-Eleven's variable traction control, and California-spec versions of the Elise and Exige with plusher trim and softer responses.

However, the next big Lotus event happens at the end of 2008, when it will unveil the Lotus Eagle, a mid-engined four-seater aimed not so much at the pure Lotus enthusiast as at, in the words of Lotus CEO Mike Kimberley, a 'more lifestyle type of buyer'. The Eagle is not the much-rumoured replacement for the Esprit - that comes later - but a car to pitch Lotus into a new market area.

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'It's a two-plus-two tourer with a transverse, mid-ship V6 from Toyota,' says Kimberley. 'There'll be seven variants, including a convertible and a paddle-shift transmission, and the price will be competitive, between £45,000 and £48,000.'

The paddle-shifts represent a U-turn for Lotus, the company previously saying that it would never build a paddle-shift car, regarding it as impure and getting in the way of the driving experience. The change in heart is down to demand, Kimberley saying: 'The market wants it. That's what buyers want in the US and Japan.'

Eagle production starts at the end of next year with sales beginning early 2009. A year later, Lotus will reveal the next Esprit, although the name isn't yet finalised and it will be powered by 'a very high brand-image engine', the identity of which is still under wraps.

The Esprit's gestation has not been without its problems, however. 'I sent it back to Engineering,' Kimberley said. 'It didn't have the Lotus DNA, and wasn't true to the Lotus heritage. So the architecture and suspension were changed and it was engineered to pass US crash tests. Also, there was just one version planned. Now there'll be five or six versions.' Expect prices to start around £80,000.

That revised architecture is a version of the Eagle's structure, lengthened, widened and adapted for the Esprit's longitudinal engine. It's made from aluminium, like the Elise family's chassis to which it bears some similarities. It is designed to comply with all foreseeable crash-test legislation worldwide, but is very light.


long wait for a new Esprit
'The Esprit's performance will be exceptional,' promises Kimberley, 'and we won't need a V12 engine to achieve it. It won't be an over-200mph car but the performance will be very usable.'

This lightness suits the mood of the moment very well, as carmakers seek to shed mass from their products as they chase lower CO2 emissions. To this end, Lotus Engineering has developed an ethanol-fuelled Exige and a hybrid one, and it supplies Elise structures for the US's Tesla electric sports car. In fact Lotus's engineering consultancy is in better shape than it has been for years, with 107 customers throughout in the car industry and operations in several countries, including one starting up in India at the end of the year.

'We were making 125 cars a week when the Opel Speedster and Vauxhall VX220 were in production, and we proved we could do it to General Motors' quality standards. So now a number of major manufacturers are looking to us for low-volume manufacturing of niche products, or to get us to show them how to do it. It makes sense when homologation alone can use up 65% of a car's development budget.'

After seeing Mike Kimberley's turnaround plan, parent company Khazanah recapitalised Lotus in March and wrote off £100m in debt, making that sum available for the new cars' development. 'They've had more patience with Lotus than I would have had,' he says, 'and now we're building a UK auto industry again. Not that the UK government cares.'

This spy shot just came in from Brenda Priddy and her horde of photogs. They know it's a Lotus and claim it shows what has been identified internally as "THE Supercar". We do know that Lotus showed off its future product to employees about a month ago, and from that it's been learned that the Jaguar XKR's supercharged V8 producing 420 horsepower will be the engine used in this car. Since we also know the upcoming Esprit replacement is the only Lotus slated to get a V8, well, you do the math...

After inspecting the photo, however, we can't deny that whatever's underneath that sheet must bear a resemblance to the Tesla Roadster. Where the cover wraps tightly around the body revealing some of its shape we can see a fender and rear 3/4 panel that's very similar to the all-electric roadster that's been developed in conjunction with Lotus. The length of this cloaked supercar, however, appears too long and its wheels don't match what we've seen on Tesla Roadsters before. Clearly, though, it's a mid-engine high-performance car of some sort, and we can't wait to find out exactly what