New Esprit gets green light

Lotus has finally given the green light to a replacement for the Esprit, a model that will have an essential role in boosting the Hethel firm’s brand image.

Key elements to the Lotus strategy have emerged weeks before new CEO Danny Bahr is due to reveal his seven-year plan for the company.

A Lotus source said the new supercar (known as Esprit internally, but it could get a different name) would be an “essential brand image builder” and a “high-status purchase”.

Lotus is targeting a power-to-weight ratio of 275-325bhp per tonne for its new flagship; an Audi R8 V10 has 319bhp per tonne.

Our source said the company 
is planning a three-tier line-up, with the four-cylinder Exige, 
Elise and Europa all falling into one group and the bigger V6 Evora in the other. He said there would always be room for an Esprit-like car. “It will be the ultimate expression of the brand,” he added.

As part of its business plan, Lotus has also been pitching the Evora platform technology to other companies. The Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) can be adapted to create almost any type of vehicle, from a sports car to an SUV.

As an example of VVA’s flexibility, Lotus has provided an illustration showing the Evora platform with an electric powertrain, although a source said the firm would not be building an electric car.

However, Autocar has learned that the company is working on eight hybrid and electric projects for other firms.

VVA is being offered predominantly to small companies for niche products, and Lotus can supply either an Evora chassis or a bespoke platform.

“If manufacturers want to do niche vehicles easily and effectively, this is the way to do it,” said our source.


Ollie Stallwood

Lotus Green Lights New Esprit

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 and one of the bright spots on the horizon is a new-generation of the Esprit.

According to a new report, Lotus has finally given the green light to a new Esprit. It’s no secret that Lotus has set its sights on performance marques like Ferrari, with its new CEO Dany Bahar working on bringing back the company to a level of competing heads-up against the world's greatest supercars.

Bahar is set to announce a new seven-year plan for the company later this year but the guys at Autocar have already divulged some of its key elements from an inside source.

The source revealed that the new Esprit may not carry the original name and that it’s being designed as a halo model for the brand.

Lotus’ previous CEO Mike Kimberley has previously revealed that new Esprit is being developed together with “a very well respected prestige automaker.” Many predicted that BMW would supply one of its V-8 engines for the new Esprit but Lotus' close ties with Toyota, from which it already sources a number of powerplants, could see advanced Lexus engines used instead.

The 552 horsepower V-10 engine, which is set to debut in the 2011 Lexus LFA supercar next year, would likely be reserved for a range-topping Esprit, while a mid-spec model would get the IS-F’s 420 horsepower V-8 and an entry-level model would pick up a 300 horsepower version of the 3.5-liter Toyota-sourced V-6 from the Evora.

To keep costs down and speed up its gestation, the new Esprit will likely share its chassis with the bonded and extruded aluminum unit underpinning the Evora. Rising development costs and changing requirements, however, have reportedly pushed back the original 2010 release date to 2012. The extra time, however, will allow for both coupe and convertible models--Lotus had originally planned to launch a hard-top only--as well as a possible ‘alternative’ model.

[Autocar]