Last summer, Lotus showcased its focus on the future by announcing the marque’s forthcoming all-electric, 2000-horsepower hypercar, Evija. But if a recent report about the British automaker’s expansion plans is true, the marque is also looking to its past for inspiration.
The Norfolk-based automaker plans to resurrect its most iconic vehicle, the Esprit, according to a new report from UK magazine Autocar. Set to debut early next year, the sports car will be visually informed by the new Evija and is expected to feature a new V6 hybrid powertrain.
It’s unclear whether the car will actually use the Esprit name, but it certainly sounds like it will be a spiritual successor to the super sports car, which was in production from 1976 to 2004. Either way, the car will likely be the first series-production vehicle from the Lotus in 12 years, bridging the gap between its current line-up and future models.
The new “Esprit” will reportedly debut during the first half of 2021 and will go on sale in the following months. The car is expected to be built on the same aluminum platform used for the Evora, though the Esprit is not being viewed as a replacement for its 12-year-old sibling.
As for the powertrain, nothing has been confirmed, but the rebooted car is expected to feature a V6 engine related to the Toyota-sourced motor featured in the brand’s current cars. It will be supplemented with a hybrid system. While specs have yet to be made public, Autocar expects that the car will be more powerful than the Evora 410, which churns out 404 horsepower thanks to a supercharger.
This, of course, is not the only exciting project the marque has in the works. The company is currently building the final Evija prototypes right now and hopes to put the production model into production later this summer. Priced at $2.2 million, the electric hypercar is expected to be the world’s most powerful production car when it is released.
