LOTUS AIMS HIGH WITH ESPRIT FOR 2006

Lotus is working at top speed to design and develop a secret new £75,000 supercar to replace the 25-year-old Esprit in two years’ time. The Norfolk-based manufacturer recently invited Autocar up to its headquarters; as well as allowing us lap their test track, as you can see in the video section, they revealed their plans for the next five years.

Pictured above is an official Lotus drawing and above and in our gallery, enhanced by computer design, the new Esprit – a mid-engined two-door coupé with compact styling and dimensions, sophisticated aerodynamics, ultra-agile handling and a top speed close to 200mph – is being engineered to suit all the major car markets of the world.

Lotus aims to offer markedly better performance and value for money than established opponents like the Porsche 911, Ferrari 360 and Lamborghini Gallardo. The two-seat supercar’s launch is probably being planned for Geneva 2006, because the original production Esprit made its debut there in 1975.

Another new Hethel supercar will be launched about a year later, in 2007, to fill the price gap between the Elise and Esprit. The car is likely to be a two-plus-two front-engined coupé priced at around £50,000, quite different in mechanical layout to the others, but sharing a remarkable number of its chassis components and running gear with them.

This new three-tier product line-up shows for the first time how Lotus plans to fulfil the forecast made last year by the company’s deputy chairman, Victor Kiam, to develop Hethel as a 10,000-a-year sports car manufacturing business.

Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) allows models as disparate as a front-engined four-seater and a mid-engined two-seater to share high-investment chassis parts, leading to a dramatic cut in development and manufacturing costs. The process is so flexible, say Lotus engineers, that it will eventually be adopted for all three Lotus models: the £25,000 transverse mid-engined roadster (the Elise replacement); a £50,000 front-engined two-plus-two coupé; and a £75,000, 200mph mid-engined 21st century Esprit.

Two years from launch, the team was reluctant to go into too much detail about the new supercar. Autocar’s own deductions about the new mid-engined supercar and its future are that it will probably not use the Esprit name. The construction method will be so different and the level of design sophistication so much greater than the old car’s, that the two would have little in common.

It will use a longitudinally mounted engine, probably a forced-induction V8, mounted behind the occupants’ heads, possibly supplied by Toyota. Lotus may, however, eventually build its own engine for the top two models, whose volume could reach 2000-3000 a year.

The car’s 1300kg weight and 1900mm width targets will make it a very agile car. Lotus is already admitting its dimensions will probably allow a return to racing for the quickest versions.

M5'S ENGINE COULD POWER NEXT ESPRIT

The next Lotus Esprit is tipped to use one of Autocar’s favourite engines of recent years: BMW’s firecracker V8 from the recently departed M5 saloon (right).

Senior-placed sources have confirmed that Hethel is considering the 4.9-litre lump from the outgoing E39 5-series. Lotus had previously been linked with Toyota, following the deal to supply the Celica engine for the latest Elise 111R.

In BMW’s application, the V8 developed 400bhp and 369lb ft of torque. Lotus is considering a forced induction system to raise outputs further and has proven experience from turbocharging the previous Esprit.

Following the classic supercar formula, the V8 will be mounted longitudinally amidships in the Esprit’s extruded aluminium chassis, driving the rear wheels. The car’s modern, wedgy shape was first revealed in our scoop on 3 February.

The current Esprit ceased production this spring and its successor – tipped to carry a different name – will be launched in 2006. Priced at around £75,000, it will rival supercars such as the Porsche 911 Turbo, Ferrari 360 Modena and Lamborghini Gallardo.