Lotus is preparing a successor to the Esprit and plans to bring it to market in 2028. The British brand has confirmed a hybrid powertrain with a V8 and wants to get more than 1,000 hp from it. This is reported by Motor1.
Hybrid Lotus Esprit: over 1,000 hp and less than 1,500 kg
Lotus CEO Feng Qingfeng confirmed that the V8 will be located behind the cabin. The powertrain will have a 150 kW electric motor and will work with an 800 V electrical architecture. The current plan also includes a dual-clutch transmission.
According to Lotus’s estimate, the electric motor will be about 20 kg lighter than a comparable unit. The company aims to keep the entire car’s weight below 1,500 kg. At such target figures, there will be about 667 hp or more per tonne of weight. The actual parameters of the production car are not yet known.
Lotus is also considering a V6 version. It could use components from Horse, a joint venture between Geely and Renault. A decision on launching this modification has not yet been announced.
The return of the Lotus Esprit: launch timing and place in the lineup
The supercar will take a place between the Lotus Emira and the electric Lotus Evija. Motor1 names the Lamborghini Temerario as one of the possible competitors. Lotus has named the model’s launch year but has not yet announced the premiere date, price, or platform.
Motor1 showed the exterior of the future Esprit in its own illustrations. In them, the supercar has narrow headlights, dual exhaust, and a large rear diffuser. The company has not yet presented the final design.
The original Esprit was produced from 1976 to 2004. It had an engine behind the cabin and rear-wheel drive. For most of this period, the model was equipped with four-cylinder engines, and closer to the end of production, a version with a V8 and a manual transmission appeared.