Lotus Esprit

Lotus Esprit is a two-door super car produced by Lotus Cars from 1976 to 2004. It was introduced at the Paris and London auto shows in 1975 and went into production in June 1976. These models were known as Series 1 Esprit and sported a fibreglass body, equipped with a 2.0-litre engine producing 160 bhp, along with the 5-speed unit transaxle. It weighed less than 1000 kg and had appeared in the James Bond film 'The Spy Who Loved Me' (1977). The Lotus Esprit Series 2 was a modified version with intake and cooling duct "ears" located behind the rear quarter window, Rover SD1 taillights and an integrated front spoiler. In addition, it also used 14" Speedline alloy wheels, an access door to the engine cover and a different style of switches.

After the Series 2, there were other models introduced like Lotus Esprit Turbo, Lotus Esprit SE, Lotus Esprit S, Esprit GT3, etc. In 28 years of its production life, a total of 10,675 Esprits were produced. Lotus Esprits were manufactured till 2004, which included minor improvements like adding a switch to 4 round taillights in 2002. Lotus Esprit models were used in several racing games like Need For Speed II, Project Gotham Racing 2, Project Gotham Racing 3, Gran Turismo 2, Gran Turismo 3, Gran Turismo 4, Sega GT 2002, Forza Motorsport and Test Drive Unlimited.

Currently Lotus is working on a car to supersede Lotus Esprits place. It is anticipated to be released in December 2009 and will be using a BMW V8 engine.