Lotus Esprit 2013

The Lotus Esprit is a sports car that was built by Lotus in the United Kingdom between 1976 and 2004, as well as a future release in 2013. The silver Italdesign concept that eventually became the Esprit was unveiled at the Turin Motor Show in 1972 as a concept car, and was a development of a stretched Lotus Europa chassis. It was among the first of designer Giorgetto Giugiaro's polygonal "folded paper" designs. Originally, the name Kiwi was proposed, but in keeping with the 'E...' naming format of Lotus tradition, the name became Esprit.

At the 2010 Paris Motor Show, along with four other cars in the company's lineup, Lotus unveiled a completely redesigned, new generation Esprit, scheduled to go into production in late 2012 and confirmed to go on sale in Spring of 2013.[31]

This new Esprit features a futuristic front-end with LED front daytime running lights and a center-mounted dual exhaust system in the rear. The interior also has a new futuristic, but minimal design which includes a digital instrument cluster, a sport steering wheel and carbon fiber trim scattered throughout the cabin. It has a length of 455 cm (179.1 inches), a width of 195 cm (76.8 inches) and a height of 125 cm (49.2 inches). Gross weight is stated to be around 1495 kg (3,296 lbs).

New developments as of January 20, 2011 per Automobile Magazine reports "in-house" motors are being developed now for the 2013 Esprit. The Lotus motor specs are mid-mounted, lighter, more compact, and a lot more fuel-efficient engine than the IS-F. Specifically stated, Lotus motors are being engineered and designed "in-house" for the Esprit with a V8 and a V6 model. The V-6 and the V-8 will be mirrored to the 90-degree cylinder angle. The V-8 displacement ranges from 4.0 to 4.8 liters, and the V-6 between 3.0 and 3.5 liters. Both naturally aspirated and twin-turbo variants are in the design phase, redlining at 9250 rpm. The 2013 Lotus V-8 shaves off 130-pounds than the 5.0-liter V-8 IS-F Lexus engine. Expect the 4.8-liter version to have some choices, 550 hp and 620 hp (Esprit R) along with a 3.2-liter V-6 at 350 hp (normally aspirated) or 500 hp (turbocharged). Power is fed to the rear wheels by a seven-speed, paddle-shift dual-clutch transmission.[32] Lotus claims a 0–100 km/h (0-62 mph) time of 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 330 km/h (205 mph), making it one of the fastest production cars in the world. Lotus states that the Esprit will also be available with a Hybrid option, utilizing a KERS regenerative brake system derived from Formula One.

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