The next 5 years for Lotus: Esprit and a saloon ?

posted: Thursday 22 June 2006 by Luca in: Coupe Future Cars Lotus Saloons

Lotus Esprit Autocar has an interview with Lotus CEO Mike Kimberley, where he outlines his plans for the next five years.

It seems that Lotus aims to double its production from 4,000 to 8,000 cars/year, by expanding the Elise and Europa model ranges (after the base Elise S, will we see a souped-up Europa R ?) and by introducing the new top of the line Esprit, which will be shown to the public in late 2007 and be in showrooms in 2008.

The Esprit, will be a mid-engined coupè with a BMW V8 engine and “a new form of extruded aluminium chassis”.

Lotus might also be considering a project like the 90’s Lotus Omega/Carlton, the only desirable version of the old Opel/Vauxhall saloon, with its bi-turbocharged 3.6-liters straight-6, outputting 377 hp / 577 Nm, that could do 0-60 mph in 5,2 seconds and reach a top speed of 287 km/h. It’ll be nice, to wonder what saloon Lotus could wave its magic wand on.

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