New Lotus Esprit still on schedule

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All the attention at Lotus at the moment is focused on the new Evora. The Lotus Evora launches in the UK in June, and the Lotus Evora Convertible is on schedule for a reveal in 2011. But Lotus are working on the next wave of changes at Hethel, which includes new versions of the Elise, and the all new Lotus Esprit.

The next Elise will probably be a development of the existing car, rather than anything radical and new. But the Esprit will be an all new V8 based on the new Evora chassis. It will be longer and wider than the Evora, but will still feature a mid-mounted engine and, in all probability, come as a convertible in time.

But the new Lotus Esprit is to some degree dependent on the success of the Evora and the prevailing economic climate. Lotus are planning on launching the Evora convertible before the Esprit, but if sales of the Evora 2+2 are strong, and the economy recovers sufficiently, it is likely that we could see the new Lotus Esprit launched ahead of the Evora convertible.

But despite the success of the Elise, and the likely success of the Evora, Lotus are still being hit by the recession. Much of their development work for other manufacturers is falling away in the current climate, and that has always been a big cash-flow plus for Lotus. So they need the Evora to succeed to push ahead with the plans for the Esprit.

Still, Lotus are a healthy, if small UK Car maker, and the Lotus Esprit will hit the market place, either in 2011 before the Evora convertible, or after the convertible, in 2012.