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Lotus Esprit Cars

Esprit Production Figures

I have managed to get hold of the Factory Excel Spreadsheet of figures for Esprit Production from 1976 to production end. This is the file that the factory use to keep a record of production numbers. It's not perfect, as it doesn't give figures for every different model, but does give a yearly figure for most of the different engine types. You'll see what I mean as you read on.

Esprit Production Figures are the closest you'll get to finding out the official numbers of Esprits made. At the end of production in February 2004, Lotus had made only 10,675 Esprits over a 28 year period with an average of only 381 Esprits made each year. Remember, that figures for the whole world, with Esprits being shipped from Norfolk to Europe and America.

Only when you start looking at the production figure to you real see just how rare Esprits are. Consider that the most made in one year is 1058 in 1988. Which is low, but considering over the rest of the 26 years, yearly figure only topped 500 on 5 occasions and with these numbers spread across the world, I'm surprised anyone's ever seen one!

10,675 Esprits that have been made in total, we would have lost quite a few from crashes, engine fires and generally wear. I guess there are only around 9,000 Esprits in the World. A truly rare automobile.

Related : Cars
Related : Cars Article

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Lotus Cars Esprit

Lotus Cars Press Release
The Lotus Esprit Cars is Colin Chapman's latest exotic 2 litre, mid-engined, two seat, high performance sports car incorporating many design features proven by a Team that designed and built the racing cars which, to date, have won more Formula One Grand Prix than any other motor vehicle manufacturer and has done so in less time than its principal competitor.

The Lotus Esprit Cars design and development programme has included wind tunnel testing at each stage to ensure maximum aerodynamic efficiency and stability. The Lotus Cars Esprit is powered by the highly successful 16 valve 2 litre, Lotus 907 engine which has set new standards of efficiency, power out-put and endurance. The five speed gearbox is designed to match the engine torque and vehicle weight, the installation of which follows current Formula One design practice giving optimum weight distribution. The gear change mechanism is both quick and precise.

The Lotus Esprit Cars, the body and interior of which was styled by Europe's leading stylist, Giorgetto Giugiaro, is manufactured utilising the very latest Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic (G.F.R.P.) technology and incorporates many of the safety features proven in the successful Lotus Cars Elite which, in 1975, was awarded Europe's most coveted safety award, the Don Safety Trophy.

The luxurious interior is upholstered in washable fabric giving maximum comfort, warmth in Winter and coolness in Summer, Fitted head restraints and deep comfortable semi-reclining seats give the driver and passenger superb comfort and minimum fatigue. Command and information services are grouped within a three panel console, the left hand panel provides lighting control, the central panel houses the environmental controls. The electric windows are housed the central tunnel accessible to both driver and passenger. Twin fuel tanks give the Esprit a total capacity of 15 gallons and a crusing range of approximately 450 miles. A total luggage capacity of 7 cu.ft. is provided in the front and rear compartments.

Four powerful headlamps are fully retractable for aerodynamic efficiency and can be instantly raised electrically at the touch of a button. The large laminated windscreen permits superb vision and is swept by a Lotus Cars designed pantograph singe wiper system to give clear vision in the poorest weather conditions.

The primary safety design ensures that acceleration, handling and braking performance give a totally controllable vehicle under all conditions.

The secondary safety encompasses the structural design of body and chassis to afford the occupants a wide margin of protection in the event of a collision. The phenomenal impact qualities of glass fibre reinforced plastic (G.F.R.P.) plus the integral "safety cell" structure within the body shell of the Lotus Cars Esprit set new standards of passenger security.

The Lotus Cars Esprit, encompassing STYLE, PERFORMANCE and SAFETY with ECONOMY, truly represents TODAY'S CAR designed for TOMORROW.

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Lotus Esprit Cars

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Lotus Esprit Cars

The Lotus Esprit Cars was unveiled as the Silver Car concept at the Turin motor show in November 1972. Based on a Europa twin-cam chassis, it was developed to the point where the first Lotus Esprit Cars prototype was displayed at the 1973 Geneva salon. It was another three years before the first customer cars were delivered in 1976. Designer Giorgetto Giugiaro had wanted to call the car Kiwi, but Lotus Cars management was intent on a name beginning with the letter E, as is Lotus Cars tradition. A tawl through the dictionary came up with Lotus Esprit Cars, which it felt summed up the car's sprightliness.

The Lotus Esprit Cars S1 was produced from 1975 to 1978 in which time only 714 made it off the production line. Many of these were for overseas which makes this car very rare indeed.

Made famous in the 1977 James Bond film 'the Spy Who Loved Me'. Roger Moore drove the Lotus Esprit Cars in to the sea, where it then turned into a submarine. This one piece of Hollywood history turn the Lotus Esprit Cars into a schoolboy's fantancy.

This is a colour picture of the original Lotus Esprit Cars S1 tartan interior. Most Lotus Esprit Cars S1 have been retrimmed with non-original materials and the tartan look of the few first few Lotus Esprit Cars is very rare. For those looking to re-trim back to the original colours. This is how it should look. Finding the materials is another matter.

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The Lotus Esprit was first shown to the world as a styling exercise by the famous Italian design studio of Giugiaro Design in 1974. The show car was so successful, and inquiries so great, that Lotus committed to taking the successor to the Europa into production. Glass-Fibre bodied, steel backbone chassis and Lotus' own 907 multi-valve engine mounted mid-ship with 4 wheel independent suspension were all features of these first Esprits.

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The original Esprit was lauded for its handling and is said to have the best steering of any Esprit. However, it was generally regarded as lacking power, especially in markets such as the United States where the engine was down-rated for emissions purposes. Lotus’ claim of 0-60 mph in 6.8 seconds and a top speed of 138 mph (222 km/h) may be thought of as optimistic - actual road test times indicated 0-60 mph in 8 seconds and a top speed of around 133 mph (214 km/h).
1977 S1 (modified into "submarine" mode), as seen in the film The Spy Who Loved Me


The S1 Esprit can be distinguished from later Esprits by a shovel-style front air dam, Fiat X1/9 tail lights, lack of body-side ducting, and Wolfrace alloy wheels. Inside the car, the most obvious indication of an S1 Esprit is a one-piece instrument cluster with green-faced Veglia gauges.


The car gained fame through its appearance in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) where it was featured in a long chase sequence, converting into a submarine.

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The Esprit was launched in October 1975 at the Paris motorshow, and went into production in June 1976, replacing the Europa in the Lotus model line-up. These first cars eventually became known as S1 (or Series 1) Esprits. With a steel backbone chassis and a fiberglass body, the Esprit was powered by the Lotus 907 4 cylinder engine, as previously used in the Jensen Healey. This engine displaced 2.0 L, produced 160 bhp (119 kW; 162 PS) in European trim (140 bhp (104 kW; 142 PS) in US/Federal trim), and was mounted longitudinally behind the passengers, as in its predecessor. The transaxle gearbox was a 5 speed unit, previously used in the Citroën SM and Maserati Merak; it featured inboard rear brakes, as was racing practice at the time. The Series 1 embodied Lotus’ performance through light weight mantra, weighing less than 1,000 kg (2,205 lb).

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It was the introduction of the Lotus Essex (Turbo Esprit) in 1980 that brought the cars into the supercar league. There were 104 Essex branded cars built (with dry sums). There were big improvements in reliability and chassis design (better torsional rigidity) and revised rear suspension geometry (the drive shaft no longer doubled up as the top link but was suplimented by a transverse link). These improvements also followed through to the normally aspirated S3 model of 1981. The Lotus Turbo Esprit was powered by the improved 910 engine and featured an AiResearch Garrett T3 turbocharger, which helped increased the engine power to 210 bhp. This gave the car an overall top speed of 153 mph and 0 - 60 time of 5.4 seconds. In 1981, the Essex name was drop and it was renamed the Turbo Esprit, with conventional livery, optional leather seats and air conditioning and a cheaper stereo, which brought the price down and increased sales. In Febuary 1987, the Turbo Esprit HC was introduced with a high compression engine, more boost, improved carburetion, lubrication and cooling and the engine power was increased to 215 bhp.

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Whereas the Europa was aimed at the sports car market, the new Esprit was aimed towards the luxury supercar market; ie. Porsche and Ferrari. From 1975 to 1978, the Lotus Esprit S1 was produced. Power came from the 907 engine, also used in the Lotus Elite and Eclat. Although the car looked stunning and the handling was impressive, the car only managed a top speed of 126 mph. There were also problems with unreliability, dubious build quality, engine ventilation and electrical problems and the first owner of the cars, were often regarded as guinea pigs. The Lotus Esprit was developed and improved with the introduction of the S2 from 1978 to 1980. This car had improved engine ventilation, with the air intakes behind the rear windows and an integrated splitter under the front bumper. The S2.2 from 1980 -1981 had a larger 2.2 litre engine (912 series twin cam) and a galvanised chassis.

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The Lotus Esprit Cars has been one of the most successful and longest running supercars, produced from 1976 until 2004, and was developed and improved over time. The car was famously popularised by the James Bond films, The Spy who loved me and For your eyes only.


The Lotus Esprit began life in 1972 as a concept car (the "Silver Car"), which was displayed at the Turin Motor show. Sat next to the Maserati Boomerang, it stole the show. The original Esprit was design by Giorgetto Giugiaro's of Ital Design as a styling exercise. He had met Colin Chapman the year previously, from a chance meeting and Chapman commissioned the new Lotus and as a result, decided to put the car into production. The Lotus Esprit Cars (or Kiwi as it was initially known) was developed over 3 years and launched in September 1975, to replace the long running Lotus Europa (although Owner's had to wait till 1976 to collect their cars). Like its forebear, the Lotus Esprit Cars was a GRP-bodied, mid-engined sports car with a steel backbone chassis, but that's where the similarities end.

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Michael Kimberley took over as Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Company and its Group from May 2006. He currently chairs the Executive Committee of Lotus Group International Limited ("LGIL") established in February 2006, with Syed Zainal Abidin (Managing Director of Proton Holdings Berhad) and Badrul Feisal (non-executive director of Proton Holdings Berhad). LGIL is the holding company of Lotus Group Plc.


Kimberley retired as CEO on 17 July 2009 and was replaced as CEO by Dany T Bahar on 1 October 2009. Bahar was formerly Senior Vice President, Commercial & Brand for Ferrari SpA where he was responsible for worldwide road car sales and after sales business, overall road car and F1 marketing activities, licensing, and merchandising business.

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The company also acts as an engineering consultancy, providing engineering development—particularly of suspension—for other car manufacturers. The lesser known Powertrain department is responsible for the design and development of the 4-cylinder Ecotec engine found in many of GM's Vauxhall, Opel, Saab, Chevrolet and Saturn cars. Today, the current Lotus Elise and Exige models use the 1.8L VVTL-i I4 from Toyota's late Celica GT-S and the Matrix XRS.


The company is organised as Group Lotus, which is divided into Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering.