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Sport 350 .. The most expensive Esprit |
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The most expensive Esprit, however, was 1999's Sport 350 special edition - £65,000. This was 80kg lighter than the GT, with light magnesium alloy OZ wheels, a positively massive carbon-fibre rear spoiler and front splitter, uprated AP Racing brakes and tweaked engine management for improved low-gear torque, though it shared the standard cars' 350bhp V8. Just 50 were made.
The Sport 350's extra features were then grafted into the standard range for the final iteration for 2002, which also had a redesigned rear panel with round taillights, new high-backed sports seats, different four-spoke 'crystal titanium' OZ wheels and a revised exhaust. Range might be stretching things too far: there was just the one model, the Esprit V8, costing £49,995. Lotus proclaimed the "increased flexibility" of the remapped ECU (0-60mph now happened in 4.4 seconds), and pointed to the more upmarket cabin, with two-tone leather seats embossed with a Lotus logo, and aluminium trim detailing. "Enduring British supercar gets facelift", was our headline here on 4car, and this was followed by the news that Lotus was scaling back production from the rate of around one Esprit a week. The company, struggling to bring the new Elise/Vauxhall VX220 to production, was instigating a cost-cutting programme and laying off staff, and the M250 project was also shelved.
However, demand for the latest Elise remains strong, and Lotus is re-introducing it in America, concentrating its efforts on this model. The company will build 140 Esprits this year to fulfil final orders, before reworking the Esprit production line to make the extra Elises. It's no surprise that the decision has been made to kill the Esprit off - the only surprise is that it took so long. A 'new GT coupe' is currently under development. |
