A ‘remastered’ Lotus Esprit with a V8 is coming… priced at £430k+

A company called Encor has announced its intention to resurrect the Lotus Esprit. This is it. Sorta. We’ll see the full thing in November, but for now, this company called Encor has shared a few choice details.

Firstly, it shall be known as the Encor Series 1 and uses a Lotus Esprit Series 1 – launched 50 years ago – as its design inspiration. Somewhat confusingly, each Encor Series 1 will actually start with a donor Series 4 Lotus Esprit V8 base car.

No argument here, because... V8 Esprit. Encor will strip and fully rebuild the 3.5-litre twin turbo eight-cylinder, sprinkle in yet more performance and ensure the Esprit offers “greater everyday usability”. That’s right: ‘everyday usability’ and ‘Esprit’, all in the same sentence.

Encor will fill the insides with leather, Alcantara, and machined aluminium, add Apple CarPlay, 360-degree cameras and an up-to-date climate control system.

And Encor will fashion the outsides not from fibreglass as per the original, but out of carbon fibre. A full CF suit, designed and refined by computers, with promises of better aero and “millimetre-precision”. The pop-ups will apparently be “reimagined as low-profile LED projectors”.

The company counts ex-Pagani, Koenigsegg, Aston Martin, Porsche and Lotus bods in its team, “responsible for the acclaimed Lotus Emira and high-end personalisation programmes at Q by Aston Martin and Lotus Advanced Performance”. So it knows a thing or five about high-end bespokery.

Hence the price: each one will start at £430,000, and that’s before options, taxes… and the small matter of the donor Lotus Esprit V8.

Co-founder Simon Lane said: “Anyone can modify a car. What sets us apart is the way we treat the Esprit – not as a project, but as a responsibility. Progress should enhance, not replace.”

More as we get it.