Lotus Esprit replacement gets green light

After months of "to be or not to be" it’s finally official: the Lotus Esprit will indeed have a successor. Lotus seven year product plan key reveal that the new Esprit will be revealed in 2012, but will carry a different name.

The company is aiming at a power-to-weight ratio of between 275bhp and 325bhp per tonne, meaning that the future Esprit will can easily compete with most of the German sports cars.

According to a Lotus insider the next Esprit will be "the ultimate expression of the brand." It will be a third model tier with the four-cylinder Elise/ Exige and Europa as the first tier and the Evora V6 as the second tier.

Also the same insider reveal that the Evora’s Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) can be adapted to create almost any type of vehicle, from a sports car to an SUV.