Encor Shares Details of a Reimagined Lotus Esprit

For almost 30 years, the Lotus Esprit combined a distinctive design with high-performance engineering, leaving a host of enthusiasts in its wake and making a prominent appearance in one of James Bond’s onscreen adventures. The Turbo Esprit has an especially rarefied status in the automotive world, with a 2014 Petrolicious article dubbing it “a car so seductive, rare, and alluring no one’s life could be truly complete without ownership.”

Lotus made its last batch of Esprits in 2004, but this model’s legacy lives on — very literally, it turns out. This week, Encor announced its limited-edition Series 1. In a post on Instagram, Encor described this as “a remastered Lotus Esprit” with a carbon-fiber body and a V8 engine. The Encor Series 1 will be limited to just 50 vehicles, and the company behind it has pledged to reveal more specifics in November.

Here’s what we know so far: the Series 1 will utilize the Esprit frame as designed by Lotus founder Colin Chapman. “In every detail, we act as conservators of Chapman’s ideals. Our mission is to elevate the Esprit for a new era without sacrificing its soul,” explained Encor co-founder Simon Lane in a statement.

While each of the 50 Series 1s was made from an existing Lotus Esprit V8, Encor sought a balance between the original design and engineering — including the chassis and engine — and more modern amenities, including more advanced climate control and a sound system compatible with Apple CarPlay.

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If you’d like to own one of these revamped Lotus Esprits, Encor has priced them at £430,000, or around $580,000 at current exchange rates. That doesn’t include options or taxes, however, nor does it include the Lotus Esprit at the core of the rebuild. “Progress should enhance, not replace,” Encor co-founder Lane said — and as these draw closer to hitting the road, we’ll see how well Encor did at its stated goal.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…