lotus esprit lexus engine

Rumormill: Lotus Esprit Successor Could Debut at Paris with Lexus LFA engine

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On September 30 at 4:45 pm CET, Lotus will hold its biggest auto show press conference in many years at the Paris Motor Show. In addition to the new Evora S and automatic transmission versions, Lotus is expected to finally unveil the oft-delayed successor to the Esprit. For several years in the mid-2000s, there were rumors that Lotus would use a V8 from either Audi or BMW to power the new Esprit.

However, in recent years, Lotus has used Toyota engines exclusively in the Elise, Exige and now the Evora. It just so happens that Toyota has a new engine in its arsenal that would be ideally suited to a new supercar, the 552 horsepower 4.8-liter V10 from the recently launched Lexus LFA.

According to Inside Line, the V10 would power the premium version of the Esprit while base versions would use a variant of the 416 hp 5.0-liter V8 from the Lexus IS-F. Regardless of the engine choice the new Esprit and the Lotus brand as a whole are expected to move upmarket to compete with the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini.

[Source: Inside Line]

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