It has been almost four years since Lotus ended the production of the Esprit V8, and reports of its successor are in the air yet again. Earlier rumours claimed that Lotus was planning to release the new Esprit this year, but now it appears that it’s being pushed to 2010.

Spy photographers have caught various test mules for quite some time now, and from what we can see, the forthcoming car is indeed growing up well. In terms of design, nothing much is visible although we know it’s targeted to compete with supercars such as the Ferrari F430 and the Lamborghini Gallardo.

Latest report from Autocar suggests that the new Esprit will be powered by BMW’s V8 engine. This sounds promising enough, for we know BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer recently said that the Munich-based automaker has intention to sell its engine technologies to other companies. The most likely candidate for the power-train here would be the 4.4 liter V8 in the BMW X6, possibly tuned up to produce over 500bhp. The car will built between 1000 and 2000 units in the company’s home base Hethel in Britain.

 

That should be a nice car from Lotus

 

Looks like a Gallardo.

 

I am loving it, but they should of at least differentiated it.

 

That's just a rendering, expect Lotus to come up with something awesome to compete with the 430 and Gallardo

 

That's a really horrible rendering of what the Esprit replacement will be. I've been told 2009 by my dealer, and am on the waiting list for one, though they say the Eagle 2+2 GT will come out first. Most of the test mule shots are of various late model Esprits with all kinds of interesting things tacked on.

BMW's V8 would be a good fit, but I wish they'd build an engine of their own again. The Esprit type 918 was awesome.

This is one of my favorite renderings to date, and given the spy shot of the camo'd up mule, it might not be too far off the mark.