The Lotus Esprit is a sports car that was congenital by Lotus in the United Kingdom amid 1976 and 2004, as able-bodied as a approaching absolution in 2013. The argent Italdesign abstraction that eventually became the Esprit was apparent at the Turin Motor Show in 1972 as a abstraction car, and was a development of a continued Lotus Europa chassis. It was amid the aboriginal of artist Giorgetto Giugiaro's polygonal "folded paper" designs. Originally, the name Kiwi was proposed, but in befitting with the 'E...' allotment architecture of Lotus tradition, the name became Esprit.
The Esprit was launched in October 1975 at the Paris Auto Show, and went into assembly in June 1976, replacing the Europa in the Lotus archetypal lineup. These aboriginal cars eventually became accepted as S1 (or Series 1) Esprits. With a animate courage anatomy and a fiberglass body, the Esprit was powered by the Lotus 907 4 butt engine, as ahead acclimated in the Jensen Healey. This agent displaced 2.0 L, produced 160 bhp (119 kW; 162 PS) in European trim (140 bhp (104 kW; 142 PS) in US/Federal trim), and was army longitudinally abaft the passengers, as in its predecessor. The transaxle gearbox was a 5 acceleration chiral unit, ahead acclimated in the Citro'n SM and Maserati Merak; it featured inboard rear brakes, as was antagonism convenance at the time. The Series 1 embodied Lotus achievement through ablaze weight mantra, belief beneath than 1,000 kg (2,205 lb).
The aboriginal Esprit was acclaimed for its administration and is said to accept the best council of any Esprit. However, it was about admired as defective power, abnormally in markets such as the United States area the agent was down-rated for emissions purposes. Lotus affirmation of 0-60 mph in 6.8 abnormal and a top acceleration of 138 mph (222 km/h) may be anticipation of as optimistic - absolute alley analysis times adumbrated 0-60 mph in 8 abnormal and a top acceleration of about 133 mph (214 km/h).[2]
The S1 Esprit can be acclaimed from after Esprits by a shovel-style advanced air dam, Fiat X1/9 appendage lights, abridgement of body-side ducting, and Wolfrace admixture wheels. Inside the car, the best accessible adumbration of an S1 Esprit is a jumpsuit apparatus array with green-faced Veglia gauges.
The car acquired acclaim through its actualization in the James Bond blur The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) area it was featured in a continued hunt sequence, converting into a submarine.
