Encor Series 1 brings back the Lotus Esprit

Quick look

• Iconic Lotus Esprit ‘remastered’ 50 years after original launch.

• Carbonfibre body with modern engineering but still analogue in character.

• Prices start at £430,000 with only 50 units built to order.

Remember the car that James Bond drove underwater, a memorable scene from ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ in 1977? It made the Giugiaro-designed Lotus Esprit sportscar famous around the world, although no one ever did make an Esprit that could function like a submarine.

For the movie, Lotus had provided 11 cars, one of which was the personal car of Colin Chapman, then Chairman of the company. The cars were part of a production run of 10,675 cars produced between 1976 and 2004, with the Esprit becoming an iconic item for collectors in the years that followed.

As for the cars used in the movies, only one seems to have survived and was then abandoned in America. In 1989, it was then bought (for just US$100) by a couple who initially did not know what they had bought. However, in 2013, they had the car auctioned at RM Sotheby’s and Elon Musk bought it for US$997,000. He has revealed that the sleek shape inspired the design of the Tesla Cybertruck.

The Esprit ‘remastered’
50 years after its debut at the Paris Motor Show, UK-based Encor is offering a ‘remastered’ Esprit. The Encor Series 1 is a respectful, ground-up remastering of the original Esprit S1, rebuilt with a carbonfibre bodyshell, modern engineering and a renewed design philosophy.

The design and engineering team behind the project – drawn from experience with Lotus, Aston Martin, Koenigsegg and Skyships Automotive – approached the Esprit not as a blank canvas, but as a piece of cultural heritage. The goal was to remaster it with the sensitivity, craftsmanship and capability of the present day, without disturbing the purity that made it so extraordinary in the first place.

There is also another connection to the car, as William Ives, Skyships co-founder, revealed: “The Esprit has been part of our story for nearly 3 decades. We built the systems for its owners; we lived with these cars; and now we have the chance to bring all that experience together in a single, deeply considered package. This project has always been about respect.”

Design with discipline
“The S1 Esprit was forward-thinking, pure and utterly uncompromised,” said Daniel Durrant, Encor’s Head of Design and former Lead Designer at Lotus for the Emira. “To touch a shape like this is a huge responsibility. Every line we’ve refined, every decision we’ve made, is about honouring the original’s intent while letting the car perform, feel and function the way its silhouette always promised.”

Durrant’s team began by digitally scanning the original Esprit, resurfacing and refining its geometry using modern design tools. The objective was to perfect: tighter highlights, cleaner transitions, greater precision and material honesty.

The distinctive two-piece mould line of the 1970s fibreglass body could be removed, replaced by an uninterrupted autoclaved carbonfibre shell that captures the purity of early sketches. The result is a form that looks unmistakably Esprit, yet reveals its quality instantly: the tautness of the wheelarch surfaces, the crispness of the shoulder line, the exquisite sharpness of the front volume.

The stance subtly broadens to accommodate modern tyres and brake cooling, while the lighting – now ultra-compact LED projectors integrated into low-profile pop-up housings – retains the distinctive wedge front end, but with contemporary performance and a cleaner aerodynamic face.

Even the wheels speak the same language of reverence. Inspired by the original slot-mag design and the later Sport 350 5-spokes, Encor’s forged and billet-machined wheels reinterpret familiar cues with modern structural clarity and proportion.

Faithful to yesterday
Beneath the carbonfibre body sits the backbone of an Esprit V8, retained intentionally for continuity of identity and registration. The chassis is stripped, blast-cleaned and refinished before being paired with an entirely reconstructed powertrain.

The mid-mounted 3.5-litre twin-turbo V8 receives forged pistons, upgraded injectors, remanufactured turbochargers, a new electronic throttle body, modern fuel and cooling systems, and an all-new stainless exhaust – transforming its character while preserving its unmistakable soul.

Performance targets reflect this upgraded philosophy. The engine now produces approximately 400 bhp/454 Nm, pushing a target kerb weight of under 1,200 kgs. Acceleration from 0 – 100 km/h is expected to take 4 seconds, with a top speed close to 280 km/h.

The transmission receives equal attention. Working with Quaife, Encor re-engineers the original 5-speed manual gearbox with a stronger input shaft, revised ratios, a helical limited-slip differential and a bespoke twin-plate clutch, giving the shift a precision and durability the original never possessed.

Suspension components are upgraded to Sport 350 specification; braking is delivered by AP Racing; steering remains hydraulically assisted rather than electric, preserving the tactile, driver-focused character fundamental to the original Esprit.

“Lightness and tactility guide every decision,” explains Mike Dickison, Technical Director and former MIRA engineer. “The Series 1 drives with the purity you imagine from an analogue supercar, yet with a depth of capability the original platform could only dream of. It’s a transformation carried out with complete respect for its DNA.”

Past and present within
Inside, the Series 1 preserves the Esprit’s most memorable elements: the dramatically sloped dashboard; the cockpit-like wraparound instrument binnacle; the tartan accents; the sense of sitting deep within a purposeful, driver-centric machine. Yet each element has been rebuilt from the frame outward.

The floating instrument cluster is perhaps the most striking reinterpretation: machined from a single billet of aluminium and wrapped around a modern digital display, it delivers clarity, beauty and a structural honesty impossible in 1975.

The carbonfibre dashboard ‘T’ houses every essential control, putting function exactly where the driver expects it. Seats are restored, re-foamed and re-trimmed, maintaining their original ergonomics while elevating support and finish. Infotainment, climate and camera systems – designed in-house by Skyships – integrated discreetly, providing quiet convenience without disturbing the analogue intent.

“This car is analogue at heart,” said co-founder Simon Lane. “We wanted to avoid the modern tendency toward gadgetry, therefore the technology exists to enhance the experience, not to dominate it.”

Limited to 50 units
Production of the Encor Series 1 is limited to 50 individually commissioned cars worldwide. Prices begin at £430,000 (around RM2.35 million), ex-factory. Customers are required to provide a donor Esprit V8 and can customise the car. Deliveries will begin in second quarter of 2026 and continue through 2027.

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