Though it may be difficult for some to fathom, the Lotus Esprit is one of the major contributors to the way people perceive a supercar should look. Unlike previous entries to the Lotus stable, the Esprit was styled by Italian firm ItalDesign under the experienced pen of Giorgetto Giugiaro. The wedge-shaped car that emerged put the world on hold, changing the way nearly every supercar would be styled for the next quarter century.
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| When people think of how a supercar should look, the design of the Esprit basically sums it up. (Photo: Lotus) |
Even today, where extremities in proportions are seen on every automobile on the road, the Esprit still shocks with its extremely low overall height. Try and find a lower sports car, and all there is are supercars such as Ferrari's Enzo, Lamborghini's Murciélago, Saleen's S7 and a handful of others, all hundreds of thousands more expensive than the Esprit.
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| The Esprit has aged gracefully over its 27 year life, with Lotus continuing to improve it one detail at a time. (Photo: Lotus) |
Now factor in the Lotus is a pensioner in comparison to these energetic teens, and it becomes very clear that it has aged like a fine wine. Of course, it hasn't exactly motored along over nearly three decades without any updates at all. The original Esprit's folded-paper look lost some of its initial sharpness when Lotus stylists freshened it in the mid-'80s. The car went under the scalpel in 1993 for a second update as well, albeit more subtly executed than generation one to two.
Over the most recent decade Lotus has continued to improve the Esprit one detail at a time. Pick any part of the car - though it may appear to be the same in all Esprits - and year-to-year updates to items such as spoilers, trim bits, windows and others have been altered.