Fifty years after Giorgetto Giugiaro’s wedge first stunned Paris, a small British company has decided the Lotus Esprit still deserved one more, very expensive, makeover.
The Chelmsford start-up Encor has unveiled the Series 1: a carbon-bodied remaster that dresses the look of the 1975 Esprit S1 but hides the robust guts of a late‑1990s Esprit V8 underneath. The brief was simple and a little cheeky — make the original idea of the Esprit come true with modern engineering, without losing the analogue feel that made the car iconic.
What Encor did (and didn’t change)
At first glance the silhouette is pure S1: low, wedgey, pop‑up housings (now containing sleek LED projectors) and that distinctive sloped dash. But dig into the details and it’s clear this is not a cosmetically tweaked barn‑find: Encor replaces the fragile two‑piece GRP tub of the original with a single autoclaved carbonfibre shell, and bolts that to a reinforced, galvanised backbone chassis taken from the later Series 4 V8 donor.
The pop‑ups are retained because, frankly, some designs are sacrosanct. The rear quarters gain vents for cooling. The glazing and shutlines are tightened; the old black flange that hid the two‑piece body is gone. Interior flourishes — tartan inserts, a two‑spoke‑style wheel and a billet aluminium instrument binnacle — nod to the seventies while the dash, sills and centre console are modern carbon and billet metal.
Safety and usability got attention too: an integrated carbon safety cage, upgraded cooling, modern radiators and an entirely new electrical architecture (Top Gear reports the kit comes from the same infotainment family Pagani and GMA use). The fly‑off handbrake has been swapped for an electric unit to free up packaging; a 360‑degree camera and better climate and audio systems bring it into the present.
The mechanical story — familiar bones, reworked heart
Under the rear glass sits the Esprit’s Type 918 3.5‑litre twin‑turbo V8. Encor doesn’t just bolt on cosmetics: it has rebuilt the alu block with forged pistons, remanufactured turbochargers, larger injectors, new impellers and a bespoke ECU and electronic throttle. Output is quoted at about 400 bhp and roughly 350 lb‑ft of torque — up around 50 hp on the stock V8 — with a target wet weight under 1,200 kg. That combination gives Encor a 0–62 mph time in the region of four seconds and a top speed near 175 mph.
Why keep the old five‑speed transaxle at all? Packaging constraints. There’s simply nowhere modern gearboxes fit without wholesale redesign. So Quaife has essentially rebuilt a new five‑speed from the old casings: stronger shafts, revised ratios, improved bearings and a twin‑plate clutch. A Quaife limited‑slip diff and upgraded brakes from AP Racing (six‑pot fronts, four‑pot rears) and uprated suspension with Bilstein dampers and Eibach springs complete the mechanical refresh. Steering remains hydraulic by choice — Encor wanted to preserve the tactile feel the Esprit was famous for.
Limited run, lofty numbers
Encor plans just 50 builds. The base price announced is about £430,000 (not including taxes or the donor Esprit), and estimates for the total buyer outlay — when you factor in the cost of sourcing and surrendering a V8 donor — push the figure much higher. Different outlets suggest customers should expect to spend roughly the equivalent of a mid‑six‑figure sum for the finished car; Top Gear put a typical buyer entry around £550k once you include the donor and local taxes, while other estimates push the on‑the-road number even higher.
A prototype is already out testing and Encor expects customer deliveries to begin in 2026 (Top Gear noted the first customer car was due in April in its timeline). The build is aimed squarely at collectors and enthusiasts who want the look and immediacy of a 1970s sports car but with reliability, cooling and performance that won’t embarrass buyers on long blasts or track days.
Why this matters — and whom it will please
Restomods have become their own market niche: rich collectors willing to pay six figures for cars that look classic but drive like modern machines. Encor’s pitch is conservative in one sense — keep analogue engagement — and radical in another — a carbon shell, rebuilt high‑output V8 and reworked drivetrain. For those who treasure chassis purity and low weight, 400 hp in a 1,200 kg car is a seductive ratio: it’s less about outright supercar numbers and more about the sort of lively, connected driving tone many enthusiasts now crave.
There’s also a cultural wink here. The Esprit is as much a pop‑culture artifact as it is an engineering one — who doesn’t think of James Bond when an Esprit is mentioned? The internet’s immediate follow‑ups were predictable: someone mentioned the submersible scenes from The Spy Who Loved Me and asked if Encor’s remaster could swim. That’s obviously a joke, but it captures the emotional affection that makes projects like this commercially feasible.
If you like the idea of throwing one into a spirited weekend canyon run or weekend track sprint, Encor’s work sits in the same emotional space as modern wild builds and stunt culture (for the stunt‑mad among readers, see enthusiasts still embracing extreme driving projects in pieces like Gymkhana Returns: Travis Pastrana’s 670‑HP ‘Brataroo’ Subaru BRAT Can Fly). And if you’re tracking how far a boutique company can go reengineering old hardware for new power, look at how aftermarket turbo and drivetrain swaps have become mainstream in the SEMA and parts world — a trend that helps explain the appetite for factory‑quality restomods (Ford Will Sell SEMA’s Maverick 300T Turbo Kit — and a 900‑HP Raptor R Supercharger).
The practical note
Only 50 will be built. Encor’s team includes engineers and designers with Lotus, Aston Martin and Koenigsegg pedigrees, and they’ve worked with established composites houses to make the carbon shell (KS Composites — the same outfit connected to work for Gordon Murray Automotive — was mentioned in reporting). They are handling sourcing and conversion in‑house and say they’ve financed development without taking customer deposits.
If you own a tired Esprit V8 and a spare seven figures of patience, Encor will gladly talk to you. For everyone else, this is another reminder that nostalgia, engineering skill and deep pockets can still collide to produce cars that rewrite what an old nameplate can be — not by copying the past slavishly, but by reinterpreting it with modern materials and engineering intent.
No submarine option (yet), but the pop‑ups are back, and that will be enough for most.