In the 1970s, one Lotus car would become an icon of a generation, and posters would fill the rooms of young boys across the world. This car was the Lotus Esprit, which rose to fame thanks to a feature in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Now, 43 years later, Lotus has celebrated this legend with a special photoshoot alongside the all-new Lotus Evija, an electric hypercar that looks just as good as the original Esprit, if not better.

Standing side by side, it is remarkable to see how far manufacturers have come with regards to design. The Esprit is a blocky thing, and even though we love a good wedge, the Evija, which has been designed according to aerodynamic flow looks stunning and is a beautiful example of form following function.

Lotus recently announced that it would be building one last prototype of the Evija at its Hethel manufacturing facility before customers would take delivery this summer, but Covid-19 had other plans. The launch was impacted, but owners have since been raving about Lotus' latest product. The Lotus Evija is powered by four individual electric motors that kick out a stunning 1,972 hp, which is more than you get in exotics such as the Bugatti Chiron and Pininfarina Battista. Performance figures include a zero to sixty sprint in under three seconds and a zero to 186 mph in under nine seconds.

Lotus plans on building only 130 of these cutting-edge cars, which means these cars are going to hold their value for a very, very long time.

All of these events come hot off the heels of the news that Lotus will be moving its steel fabrication (currently situated at Vulcan Road, Norwich) and lightweight structures (located in Worcester) businesses to a larger facility at Hurricane Way in Norwich which will create 125 new jobs. This investment shows a commitment to the Norwich region. The new facility brings sub-assembly and chassis manufacturing together into one new operation, 10 miles from the Lotus HQ in Hethel.

The 12,300 square meter Hurricane Way factory will be responsible for the manufacturing of the aluminum extruded and bonded aluminum chassis for the Evora, Exige, and Elise sportscars.