Lotus unveils design sketch of its new electric sports car

British sports car maker Lotus has partnered with battery cell expert Britishvolt to fastrack "advanced EV technology" development. Commemorating this newest team-up is a design sketch of a new Lotus EV sports car, and it eerily resembles the most iconic Lotus of all: The Esprit.

You probably heard of the Evija, a $2.15-million limited-edition hyper sports car of which only 130 will exist. From what we heard, the new car will be unlike the Evija. On the contrary, it's a return to form for the British brand, and its upcoming sports car could mark the return of the Esprit nameplate after more than 18 years of absence.

"Last year, we committed Lotus to a pure-electric future, and in the first month of this year, we announce another significant step on that journey," said Matt Windle, Managing Director, Lotus Cars. "In the coming months, we will be unveiling the Type 132, an all-new and all-electric Lotus SUV, and we've confirmed three more EVs are on the way."

Okay, we know about Type 132, and we'll probably see it first than Lotus' new sports car. But now, production has ended for the Evora, Exige, and Elise, so it's fair to say Lotus fans are pretty anxious about what's to come. At the moment, the Lotus Emira is here to satisfy your whims, and it's brandishing a supercharged 3.5-liter V6 with 400 horsepower.

However, all future Lotus cars will be pure electric. And since harking back to the past is commonplace in today's automotive realm, we reckon the Esprit name is making a comeback, and it's evident the design sketch bares all the vintage styling highlights of the original Esprit S1 by Giorgetto Giugiaro.

Don't let those shapely front and rear haunches fool you, though. If you squint hard, you could mistake the design sketch for James Bond's submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me (which happens to be an S1 Esprit), the reason being for the Esprit's iconic status among car enthusiasts and Hollywood fans.

We could be getting ahead of ourselves, but more details could arrive to confirm our suspicions in the next few months, including some juicy tidbits on the incoming Type 132 electric SUV.