The first inseption of this car was the original concept car in 1974. Two years later the Lotus Esprit went into production with a 160-horsepower 2-liter engine. In 1981, the engine was replaced by a turbocharged 2.2-liter, 210 horsepower engine. With the new engine the top speed of this vehicle becames 150mph. In 1988 the Esprit was redesigned with softer lines and a horsepower upgrade increasing the power to 228. In 1990 power went up to 280 horses, still from a turbocharged 4-cylinder power plant. The engineers squeezed all they could from the engine.