I have managed to get hold of the Factory Excel Spreadsheet of figures for Esprit Production from 1976 to production end.This is the same file one could find in the factory, used to keep a record of production numbers. It's not perfect, as it doesn't give figures for every different model, but does give a yearly figure for most of the different engine types. You'll see what I mean as you read on.

These figures are the closest you'll get to finding out the official numbers of Esprits made. At the end of production in February 2004, Lotus had made only 10,675 Esprits over a 28 year period with an average of only 381 Esprits made each year. Remember, that figures for the whole world, with Esprits being shipped from Norfolk to Europe and America.

Only when you start looking at the production figure to you real see just how rare Esprits are. Consider that the most made in one year is 1058 in 1988. Which is low, but considering over the rest of the 26 years, yearly figure only topped 500 on 5 occasions and with these numbers spread across the world, I'm surprised anyone's ever seen one!

10,675 Esprits that have been made in total, we would have lost quite a few from crashes, engine fires and generally wear. I guess there are only around 9,000 Esprits in the World. A truly rare automobile.

Production of the Esprit finally finished on 20th February 2004 when the last car was past from Production to Sales

Year	Lotus Esprit Models												Esprit Total
	N/A	Turbo	HCPI	GMP4	INTRCL	S4	S300	S4s	V8	V8GT	S350	GT3
1976*	134												134
1977*	580												580
1978*~	553												553
1979~	474												474
1980~	80	57											137
1981~^	185	116											301
1982^	160	205											365
1983^	84	343											427
1984^	104	418											522
1985^	127	262	62										451
1986^	72	136	246										454
1987#	78	186	198										462
1988	176	387	375	120									1058
1989	90	103		121	563								877
1990	22	51		8	698								779
1991		9		3	113								125
1992		1			172	4	1						178
1993					62	233	25						320
1994						339	30	1					370
1995						46	8	331					385
1996						3		30	260			26	319
1997								5	175	2		97	279
1998									142	99		60	301
1999									123	35	39	13	210
2000									171	48	8		222
2001									81	20	1		101
2002									157				157
2003									119				119
2004									16				16
	2919	2274	881	252	1608	625	64	367	1237	204	42	196	10675

* = Esprit N/A Series 1
~ = Esprit N/A Series 2
^ = Esprit N/A Series 3
# = Start of X180 Body Shape (Peter Stevens)

Turbo – Cars with Turbo (Garratt T3) and Dell'orto Carburettors (early cars had twin 40's and later cars had twin 45's)

HCPI   – Cars with Turbo and Bosch 'K' Jetronic Fuel Injection (compression ratio was increased hence the HC)

GMP4 – Cars with General Motors (GM) Fuel Injection (Delco Electronics ECU)
GMP4 – Similar Engine spec to HCPI but with more sophisticated control system to meet stricter USA emissions requirements
GMP4 – (has on board diagnostics ability)

INTRCL – Cars with GMP4 Injection and fitted with an Intercooler (water to air) to increase Power.

From Lotus
'As for production figures for HC Giugiaro we are looking at a figure of 308 which will also include Bosch injected cars but it is difficult to give an accurate breakdown of how many were non injected. '

Esprit's imported to North America through Lotus Cars USA, Inc total as follows:

1997 = 132
1998 = 95
1999 = 113 (Esprit V8)
1999 = 8 (Sport 350)
2000 = 91
2001 = 97
2002 = 100
Total = 636 (Dave Simkin, Lotus Cars USA)

I'm currently trying to find out why the chart only has a record of 42 Esprit Sport 350's being built. I was under the impression that around 54 had been produced. I will update when I get an idea of which figure is correct.

Essex Production Numbers
Information from Lotus Cars Ltd

Essex Commemorative Lotus Esprit Turbo
45 Cars were built / used as Essex Units
UK Spec. – 31 Cars (4 Development, 4 Pre. Production & 23 Production)
Export Spec. – 14 Cars (3 Development & 11 Production)
No USA Spec. Cars were produced.

Sport 350 Production Numbers
Information from Lotus Cars Ltd
The original Proposal was to build no more than 50 cars (to keep the model exclusive) All the unique parts were ordered to a maximum of 50 (this included enough of some parts to satisfy Service needs where necessary) Production build totalled 42 cars.

I can confirm this as we ordered 50 sets of 'AP Racing' Blue Front Calipers. At a stock check earlier this year we had 8 sets in stock subsequently used on some Japanese spec. cars. The last of which goes on line next week. I also confirmed the figure by checking the Engine build records:- Between 30th Nov. 1998 (first engine) and 24th Jan. 2000 (last engine) 42 Production engines were built plus 1 for Service stock.

So in all 42 genuine Sport 350 cars were produced at the factory.

UK Registered Esprits
(Source: DfT 2004) by Carl Charlesworth

Since looking at the production figures for the Esprit I was fascinated to know how many are actually left on UK roads. In my case, the S4, I knew that it had to be a lot less than 300. After joining the Lotus Esprit forum recently I decided to pull my finger out and do some chasing around to see what was available. After a week of chasing around different contacts I finally got a useful response from DVLA with a contact number on it. I called them up and spoke to a very helpful chap. After some initial confusion on exactly what figures I wanted he said he understood and still believed he could provide the information I required via email in a couple of hours. Sure enough a few hours later I received the email with the following stats.
I did not provide him with the Esprit types, he was able to list the different versions he had registered.

These are the DVLA numbers of Lotus Esprits registered in the UK during 2004.

Lotus Esprit	397
Lotus Esprit Turbo	386
Lotus Esprit Series 3	1
Lotus Esprit Turbo SE	103
Lotus Esprit Turbo	21
Lotus Esprit S Turbo	4
Lotus Esprit Turbo S4	94
Lotus Esprit Sport 300	7
Lotus Esprit S4s	56
Lotus Esprit V8 Turbo	172
Lotus Esprit GT3	107
Lotus Esprit V8-GT	89
Lotus Esprit Sport 350	25
All Lotus Esprit vechicles	1462
Source: DfT

My thanks and credit to Mr M. Gray Aguye at DfT for the getting the figures together.

LEW's Verdict
As you see the figures don't really add up. Only 1 Esprit S3 registered and taxed in 2004 seems a little low. We don't know the exact requirements for a vehicle to make it into these numbers, but we guess, that the vehicle needs to be taxed and have a valid V5 document. We also believe that some of the S3's may have something different on there V5 document. Either just Lotus Esprit, or maybe under turbo. Any UK registered S3 owners might like to email us with what their Esprit has as make and model on there V5. This may help us get to the bottom of these figures and make a little more sense of them.

The total number of UK Esprits is very low, but probably won't included some cars that are currently off the road being fixed or having long-term restoration and may not include Esprit currently with dealers, who may not have re-tax while in the showroom. Having said that, it's not likely to really bump the numbers up too much. So we seem to be looking at under 1800 Esprits in the UK at present. That is unless your all driving around untaxed!!!!

Unfortunately there aren't any figures to how many of the 10,765 Esprit stayed in the UK. A high percentage where shipped to the US and some ended up in Europe. So we are unable to work out if this number is realistic or not. But just think of your Esprit as a little rarer than you thought!

Update
Lotus Esprit World has been contacted by both S2 and S3 owners who have checked their V5 documents and found it to just read 'Lotus Esprit'. So it seems the figures could be more accurate than we first thought.

We'd still like all UK Esprit owners to check their V5's and see what their Esprit is listed as. If it's different from what it should be, please email LEW.

U.S. 1993 Esprit SE

93MY Esprit Turbo SE
The 93MY SE was only imported into the US and limited to 62 cars. It has the majority of the 92MY changes but also included the following changes:

* A larger SE style rear wing, similar to the standard SE wing, but taller and at more of an angle.
* Except for commemorative editions, the 1993MY was the first USA Stevens' model without the glassback design.
* Revolution alloy 5-spoke wheels in painted black with a polished silver lip. These are one-piece clones/imitations of the 16" three-piece wheels found on the X180R race variant and street version limited edition.
* A front rubber lip spoiler to protect the underside of the front valance.

93-1/2MY Esprit Turbo SE
The 931/2MY (93.5) was a transition into the later S4 and was once again only available in the US. It included the following changes:

* Passenger side airbag
* S4-style interior with (slightly) more head, leg, and shoulder room. Window controls mounted on the center console.
* Flush, body-colored, vertically operating exterior door handles instead of the old black horizantal operating handles.
* Wider opening doors.
* A clutch line that routed across the front of the transmission to the passenger's side. The 93 runs straight back the driver's side.