The Lotus Esprit is a super sports car built by Lotus between 1976-2004. It was among the first of designer Giorgetto Giugiaro's 'folded paper' designs. The silver Italdesign concept which eventually became the Esprit was displayed at the Turin Motor Show in 1972 as a concept car.

After the popularity of Esprit which was used in “The Spy Who Loved Me”, James Bond once again chose Lotus as a preferred manufacturer. This time, Q Branch would supply James Bond with the new generation Esprit Turbo that was launched in 1980. James Bond used the new Lotus Esprit S3 Turbo in his film, “For Your Eyes Only”.

For this movie, Lotus supplied a couple of Esprit Turbo's, one of which was the original prototype that has been retained by Colin Chapman. Both the models were painted white with red stripes and matching designs. When the production moved to the Italian ski resort of Cortina, they found that a darker shade would suit better to the snowy background. Therefore, one of the cars was send back to Hethel where it was repainted bronze with golden stripes and decals.

The Esprit used in The Spy Who Loved Me included faintly ridiculous features, whereas these turbocharged versions of car took on a less ambitious role. It was presented by more realistic specification which centered around a self-destruct system. It consisted of four C4 explosive packs, hidden in both sides of the car and front and back. It also included magnetic seals on all doors as well as boot plus a set of vibration sensors. The car also included an enlarged 2.2 litre engine with Garrett T3 turbocharger and downstream twin Dellorto carbs.

With its appearance in “For Your Eyes Only”, Lotus Esprit S3 Turbo became more popular among car lovers. After the production had ended, both the Esprit Turbo's went on  promotional duty before returning to Hethel. The white car became something of a mystery while bronze model was sold at Silverstone direct from Lotus in 1998.