Images of upcoming Lotus crossover surface

It would be the first crossover for the famed British sports car marque.

Images for what is purported to be a Lotus SUV or crossover have surfaced. It will supposedly go to market in 2021.

Drawings for the vehicle were first revealed on the Dutch site Autovisie.nl, who found them in a patent filing. At first glance, a crossover seems to fly directly in the face of Lotus founder Colin Chapman's core philosophy of "Simplify, then add lightness."

As the builder of game-changing and oft-copied sports cars like the Seven, Elan, Europa and Elise, lightweight runabouts with razor sharp handling have been at the company's core since its founding. However, as SUVs killed the sports car in the 90s and now overtake even traditional sedans in popularity, Lotus is pursuing profit over purity.

Perhaps the lightness thing was all relative. Talk of a Lotus SUV of some sort have been around as early as 2006, when it unveiled the APX concept. In 2015, then CEO Jean-Mark Gales said a planned Lotus SUV would be the lightest and fastest, for its class.

Chinese automaker Geely purchased a 51 percent controlling stake in Lotus earlier this year. The parent company of Volvo, Polestar, and Lynk & Co., as well as its own brand of cars, has provided the often struggling Lotus with a cash infusion. Thus far, their loose reigns on Volvo have shown they are happy to let marques be marques.