Lotus Europa bites the dust

Lotus has decided that its bloated Elise GT – the Lotus Europa – will end production immediately.

Lotus had a Europa in the 1960s. It was in many ways a bigger version of the successful Lotus Elan, a trick Lotus tried to pull off with the 2006 Lotus Europa – but failed.

So it’s no real surprise to see that Lotus has decided to kill off the Europa after only four years and disappointing sales.

In many ways it was a slightly cynical stop-gap to fill a void Lotus knew would ultimately be filled by the new Lotus Evora. But instead of being a new car – as the Evora is – it was a bigger, softer Elise that Lotus hoped would be perceived by buyers as a proper GT car. And they wanted a fairly ludicrous £35k for it.

True, the Europa did handle – as you would expect from a  Lotus – but it was just a series of compromises to fill a niche and never felt as if the Lotus heart was in its creation. And despite its steep price tag it never exactly reeked of quality.

But now it’s gone. A disappointing blip on the Lotus model radar.

Long live the Lotus Evora

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