In the mid sixties Lotus were trying to distance themselves from their kit-car heritage. The growing respectability of their productions cars (in particular the Elan) meant that a new class of customer was buying Lotus that didn’t want to be associated with the Lotus Seven.As a consequence Lotus’ founder, Colin Chapman, decided that there should be a replacement for the Seven. Given Lotus’ on track success, it was reasonable that this new car should feature a mid-engine rear wheel drive design giving the customer a link to the highly successful F1 cars of the time. However, the resulting car, the Europa (Figure 2), was produced by the main Lotus Cars factory rather than by Lotus Components, the division responsible for the Seven.
