Lotus planned the Europa to be a volume-produced, two-seater mid-engine sports coupe built to reasonable cost, quite an ambitious goal for the time.

To this end, a number of ingenious design approaches were made by Lotus to allow it to economically overcome the many challenges presented by the novel mid-engine arrangement.

[3] The sourcing of suitable engine, gearbox and final-drive components was considered critical to the success of delivering a low-cost mid-engine vehicle.

Chapman was keen to diversify beyond the Ford components heavily used in earlier Lotus vehicles, and settled on using the engine and combined transmission/final-drive transaxle units recently released by Renault for its 16.

By relocating the combined engine/transaxle unit to the rear of the car and rotating it 180 degrees in plan, Lotus could obtain a ready-made modern mid-engine configuration - albeit one with four reverse gears.

By repositioning the differential crownwheel within the final drive assembly (made possible by the symmetrical split case), the direction of rotation of the output shafts was reversed, thus correcting this shortcoming.

Its overhead-valve design had the camshaft located high-up in the block, resulting in a compact valve-train well suited for high-rpm operation.

[3] These radius arms played a critical role in giving the precise tracking and handling desired, as the Chapman Strut's use of the driveshaft to resist lateral forces was compromised by the rubber engine and transaxle mounts needed to isolate vibrations from the car body.

The steel chassis central beam was sandwiched (incorporated) within the fibreglass bodywork, thus reinforcing stiffness, but making repair rather complicated.

The S2 used the same 1,470 cc Renault engine and mechanical components as the earlier Series 1, but added a number of key refinements including opening electric windows, adjustable seats, a new fully carpeted interior and a polished wooden fascia panel for the dashboard.

The most significant change was the switch from fully bonded construction to the use of bolt fasteners to attach the fibreglass body to the backbone steel frame.

[13] From early 1969, secondary front indicator lamp nacelles were added between the headlights, and larger door handles were used in place of the S1's push-button items.

During 1968 a number of Europas (and Elans) were produced bearing black-and-silver Lotus badges on the nose and steering wheel in place of the customary yellow-and-green ones.

In 1969–70, the Type 65 (also known as S2 Federal) was introduced specifically for export to the U.S., with additional changes to the body, chassis, suspension and the powerplant to better comply with U.S. D.O.T.

[17] In 1971, the Type 74 Europa Twin Cam was made available to the public, with a 105 hp 1,557 cc Lotus-Ford Twin Cam engine (113 hp US "Federal" version with standard emissions control and Big Valve engine with Stromberg carburetors, until the end of production) and a re-designed bodyshell to improve rearward visibility.

1,580 cars were shipped as Europa "Twin Cam" before Lotus switched to a 126 hp "Big Valve" version of the engine.

All with a five-speed gearbox and Big Valve engine the original Specials were painted black with a gold pin stripe matching the livery of the GP cars – plus a numbered JPS dashboard badge.

Although the original Europa was intended as a clubman's sports racer to replace the Lotus 7, it was realised that the car would be uncompetitive with the Renault engines available.

The engine, gearbox and rear suspension were completely different from the standard Europa and were taken in their entirety from the Lotus 23/Lotus 22 Formula Junior cars with a Lotus-Ford Twin Cam based 165 hp (123 kW) 1,594 cc Cosworth Mk.XIII dry sump engine, and a Hewland FT 200 five-speed gearbox and suspension with reversed bottom wishbone, top link and dual radius arms.

Throughout its life, the Europa attracted the attention of many Lotus and non-Lotus automotive customising businesses who offered "special" versions in small numbers to the public.

[18] These cars had a wider track, special wheels and stickers, white indicator lights up front, and featured extractor vents high on the side panel behind the rear door.

In 1971 two Lotus Hemi were entered as Group 4 GTS at the international hill climb race St. Ursanne Les Rangiers and Ollon-Villars driven by the Swiss drivers Oskar Bubeck and Alfons Tresch.

[19] Chip Foose the famous automobile pioneer of United States also modified and restored a Lotus Europa for Episode 6 of the season 11 of his popular show Overhaulin'.

It was one of the most time-consuming and complicated build of the show, where a brand new 1.8 litre four cylinder engine from an Elise was fitted into the car, while the power is handled by Porsche Boxster transmission.

This version is based on the standard Lotus Europa Twin Cam, but has new bodywork which bears some resemblance to the Maserati Merak.