Lotus Europa S

The Lotus Europa is a mid-engine sports car by British car manufacturer Lotus Cars. He was introduced at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show and is designed as Gran Turismo. His name is based on the Lotus Europa (Type 46/54/65/74 ) 1966-1975, the car had 57-93 kW ( 78-126 hp) and was only available in Europe. In 2006, the model as Europa S on the market. From 2008, a more powerful version than Europe SE is offered. The basic model is now called only Europe.

Design

Compared to the closely related Lotus Elise, the design of the new Lotus Europa is elegant rather than aggressive. The Europa offers a solid roof, a higher boot volume of 154 liters, more comfortable entry and exit, a passenger airbag, air conditioning and electric windows. Thus, the empty weight is 995 kg.

Technology

The Europa S is powered by the built-in already deployed in the Opel Speedster 2.0 - liter four-cylinder turbo engine from General Motors, which here also 147 kW ( 200 hp ) and a torque of 272 Nm. In contrast to the five-speed gearbox of the Opel Speedster is a 6- speed gearbox used in the Lotus. The performance figures are for the Europa S due to the concept slightly below the Opel Speedster Turbo, with the same power pack.

Europe SE

After the Europa S rather subdued reactions triggered at the buyers and the motorsport press, the development chief Roger Becker himself took on an optimization of the car. For the Europa SE model, the chassis has been completely redesigned and with a harder damper / spring combination, new anti-roll bars, as well as wider / larger wheels. The engine received a larger turbocharger, which in addition to the increase in performance and a smooth power output causes. Furthermore, now 308 mm AP Racing brakes were installed on the front axle, the achieve in combination with the widened tires significantly improve braking performance. There were also some practical optimizations such as the trunk release from the passenger compartment and purely visual appreciation through a full leather interior and a small face lift. According thrilled the SE model was taken from the motorsport press. Since the production of the models Europa S / SE had to be discontinued in early 2010 due to changes in emissions regulations, but only 48 pieces of SE Europe were (408 pieces Europa S ) were prepared. Thus, the Europa SE is probably the rarest road sports car in the history of Lotus.

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