The Lotus Europa GT Coupe was first introduced in 1966, with a production life lasting nine years and over 9,000 cars produced. The two door coupe was loosely modelled on the Lotus Elan and featured independent suspension across all four wheels, which was quite uncommon for a car of its type.

The first series was powered with an 82 bhp engine, a modified version of the 1.5 litre Renault. The original version emitted just 52 bhp before it was tuned by Lotus. A Renault gearbox was also added due to its lightweight makeup. The Lotus Europa had a 0-62 speed of just 9.3 seconds and a top speed of 121 mph, mainly due to the lightweight nature of the car, at just 610 kg.

The first series was the rarest of the Europas, with only 296 cars produced in the world, the first of the range being delivered to France.

Lotus decided to create a specialist racing version of the Europa and introduced the type 47, with a bespoke twin cam engine delivering 165 bhp and Hewland five speed manual transmission. This proved a success in being able to rival the competition for power and performance where the Renault engine had failed.

The series two was introduced in 1968 and whilst it utilised the same engine as its predecessors there were a number of other modifications to the car itself. An entire new interior was offered, with electric windows, adjustable seats and a wooden polished dashboard. The car was also available with white racing stripes.

In 1969 the series two was redesigned for the US import market, with an improved 80 bhp engine. It achieved a top speed of 116 mph and had a modified suspension compared to the original series two.

A limited edition 105 bhp version of the Lotus Europa was introduced in 1971. The car featured a Lotus-Ford twin cam engine and a four speed manual gearbox from Renault. Around 1,500 of these cars were produced before the decision was made to upgrade the engine. A new and improved 126 bhp version of the engine was introduced which saw a 0-62 mph of just 6.6 seconds.