[...m...]

...i think the europa's been plagued by an ambiguous identity...

...it's appointed with grand touring pretensions, but it's still based on an elise chassis and manufacturing process, with all the noise, comfort, fit, and finish compromises that entails...similarly, while it's built upon the elise chassis sporting intent, its grand touring appointments compromise that essential handling and raw feel with extra weight and muted feedback...

...really, it straddles both worlds (touring and sporting) while mastering neither, and that's a difficult sell to a market polarised toward extreme performance or extreme comfort, with a host of better-suited sporting and touring cars available to either end...i fully expect the evora to replace the europa in lotus' lineup, being designed from the outset as a touring car rather than a roadster...

...plus, i don't find the europa particularly attractive - there's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't have any particularly breathtaking character traits...it's a platform of compromise and thus projects a sense of banality amongst a field of deliberately outstanding designs...