Ron Hickman Ron Hickman Ronald Price Hickman OBE (21 October 1932 – 17 February 2011) was a South African-born, Jersey-based car designer and inventor who designed the original Lotus Elan, the Lotus Elan +2 and the Lotus Europa, as well as the Black & Decker Workmate. Hickman was born in Greytown, Natal, South Africa, where he worked as a courthouse clerk after leaving high school. He moved to London in the 1950s where he was employed by a music publisher. From 1954 Hickman worked for the Ford Motor Company at Dagenham first as a clay modeller and later he helped to style
Lotus Europa Lotus Elise, the car was officially introduced at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show. Lotus Europa S production commenced in July 2006 and continued to 2010. The engine was a 2.0 L turbo delivering at 5,400 rpm, with a maximum torque of at 5,400 rpm. Delivering 0-60 mph in 5.6 seconds (0–100 km/h in 5.8 sec.) With a maximum speed of . Lotus did not export the Europa S to the USA. Despite this, the American manufacturer Dodge was developing an electric vehicle based on the Europa, known as the Dodge Circuit, which it planned to bring to the US market