Based on all that we've seen and heard, it sounds like Lotus is going to start building our cars in September, and have them all completed and shipped to whatever POE they use for the U.S., (maybe New York?) and that will all be done by December, where they'll be stored awaiting CARB certification provided it hasn't already been received.
Originally the ordering process was spread out over 3 months in 3 batches, and I had the impression they were going to ship that way, but now it sounds like everything is going to be lumped into one shipment. The dealers are apparently going to get their entire order allotment all at once, so it won't matter much which order group you were in.
For dealers that have somewhat large allotments (like mine in Bellevue, Washington which is getting 45 cars) it's going to be fun to process all that, do the PDI, contact each customer, complete the purchase plus whatever add-ons like PPF, etc., and arrange for pickup or delivery. And in the case of Bellevue (Park Place Lotus), this will be in the dead of winter up near Seattle! Yay. I'm assuming each salesperson will be responsible for contacting their customers, and probably in order of when they ordered.
Unless Lotus has received CARB certification by the time the cars arrive in December, I don't expect anyone will be seeing their car until January/February at the earliest. April or May would be better for me simply because of weather conditions. I'm having mine delivered by covered carrier, but I'm NOT going to drive it if there's snow or ice on the roads, and even though I'll gladly receive it, it would be hard to have it just sitting in my garage until weather conditions improved. I'm hoping for a mild winter, but you never know in the Pacific Northwest.