Anyone received their 30 day notification yet?

[Scruff111S]

As posted on the Henry thread they are purely interested in getting as much $$$$ as possible at present.
No sense prioritising the UK at all with its crushed pound. You can maybe blame Brexit partly for that mind

So there is no loyalty towards the country where they are built and, for the early years at least, British buyers got Lotus going before they became a world known brand.

 

[Tonyshepp]

I liked how Matt hid behind the sales team prioritisation. As the MD of the company you might not set the direction strategically of Lotus but you manage the day/day achievement of the strategy and that includes managing the sales prioritisation.

It’s poor that there’s no demo cars to test drive

 

[Leonard]

So there is no loyalty towards the country where they are built and, for the early years at least, British buyers got Lotus going before they became a world known brand.

Nope
If you look back over the past 18 months that's been the case from the beginning unfortunately.
Inspite of utilising Lotus History as a marketing tool. There has been no actual interest in old Lotus customers and enthusiasts. Only some slight lip service.
Now the £ is so weak against the $ they are barely hiding it. Talk of Brexit, supply issues, type approval and the like is just a 'kindness' so as not to give their UK customer base a Hethel slap accross the face.
It is what it is, but it's a shame to reward loyalty in such a way.

 

[Mistral]

One minute we are told that only left hand drive cars can be build because of parts supply issues. And now we here that 20 right hand drive cars are heading to Australia. So UK can't have cars but Australia can as there is no issue with parts. You couldn't make it up. Names out of a hat I still think.

And, in political terms, today was a good day to bury bad news. The thinking is that we in the UK are going to be euphoric about Harry Metcalfe's video.

 

[TomE]

I liked how Matt hid behind the sales team prioritisation. As the MD of the company you might not set the direction strategically of Lotus but you manage the day/day achievement of the strategy and that includes managing the sales prioritisation.

It’s poor that there’s no demo cars to test drive

There was some odd choice of language in that part. He referred to Sales as "them" but to Operations as "we" - as if he was a production person interacting with a sales team on build priorities that was outside his control or influence.

 

[Leonard]

There was some odd choice of language in that part. He referred to Sales as "them" but to Operations as "we" - as if he was a production person interacting with a sales team on build priorities that was outside his control or influence.

I wonder where those priorities are coming from. Hmmmm

 

[Scruff111S]

Nope
If you look back over the past 18 months that's been the case from the beginning unfortunately.
Inspite of utilising Lotus History as a marketing tool. There has been no actual interest in old Lotus customers and enthusiasts. Only some slight lip service.
Now the £ is so weak against the $ they are barely hiding it. Talk of Brexit, supply issues, type approval and the like is just a 'kindness' so as not to give their UK customer base a Hethel slap accross the face.
It is what it is, but it's a shame to reward loyalty in such a way.

Agreed. I think this will be my second and last Lotus. I don't think i can put myself through this again. And i will not allow a company to treat me like this again. Not even Lotus. It does hurt, being a long time Lotus fan.

 

[Lotustoronto]

I wonder where those priorities are coming from. Hmmmm

I think the video was pretty clear that he was not happy on the direction Geely took. Albeit, it is out of his control and probably the most advantageous from a business perspective. The single most impressive part of his interview was that he admitted that the Lotus team did drop the ball on logistics/procurement and that delay's were not completely down to external forces. It takes some courage for the boss to admit he screwed up on a YouTube interview. Also reading in-between the lines, he does not control that what cars get built and where they are headed at the moment and are probably decided by a team ran by this guy :

http://zgh.com/group-management/feng-qingfeng/?lang=en

 

[Leonard]

Agreed. I think this will be my second and last Lotus. I don't think i can put myself through this again. And i will not allow a company to treat me like this again. Not even Lotus. It does hurt, being a long time Lotus fan.

I'm amazed all of you old guard are still here to be honest. I salute you.
It's been criminal not to see you all being taken on this journey with new Lotus in a more positive way.
I'm sure if you all grow your beards just a little longer the Morgan fraternity will take you all in
In all seriousness though I hope you do all get your cars soon soon and things start to get a bit better with the actual ownership experience. I'm sure you will all be instrumental in keeping all of the cool Lotus car meets and track events running innthe future and welcome all the excited Emira newbies with welcome arms and regale them with times of old

 

[Hedge]

I'm amazed all of you old guard are still here to be honest. I salute you.
It's been criminal not to see you all being taken on this journey with new Lotus in a more positive way.
I'm sure if you all grow your beards just a little longer the Morgan fraternity will take you all in
In all seriousness though I hope you do all get your cars soon soon and things start to get a bit better with the actual ownership experience. I'm sure you will all be instrumental in keeping all of the cool Lotus car meets and track events running innthe future and welcome all the excited Emira newbies with welcome arms and regale them with times of old

Needed us once.

 

[Twin Cam]

There was some odd choice of language in that part. He referred to Sales as "them" but to Operations as "we" - as if he was a production person interacting with a sales team on build priorities that was outside his control or influence.

I think the video was pretty clear that he was not happy on the direction Geely took. Albeit, it is out of his control and probably the most advantageous from a business perspective. The single most impressive part of his interview was that he admitted that the Lotus team did drop the ball on logistics/procurement and that delay's were not completely down to external forces. It takes some courage for the boss to admit he screwed up on a YouTube interview. Also reading in-between the lines, he does not control that what cars get built and where they are headed at the moment and are probably decided by a team ran by this guy :

http://zgh.com/group-management/feng-qingfeng/?lang=en

Pretty much spot on in my opinion… well said

 

[Scruff111S]

I'm amazed all of you old guard are still here to be honest. I salute you.
It's been criminal not to see you all being taken on this journey with new Lotus in a more positive way.
I'm sure if you all grow your beards just a little longer the Morgan fraternity will take you all in
In all seriousness though I hope you do all get your cars soon soon and things start to get a bit better with the actual ownership experience. I'm sure you will all be instrumental in keeping all of the cool Lotus car meets and track events running innthe future and welcome all the excited Emira newbies with welcome arms and regale them with times of old

Thank you Leonard, you are very kind. Maybe in a few weeks when i eventually get my car things may be different. I do enjoy Lotus gatherings/events and trackdays and helping/advising new people into the fold. I have to say, if possible, to have some get togethers with people i have been talking to on this forum.

 

[Leonard]

Thank you Leonard, you are very kind. Maybe in a few weeks when i eventually get my car things may be different. I do enjoy Lotus gatherings/events and trackdays and helping/advising new people into the fold. I have to say, if possible, to have some get togethers with people i have been talking to on this forum.

I think that's the dream for all of us on here isn't it
I really enjoyed Lotus in the Peak this year. If that's an indication of things to come and the enthusiast crowd Lotus attract then more of the same please

 

[emiraspain]

Thank you Leonard, you are very kind. Maybe in a few weeks when i eventually get my car things may be different. I do enjoy Lotus gatherings/events and trackdays and helping/advising new people into the fold. I have to say, if possible, to have some get togethers with people i have been talking to on this forum.

If you want to get together with me, you're going to have to join a porsche forum.. haha...

So, I think I read you said you were told your car would be produced in a week or two? Or did I dream that or randomly read a thread that was out of place....

 

[Scruff111S]

If you want to get together with me, you're going to have to join a porsche forum.. haha...

So, I think I read you said you were told your car would be produced in a week or two? Or did I dream that or randomly read a thread that was out of place....

Yes, i was told my car started the production process on Thursday. Then told i should be getting my checkout email this week, then delivery probably second week in November.

 

[emiraspain]

Yes, i was told my car started the production process on Thursday. Then told i should be getting my checkout email this week, then delivery probably second week in November.

great!
I still think its crazy 3 weeks for prep / checks what have you and still a risk of problems as EU are seeing after trip to Oxford. I think this oxford step is crazy... should be done much closer if not on site some how, but what do I know. All I know is you should have your car before mid November!

 

[Nlsmith2123]

Ive been thinking about it and thought to myself whats the point in cancelling, if your an early car no matter where you are the world and your thinking about cancelling DON'T just flip the car and make yourself a few quid.

I know that is wrong and upsets a lot of people but it's the simple answer.

This is my thoughts as well. I mean as an early depositor you have been waiting close to 2 years. Don't just drop out unless of course financing is an issue. Other than that at least take possession and flip it. You dont have to be a dealer and bump it up 40k but you should be entitled to a 5-10k mark up. I mean you deserve a little kickback for being punished by lotus for the last 2 years lol

 

[Leonard]

great!
I still think its crazy 3 weeks for prep / checks what have you and still a risk of problems as EU are seeing after trip to Oxford. I think this oxford step is crazy... should be done much closer if not on site some how, but what do I know. All I know is you should have your car before mid November!

To be fair my Yaris came from Japan to be PDI'd in Derby

 

[TomE]

Needed us once.
View attachment 9869

Now there's a rogues gallery! Back before this forum existed and when we were part of the 131 "superfans" at the reveal.

 

[TomE]

I think the video was pretty clear that he was not happy on the direction Geely took. Albeit, it is out of his control and probably the most advantageous from a business perspective. The single most impressive part of his interview was that he admitted that the Lotus team did drop the ball on logistics/procurement and that delay's were not completely down to external forces. It takes some courage for the boss to admit he screwed up on a YouTube interview. Also reading in-between the lines, he does not control that what cars get built and where they are headed at the moment and are probably decided by a team ran by this guy :

http://zgh.com/group-management/feng-qingfeng/?lang=en

Where are you picking up about him not being happy about the Geely direction? I didn't hear that. Like you've highlighted, I did hear him taking ownership for the problems and clearly all the Lotus team are working hard to overcome all the difficulties.

We can speculate forever about whether their plans were over ambitious or if they have managed it well. I've met Matt several times and there's no doubting his commitment to the company and transformation Lotus is going through. Matt is Lotus Managing Director and is responsible for sales as well as operations and all the other Lotus Cars functions, despite the impression the video edit and some of the tone gave.

Some things are outside his control, such as of course all the Covid, Ukraine, supply chain and economy chaos. It now also appears, despite Matt's comments in an earlier interview about his autonomy, that there's been some re-direction from Geely in some key areas. It's inevitable when you're not hitting your plans, regardless of the reasons, that your bosses, parent company and investors take a closer interest.