I dont even think they know enough to give that estimation do they, or they would have contacted us already?
If they can't give us a date now then are the missing parts even on the water with a port ETA? Or is it not actually parts related and is something even more serious with production/type approval?
At the end of the day they were too bullish with their initial delivery estimations and too slow to communicate with us and that has led us to where we are now.
I'm over it, so just tell me 30 days before delivery is due and I will tell them at that point if i want the car or not.
Until then they can continue to say nothing. I prefer it to the mixed messages and half truths
They have a procurement/sourcing team getting regular updates from suppliers. Some of the problems include suppliers not being open or realistic about their own timelines, but also it can be things outside the suppliers' control - raw material provider or sub-component supplier doesn't deliver, government imposes new lockdown, logistics problems etc.
Lotus are trying to get more detailed info to back up the dates suppliers are giving them, for example are items in production or in transit to Hethel. Every indication I've had about the delays for V6 FE manual cars is that they are all related to parts supply, not production processes or approvals. That's less clear for auto V6 and i4.
They can re-run a production schedule regularly based on latest info - they were doing it 1-2x per month in January and it's probably weekly at the moment. The problem seems to be they won't publish the info until they feel ready to do that.
I think Lotus were perhaps a bit naïve about managing the supply chain in a post-pandemic world, but other manufacturing firms have been caught out by that too. They were unlucky to publish timelines in July 2021 with Covid apparently lessening, then got hit by the impacts of Omicron and Russia/Ukraine. It's a really tough environment to be managing production of something as complex as a new car. I'm sure there are things they could have done differently on sourcing. But the fundamental issue is comms.
I too am now just waiting for the car to arrive on whatever date that turns out to be. But I can drive one of my other cars in the meantime and have given up on doing any trips or events with an Emira this summer. For others who are waiting for a new daily or fun car with no alternative, particularly those new to Lotus, I have every sympathy with how badly you've been treated by Lotus.
