Anyone received their 30 day notification yet?

[TomE]

Won't these be dealer cars?

They're still on track to be delivered in August, so they must have the missing parts for those (or be expecting them this/next week).

 

[lion shf]

Ok guys, so Lotus staff have had 2 weeks off, so presumably they will be itching to get back to Hethel to communicate with the long suffering deposit holders, get the cars built and then delivered to us. Right? Or am i having one of my deluded/optimistic moments? And in reality, it will be "as you were Lotus staff" And as you were "deposit holders" remain in the dark (verdant)

WWE7D?

 

[Pav]

An optimistic view perhaps but if all UK dealers get 2 cars, that’s ‘only’ 44. I wouldn’t be surprised if what they said early in is true - that the first deposit holders will get cars very soon after the dealers. And that would be September. Though if they’re sending dealer cars outside the UK from batch 1, it’s perhaps not so optimistic.

 

[richbrown]

I’m at Brands Hatch today. Saw this in the merch shop. Made me chuckle, seems to have skipped the expensive rebrand. Available now though!

Ha ha yes saw them a few weeks ago and nearly posted a pic on the forum! Look comfy

 

[Rollie]

An optimistic view perhaps but if all UK dealers get 2 cars, that’s ‘only’ 44. I wouldn’t be surprised if what they said early in is true - that the first deposit holders will get cars very soon after the dealers. And that would be September. Though if they’re sending dealer cars outside the UK from batch 1, it’s perhaps not so optimistic.

Concerning Belgium they have provided 6 demo’s, 2 for each dealer,sport and Tour,delivery September…

 

[TomE]

Yes, Belgian demo cars confirmed on Friday as due in September. They’re LHD so not part of Batch 1, which is UK customer cars.

 

[emiraspain]

Sorry I forgot to mention..... from none Lotus direct employee, but people that have seen, and see the site on a daily basis and speak to said Lotus employees...

There were 2 large containers that arrived last week. This we have been told before, but maybe the difference is that this time they were air freighted, which in itself may say something.
You would possibly only bother paying 50k airfreight if that container had parts which could actually change production schedule.
I saw with my own eyes about 8-10 cars outside in the elements on Saturday, which lets face amount to just sun at the moment, and looked virtually complete.
All this is +ve, but remember CS told me, if you remember, 3 cars at best to be delivered in September, the rest October. This has been repeated to one other person or along those lines, on here, but I realise others have been told no change from the last communication. Higher up Lotus employee checked for me, ie not CS at all, told me my car would be made in September, for delivery October, position 34... he told me this last week. He also mentioned email to be sent this week after build schedule updates.

Final useless piece of info, for what its worth is Lotus factory employee saying latest cars are 8 weeks delayed, BUT of course 2nd hand info and I dont know from which point the 8 week refers to.... from original date or last given date, so as I said, useless.
I am 45% confident of getting an email this week... and if not, I am 75% confident of getting my car in October.... statistics and damn statistics

 

[TomE]

The 8 week delay is the same 8 week delay we were told in the Matt Windle video and at Goodwood. It’s not a new extra 8 weeks. I’ve checked this with a few people at Lotus as well as with LCC.

My first official delivery month was June, then first delay to July, then 8 week delay to September.

 

[emiraspain]

The 8 week delay is the same 8 week delay we were told in the Matt Windle video and at Goodwood. It’s not a new extra 8 weeks. I’ve checked this with a few people at Lotus as well as with LCC.

My first official delivery month was June, then first delay to July, then 8 week delay to September.

Yes thats what I had in the back of my head when he said it, but I also had in my head, I have now gone from June to October delivery and is it now possible a further 4 week delay, meaning a further 8 in total...
I dont know.... its now not such a big issue for me, its a separate trip back to the UK one way or another and its a Winter car instead of a Summer car...

 

[Magicman]

its not a page in its own right so can't give you a direct link, but its in here:

Lotus Emira – Order Now | Lotus Cars United Kingdom

The Lotus Emira is a true sports car that builds on the legacy of past Lotus icons. Everything about the car is made for the driving enthusiast.

www.lotuscars.com

scroll down, choose configure, then under the render of the car in the configurator, there's a monthly payment figure, which is clickable (although doesn't appear to be - great website design!).

If you then pick a finance product and click next, the second page allows you to enter px details and then there's valuation button at the bottom

Found it, ha ha that's class, its gone down £7k from 6mths ago and offering nearly £20k less than the cheapest one available for sale. Lotus got my back

 

[Scruff111S]

The 8 week delay is the same 8 week delay we were told in the Matt Windle video and at Goodwood. It’s not a new extra 8 weeks. I’ve checked this with a few people at Lotus as well as with LCC.

My first official delivery month was June, then first delay to July, then 8 week delay to September.

I was told 2 years ago I would get my Emira in March. Then last year it has been April/May, May/June, then last November, definitely June, then July. The last time I contacted CS, after seeing a few people on this Forum had been given dates, and they said August manufacture for September delivery. That's the last date I was officially given. Not sure what to believe now.

 

[Scruff111S]

Sorry I forgot to mention..... from none Lotus direct employee, but people that have seen, and see the site on a daily basis and speak to said Lotus employees...

There were 2 large containers that arrived last week. This we have been told before, but maybe the difference is that this time they were air freighted, which in itself may say something.
You would possibly only bother paying 50k airfreight if that container had parts which could actually change production schedule.
I saw with my own eyes about 8-10 cars outside in the elements on Saturday, which lets face amount to just sun at the moment, and looked virtually complete.
All this is +ve, but remember CS told me, if you remember, 3 cars at best to be delivered in September, the rest October. This has been repeated to one other person or along those lines, on here, but I realise others have been told no change from the last communication. Higher up Lotus employee checked for me, ie not CS at all, told me my car would be made in September, for delivery October, position 34... he told me this last week. He also mentioned email to be sent this week after build schedule updates.

Final useless piece of info, for what its worth is Lotus factory employee saying latest cars are 8 weeks delayed, BUT of course 2nd hand info and I dont know from which point the 8 week refers to.... from original date or last given date, so as I said, useless.
I am 45% confident of getting an email this week... and if not, I am 75% confident of getting my car in October.... statistics and damn statistics

That sounds very promising. So possibly these containers have our cars missing parts in. The Lotus staff are back at work tomorrow. I think guys, this could be good news for us, at last.

 

[Scruff111S]

Tom, what is your thoughts on emiraspain's post saying 2 containers had been delivered to Hethel last week?

 

[Mctaff]

They're still on track to be delivered in August, so they must have the missing parts for those (or be expecting them this/next week).

my dealer has told me september every time I've asked

 

[Hedge]

Sorry I forgot to mention..... from none Lotus direct employee, but people that have seen, and see the site on a daily basis and speak to said Lotus employees...

There were 2 large containers that arrived last week. This we have been told before, but maybe the difference is that this time they were air freighted, which in itself may say something.
You would possibly only bother paying 50k airfreight if that container had parts which could actually change production schedule.
I saw with my own eyes about 8-10 cars outside in the elements on Saturday, which lets face amount to just sun at the moment, and looked virtually complete.
All this is +ve, but remember CS told me, if you remember, 3 cars at best to be delivered in September, the rest October. This has been repeated to one other person or along those lines, on here, but I realise others have been told no change from the last communication. Higher up Lotus employee checked for me, ie not CS at all, told me my car would be made in September, for delivery October, position 34... he told me this last week. He also mentioned email to be sent this week after build schedule updates.

Final useless piece of info, for what its worth is Lotus factory employee saying latest cars are 8 weeks delayed, BUT of course 2nd hand info and I dont know from which point the 8 week refers to.... from original date or last given date, so as I said, useless.
I am 45% confident of getting an email this week... and if not, I am 75% confident of getting my car in October.... statistics and damn statistics

They’ll be ready soon. Best not torment yourself! If that shipment had everything needed, emails would have gone out.

Seems like multiple suppliers and multiple parts are having issues.

I’m no expert in these things, but if a widget is on a container, either by air or boat, then there’s a reference, container number, shipping consignment and also a tracker on the vehicle it’s travelling on. Ship or otherwise.

A Lotus person doesn’t just go to the port or airport to see if there’s anything arrived today. Do they?

Especially as comms (via forums) said back in Jan/Feb that supply chain issues weren’t going to be supply chain issues for the Emira.

If at this stage (mid August) only 30 cars or so are sitting around waiting for widgets to finish them off, add to the continual pre-production disclaimers for the test cars even recently, then I’d think there are far more problems at play here than we know about.

Even the driving academy doesn’t have finished, production, cars.

If I was still holding a deposit (just waiting for the monies to come back) then I’d be resetting my expectations for December or new year now.

But they’ll come. Just seems that it’s going to be a lot longer for the factory to get all the bits and go into full swing.

Still a great car and worth the wait!!

 

[Eagle7]

So you're trying to encourage people to join. But take aim at someone whose opinions you disagree with and specifically reference their low post count and being a recent joiner, implying that makes their posts less valid? Seems kind of unwelcoming.

You tell people not to express opinions criticising Lotus unless it's constructive, because poor old Lotus is having a tough time and we should cut them some slack? I think customers expressing their frustrations at how they feel they're being treated is fine on a forum. If it goes on ad infinitum that's because Lotus has failed to meet those customers' expectations. That's not a small minority, is a recurring theme across this and every other Lotus forum and Facebook group. But you think we shouldn't talk about it because it's somehow unfair to the Lotus people who are actually responsible for this situation? It's their job to manage this and yes, some of it is very difficult due to external factors - but there's a stack of stuff they can control, including comms to customers.

They've been told about customer concerns multiple times (you wrote to Matt - did you get a reply?) and despite saying they are taking action to improve customer service, literally nothing has changed. You're trying to defend the indefensible - supply chain issues we can all appreciate, but the fundamental issues are about how that is being handled by Lotus. Suggesting that we shut up, live with it, go away and come back when cars are ready and then be grateful for the opportunity to receive a car is completely back to front thinking.

By and large the discussions on here are friendly, considered and well-reasoned (and sometimes funny or sarcastic). Recently there's been an understandable increase in the level of frustration, because Lotus has left a massive comms vacuum and failed to deliver on promises made regarding updates. The delays to cars we can all understand; the delays to comms we're much less sympathetic about.

Suggesting things have deteriorated on here and that somehow people are put off joining by citing a couple of outlier examples is disingenuous. The admins on here do a great job behind the scenes to deal with the problem posts and people, largely without anyone realising. What they don't do is police the tone of the discussion. That's not for you to do either. Everyone who has registered can post on here and can post what they like, within the (fairly broad) forum rules. If some posts tick you off, you can scroll past or reply, but you don't get to censor what people post or tell them what they can and can't say. If people have chosen to lurk as a guest for whatever reason that's fine and up to them. If they subsequently register and participate, then we welcome them unreservedly into the forum membership.

You and anyone else can start a thread about topics you feel are more positive. This thread (barring a few tangents) is about the 30 day notification and the closely-related lack of comms from Lotus. It's pretty damning that it's 39 pages long and has had 768 replies and 40,000 views ... but no one has yet had the promised delivery date update or 30 day notification.

War and Peace;
The Final Stages, Part 1

The TL;DR version:

You obviously feel you are justified in complaining about what I said, but if I make a comment or observation, I’m policing, censoring, telling people what they can or can’t say. It’s quite apparent that you want to continue to complain and condemn (as do some others) because you continue to do so. It also obviously upset you that I requested we not do that because it doesn’t do anybody any good. My suggestion isn’t policing, censoring or telling people what they can or can’t say. That’s something a forum mod can do; I’m not a mod. My view on all this is you’re taking this stuff too seriously Tom. It’s a car. All this tension and anger isn’t fun. It isn’t productive. You’ve provided so much value in here for over a year. Don’t let it get to you. We’re almost at the finish line to start seeing our cars. Take a breather. Be at peace. Do something fun. We’ll get through this. It’s just a car.



And now for something completely different; a multi-page reply…

“So you're trying to encourage people to join. But take aim at someone whose opinions you disagree with and specifically reference their low post count and being a recent joiner, implying that makes their posts less valid? Seems kind of unwelcoming.”

So you chose to ignore where I quoted his post saying Matt was arrogant and incompetent, as the reason why I objected to his post (which we’ve since sorted out). His post count was 6 at the time, and in my experience people who join a forum and immediately say things like the CEO of the company is arrogant and incompetent, are typically trolls; often from a competing brand. As I pointed out, he and I did work that out which you chose to ignore so you could then twist it so you can pretend you have a point to make there. You don’t; that was weak, no points for you on that one.

“You tell people not to express opinions criticising [sic] Lotus unless it's constructive, because poor old Lotus is having a tough time and we should cut them some slack? I think customers expressing their frustrations at how they feel they're being treated is fine on a forum. If it goes on ad infinitum that's because Lotus has failed to meet those customers' expectations. That's not a small minority, is a recurring theme across this and every other Lotus forum and Facebook group. But you think we shouldn't talk about it because it's somehow unfair to the Lotus people who are actually responsible for this situation? It's their job to manage this and yes, some of it is very difficult due to external factors - but there's a stack of stuff they can control, including comms to customers.”

I did not tell people not to express opinions criticizing Lotus unless it’s constructive. I said I “prefer” constructive criticism. Telling people what a failure they are usually don’t come across very well, and isn’t likely to inspire them to improve. It usually inspires them to ignore you. Look at how you’re reacting to some very mild suggestions I’ve made. I respectfully requested we keep things civil and classy, and boy did that piss some people off! (There are some in here who I know will see the irony of that). Imagine what your reaction would have been if I’d said things about you that you’ve said about some of the people at Lotus.

Here’s another example of you rearranging what I said so you can pretend to have a point: “But you think we shouldn't talk about it because it's somehow unfair to the Lotus people who are actually responsible for this situation?” I never said any such thing. I said I prefer constructive criticism which you referred to when you started this salvo, but immediately choose to ignore in the very next paragraph that you said that, so you can pretend I said something I didn’t say in order to attack what I didn’t say.

“It's their job to manage this and yes, some of it is very difficult due to external factors - but there's a stack of stuff they can control, including comms to customers.”


We all know about the lack of comms; it’s been the topic of complaint for pretty much this entire year so far. If they choose to say nothing, it’s their right to take that position. It’s their company. You can complain about that, but if that’s the position they’re choosing to take, that’s the way it is. You can complain. You can write letters. You can talk to them in person, but if they decide not to change that position, you can vote with your wallet and not support that by not buying anything from them. Becoming bitter and condemning them for not doing what you would like them to do, doesn’t make anything better for them or for you. It’s one thing to complain or criticize, but if it goes on for too long, that can turn into bitterness and that’s an ailment that’s very hard to cure. You’ve provided an awful lot of value to this forum. I’d prefer it if you don’t become disillusioned and burned out over all this.

 

[Eagle7]

War & Peace Part 2

I can see why they’ve requested that you not present yourself as a representative of the company. It’s not your job, it’s not your responsibility, you’re not getting paid to do that. And you don’t have the inside information or the power and control necessary to make promises and ensure they’re kept. It’s completely unfair to you to feel like you have to explain why the statements made to you by people at Lotus, haven’t materialized. As a company they may want to not say anything, but that option is taken away from them when you repeat things told to you they may not have officially stated, or wanted to. Might I suggest that you not repeat anything told to you with regards to timing? For example, don’t say something like “they’ll email everyone next week”. If they say that officially, fine. If you want to say they told you they’d email everyone, fine, but don’t say when. Let them do that. That way if something happens and they don’t email everyone, that’s on them not you, because you weren’t the one who said it. Let the people at Lotus make any announcements with regards to timing, i.e. when something is supposed to happen. Don’t try and take on the weight of responsibility for explaining why things don’t happen; that’s not your job and it’s totally not fair to you to feel like you have to do that.

You’re an enthusiast and a customer. Your experience buying an Emira matters too, but you’re not their representative and you shouldn’t get so wound up in all this that it ruins things for you. When you repeat things said to you by individuals within the company, and then it doesn’t happen, you seem to take that personally and feel like you have to save face. Unfortunately the way you’re saving face is by trashing theirs; that’s not good. It’s not good for you, for them, or for anyone. You may be right; you may even be justified, but it’s not good Tom. If they’re reading some of it, and they probably are, that’s not going to do you any favors inside the company either.

“They've been told about customer concerns multiple times (you wrote to Matt - did you get a reply?) and despite saying they are taking action to improve customer service, literally nothing has changed. You're trying to defend the indefensible - supply chain issues we can all appreciate, but the fundamental issues are about how that is being handled by Lotus. Suggesting that we shut up, live with it, go away and come back when cars are ready and then be grateful for the opportunity to receive a car is completely back to front thinking.”


Yes I wrote to Matt, and he didn’t reply, but if he’s like any of the execs I’ve known and worked with over the years, he literally has thousands of unread emails in his inbox. There simply isn’t enough time to read all of them; I understand. I don’t take it personally.


I didn’t say shut up; I said don’t go on and on and on about it. Einstein’s definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. If Lotus is going to change, they’ll change and we’ll see it. Remember the configurator? If they don’t appear to change, either they aren’t going to, or what they’re working on isn’t ready to reveal yet.


Placing a deposit didn’t make you their partner. You’re a customer. They can choose how they deal with you. It may be good, it may not, or it may be somewhere in the middle. If you don’t like the way you’re being treated, don’t do business with them. If you want the product despite everything else, then once you’ve said your piece, be at peace. Don’t make yourself miserable over it. It’s a car.

“By and large the discussions on here are friendly, considered and well-reasoned (and sometimes funny or sarcastic). Recently there's been an understandable increase in the level of frustration, because Lotus has left a massive comms vacuum and failed to deliver on promises made regarding updates. The delays to cars we can all understand; the delays to comms we're much less sympathetic about.”

Yes, I’ve said that more than once, that the forum is by and large friendly. How much of the recent frustration in here though, is because of things Lotus themselves have officially said, or because of things you’ve said someone at the company said to you, then you came in here and repeated it? Now do you see why they may not want you to present yourself as though you’re a spokesman for the company? You put yourself in a terribly stressful position when you do that. If they make an official statement, fine. We can talk about that. However if they don’t, I recommend you keep confidential anything said to you about timing or when something might happen. Don’t stress yourself out over this. They’re not paying you to carry that kind of load. In fact they’re not paying you at all. You’re an enthusiast; not their employee.

“Suggesting things have deteriorated on here and that somehow people are put off joining by citing a couple of outlier examples is disingenuous. The admins on here do a great job behind the scenes to deal with the problem posts and people, largely without anyone realising [sic]. What they don't do is police the tone of the discussion. That's not for you to do either. Everyone who has registered can post on here and can post what they like, within the (fairly broad) forum rules. If some posts tick you off, you can scroll past or reply, but you don't get to censor what people post or tell them what they can and can't say. If people have chosen to lurk as a guest for whatever reason that's fine and up to them. If they subsequently register and participate, then we welcome them unreservedly into the forum membership.”

In the previous paragraph you acknowledge that “Recently there’s been an understandable increase in the level of frustration…” and say it’s the fault of Lotus, but then in the very next paragraph pretend you didn’t say that, and try to blame me by saying “Suggesting things have deteriorated on here…” as though they haven’t. Yes, they have which is what prompted me to say something about it. There have been far more than “a couple of outlier examples”. It’s been going on for months. Trying to make it trivial by saying it’s just me saying it, so you can rise up and nobly defend the level of frustration is rather disingenuous itself. Telling me it’s not my place to “police the tone of discussion” is also disingenuous. Nothing I’m doing is policing; it’s just me making my observations and putting in my 2 cents about something. When I say something like “I would like to request”, that isn’t “policing”. That’s me doing what you claim everyone (including me) who has registered here can do, which is “post what they like, within the (fairly broad) rules.” Then you go on to say if some posts tick me off, I can scroll past or reply, “but you don’t get to censor what people post or tell them what they can and can’t say” as you attempt to censor and tell me what I can or can’t say.

This thread is indeed about the 30 day notification as you pointed out. Has anyone received theirs? No, because Lotus hasn’t sent one out. That means cars aren’t completed and ready to ship yet, but we have dozens of pages of angst and misery, hundreds of replies, tens of thousands of views in this thread over it. Why? You say it’s because Lotus is failing to keep their promises. I say it’s because they aren’t able to for a lot of reasons; some we’re aware of, many we’re probably not. When companies are having to send agents to auctions to bid on materials so they can try to manufacture things, that’s seriously messed up. It’s bad everywhere; probably far worse than we realize.

You obviously feel you are justified in complaining about what I said, but if I make a comment or observation, I’m policing, censoring, telling people what they can or can’t say. It’s quite apparent that you want to continue to complain and condemn (as do some others) because you continue to do so. It also obviously upset you that I requested we not do that because it doesn’t do anybody any good. My suggestion isn’t policing, censoring or telling people what they can or can’t say. That’s something a forum mod can do; I’m not a mod. My view on all this is you’re taking this stuff too seriously Tom. It’s a car. All this tension and anger isn’t fun. It isn’t productive. You’ve provided so much value in here for over a year. Don’t let it get to you. We’re almost at the finish line to start seeing our cars. Take a breather. Be at peace. Do something fun. We’ll get through this. It’s just a car.

 

[Eagle7]

Lol...you are kidding me right? I RARELY post anything anymore. But I do keep up with the comments. Which I have to say have gotten quite tiring and repetitive at this point....

Your posts have always been in blind defense of Lotus, who can do no wrong and always has something to blame and they're trying their hardest with what they have and demand is so high, blah blah blah. It seems very odd after a year. Even TomE, who probably knows more than any of us has revealed his frustrations from time to time.

But carry on...

You obviously haven't read all of my posts, but carry on indeed. And I agree, comments have gotten quite tiring and repetitive at this point. We had a lot of high enthusiasm at the beginning, but fatigue has clearly begun to set in due to the delays in production. There's not much to talk about at this point. We just need our cars.

 

[Den]

You obviously haven't read all of my posts, but carry on indeed. And I agree, comments have gotten quite tiring and repetitive at this point. We had a lot of high enthusiasm at the beginning, but fatigue has clearly begun to set in due to the delays in production. There's not much to talk about at this point. We just need our cars.

Maybe the OP should rename this thread:

Not much to talk about / post your whinging here / slag each other off thread

 

[emiraspain]

They’ll be ready soon. Best not torment yourself! If that shipment had everything needed, emails would have gone out.

Seems like multiple suppliers and multiple parts are having issues.

I’m no expert in these things, but if a widget is on a container, either by air or boat, then there’s a reference, container number, shipping consignment and also a tracker on the vehicle it’s travelling on. Ship or otherwise.

A Lotus person doesn’t just go to the port or airport to see if there’s anything arrived today. Do they?

Especially as comms (via forums) said back in Jan/Feb that supply chain issues weren’t going to be supply chain issues for the Emira.

If at this stage (mid August) only 30 cars or so are sitting around waiting for widgets to finish them off, add to the continual pre-production disclaimers for the test cars even recently, then I’d think there are far more problems at play here than we know about.

Even the driving academy doesn’t have finished, production, cars.

If I was still holding a deposit (just waiting for the monies to come back) then I’d be resetting my expectations for December or new year now.

But they’ll come. Just seems that it’s going to be a lot longer for the factory to get all the bits and go into full swing.

Still a great car and worth the wait!!

no torment here, just trying to illustrate that Lotus are spending an awful lot more on air freight than sea freight in order to help them and in turn help us get our cars asap, but this of course doesnt mean anything will change and I am pretty confident Oct is the best guess for the moment for deliveries, we are after all heading to the middle of august and no Lotus employees at all at the factory on Saturday as we knew.
Hopefully in a few months there will be shifts on Saturdays and cars flooding out the gates, but I think that full flow is still a way off... next year probably