Anyone received their 30 day notification yet?

[Lotustoronto]

Anyone have an idea on the first Customer to receive the first Emira? I am thinking September 29th. First delivery.

 

[Scruff111S]

Anyone have an idea on the first Customer to receive the first Emira? I am thinking September 29th. First delivery.

Which year would that be?

 

[Scruff111S]

I do really like the new Ftype. Everything I consider all of the sum of the parts, the ownership experience and residuals, it always comes back to Porsche though....

Yes it is a stunning car, when sitting in it, the quality shines through. Very good prices for both convertible and coupe new, £15-£20 less than Emira. Today has given me a lot to think about. Many options available to me. I will wait for the test drive of Emira, then make a decision.

 

[Scruff111S]

How did your car hunting go today Tom?

 

[Hobiedick]

Anything anybody does is going to cost money; money that may be getting diverted to putting everything into getting cars into production. Matt said they're going to hold to the original quoted pricing for those who had already placed their orders, but it's not hard to imagine that internal costs have gone up. Shipping costs have gone up. Supplier(s) are probably having the same issues, and once that starts to happen, it tends to ripple on down the line. If they're paying to air freight things in? That is definitely NOT what they were originally budgeted for. Every increase in internal costs is money coming from Geely, not from sales revenue because they don't have anything to sell yet. They need more than deposits and orders; they need completed sales revenue.

Nine months and counting of no revenue because they don't have a finished product to sell yet. There isn't going to be ANY customer sale experience; pre or post unless cars start to get completed and shipped. You or I may feel like there's no reason why they can't do what we want, but somebody in charge of the money appears to feel differently.

Under these conditions, EVERYONE at the company is involved in getting cars built and shipped because they have NO INCOME at the moment and haven't the entire year. ANY money spent anywhere at the company has to come from Geely and investors, who it appears don't want to spend anything on anything else except getting cars produced so they can get the revenue stream started. The internal costs for doing that are going up by the week, possibly by the day, but they aren't going to pass that on to the entire first year production run. You have to know those cost breakdown spreadsheets are getting scrutinized daily.

Right wrong or indifferent, it sure looks like a money issue to me at the moment.

If these people you're referring to have been planning and wanting to do things for the last 9 months, but may not have been given the green light to do it, once revenue starts coming in that should be the green light. If nothing changes, we'll know there's something else going on, but from what you and others say who've interacted with these same people, it sounds to me like they're being held back for the time being. We'll know one way or the other soon enough.

No sign of an Evija being delivered yet either is there??

 

[Scruff111S]

I do really like the new Ftype. Everything I consider all of the sum of the parts, the ownership experience and residuals, it always comes back to Porsche though....

Sorry Leonard, was it you browsing the car dealers today?

 

[Leonard]

Sorry Leonard, was it you browsing the car dealers today?

It was. Went and tried out a 981 Spyder and 4.0 GTS. Was hoping to try a 420 Exige as well but had been sold. Then there were the Morgan 3 Wheelers.....
Pretty sure @TomE has been prowling around the McLaren dealers though

 

[TomE]

Yes, went to look at a 12C. Tempting. A different ballgame to the Emira and I'd have to budget a lot more for running costs, including a warranty. A 570 or 650 would mean bumping up the budget another £15-30k, which I could do but is harder to justify for a weekend toy.

It also gave me an excuse to do 2 hours of cross-country driving on mostly empty roads in the Exige. It involves a lot of compromises on practicality but is a brilliant fun drivers car. Wondering if a late Evora GT410 or GT430 might be the sweet spot. Test driving a few alternatives either side of an Emira test drive makes sense.

 

[TomE]

Anyone have an idea on the first Customer to receive the first Emira? I am thinking September 29th. First delivery.

Why do you think 29 Sept?

That happens to be my birthday, but I don't think Lotus are going to turn up with mine for early delivery as a birthday surprise...

 

[Leonard]

Yes, went to look at a 12C. Tempting. A different ballgame to the Emira and I'd have to budget a lot more for running costs, including a warranty. A 570 or 650 would mean bumping up the budget another £15-30k, which I could do but is harder to justify for a weekend toy.

It also gave me an excuse to do 2 hours of cross-country driving on mostly empty roads in the Exige. It involves a lot of compromises on practicality but is a brilliant fun drivers car. Wondering if a late Evora GT410 or GT430 might be the sweet spot. Test driving a few alternatives either side of an Emira test drive makes sense.

Having something hardcore like your Exige and then something a little more Sports/GT around the 40-45k mark is a temptation

 

[Scruff111S]

It was. Went and tried out a 981 Spyder and 4.0 GTS. Was hoping to try a 420 Exige as well but had been sold. Then there were the Morgan 3 Wheelers.....
Pretty sure @TomE has been prowling around the McLaren dealers though

I had a look at various Cayman and boxster models. I visited Rybrook Birmingham Lotus and McLaren. Not one Lotus there but 6 McLaren. I have to say i did like the F Type. I will go to Jaguar Shrewsbury tomorrow awell.

 

[TomE]

Anything anybody does is going to cost money; money that may be getting diverted to putting everything into getting cars into production. Matt said they're going to hold to the original quoted pricing for those who had already placed their orders, but it's not hard to imagine that internal costs have gone up. Shipping costs have gone up. Supplier(s) are probably having the same issues, and once that starts to happen, it tends to ripple on down the line. If they're paying to air freight things in? That is definitely NOT what they were originally budgeted for. Every increase in internal costs is money coming from Geely, not from sales revenue because they don't have anything to sell yet. They need more than deposits and orders; they need completed sales revenue.

Nine months and counting of no revenue because they don't have a finished product to sell yet. There isn't going to be ANY customer sale experience; pre or post unless cars start to get completed and shipped. You or I may feel like there's no reason why they can't do what we want, but somebody in charge of the money appears to feel differently.

Under these conditions, EVERYONE at the company is involved in getting cars built and shipped because they have NO INCOME at the moment and haven't the entire year. ANY money spent anywhere at the company has to come from Geely and investors, who it appears don't want to spend anything on anything else except getting cars produced so they can get the revenue stream started. The internal costs for doing that are going up by the week, possibly by the day, but they aren't going to pass that on to the entire first year production run. You have to know those cost breakdown spreadsheets are getting scrutinized daily.

Right wrong or indifferent, it sure looks like a money issue to me at the moment.

If these people you're referring to have been planning and wanting to do things for the last 9 months, but may not have been given the green light to do it, once revenue starts coming in that should be the green light. If nothing changes, we'll know there's something else going on, but from what you and others say who've interacted with these same people, it sounds to me like they're being held back for the time being. We'll know one way or the other soon enough.

Most of the cost in CX is fixed and is the people they have already hired into those teams and areas like PR and Marketing. As has been said many times before by lots of people, one person could devise a comms programme, create the content and automate the emails to customers every 4-6 weeks. Electronic comms has a negligible cost to physically send, regardless of numbers of recipients.

The CX people are not being diverted into building cars or managing supply chain. They haven't been diverted for the last 9 months either.

The most recent emails about delays were ready to send 5 weeks before they were actually issued. CX had created them but they were held back by seniors outside CX. It's absolutely the case that improvements to CX are being held back. But not by money issues.

If Lotus were so concerned about containing costs while they get the first cars out, they'd have culled the dozens of vacancies they're currently advertising, many of which are not directly related to Emira production.

I think Geely are backing them through this delay, having seen the strong order book and positive reaction to Eletre. Their other brands have production and supply chain issues too.

 

[Scruff111S]

It was. Went and tried out a 981 Spyder and 4.0 GTS. Was hoping to try a 420 Exige as well but had been sold. Then there were the Morgan 3 Wheelers.....
Pretty sure @TomE has been prowling around the McLaren dealers though

A Morgan 3 Wheeler? That is extreme. Although, having had 2 Caterhams, i am also considering a 620r. Now that is the sort of car to focus the mind.

 

[PaperLawyer]

I had a look at various Cayman and boxster models. I visited Rybrook Birmingham Lotus and McLaren. Not one Lotus there but 6 McLaren. I have to say i did like the F Type. I will go to Jaguar Shrewsbury tomorrow awell.

Did Rybrook give any indication as to when they expect to receive a test drive Emira?

 

[Leonard]

Did Rybrook give any indication as to when they expect to receive a test drive Emira?

They knew what they were getting but didn't know when

 

[Scruff111S]

Did Rybrook give any indication as to when they expect to receive a test drive Emira?

I am afraid not. They are as much in the dark as we are. They are getting a yellow touring spec car. When, is anyone's guess. I was in Solihull today car hunting.

 

[Scruff111S]

I have just configured a Caterham 620r and sent it to Oakmere and asked them what the leed time is for delivery. This adds anothr option to my ever growing list.

 

[Tonyshepp]

It was. Went and tried out a 981 Spyder and 4.0 GTS. Was hoping to try a 420 Exige as well but had been sold. Then there were the Morgan 3 Wheelers.....
Pretty sure @TomE has been prowling around the McLaren dealers though

Go on then what were the cars like?

 

[Leonard]

Go on then what were the cars like?

It wouldn't really be fair to say until I drive the Emira would it

 

[Tonyshepp]

It wouldn't really be fair to say until I drive the Emira would it

But which Porsche was best??