Buying a used Emira in the UK

[RO62GER]

With inflation running at over 10% and the well documented delays in Emira production, I suspect there will never be a sub £60k version offered. If the base model goes into production in around a years time, sub £70k will be a challenge for Lotus. With the promise of the First Edition price being honoured by Lotus, this leave those of us with a First Edition order in a good position when it comes to changing our Emira for another car in the future, especially if demand stays strong and waiting lists for new cars persist.

I know its early to be thinking about used prices when my delivery is still 4 months away, but its always part of the calculation when buying a new car, and in this regard, things are looking better than expected.

Does anyone have any thoughts about where used prices will be in 2 to 3 years time?

 

[Leonard]

Does anyone have any thoughts about where used prices will be in 2 to 3 years time?

Difficult in the current economic climate.
If I had to make an educated guess now I'd have said a V6 FE in 3 years be circa 65-68k depending on mileage

 

[Beady]

Evora launch edition was about £60k and dropped to £30k after 3 yrs but has never really dropped any lower than that 13 yrs later.
So assume 40-50k and anything more is a bonus.
Think the current high used car values won’t last forever.

 

[Twin Cam]

With inflation running at over 10% and the well documented delays in Emira production, I suspect there will never be a sub £60k version offered. If the base model goes into production in around a years time, sub £70k will be a challenge for Lotus. With the promise of the First Edition price being honoured by Lotus, this leave those of us with a First Edition order in a good position when it comes to changing our Emira for another car in the future, especially if demand stays strong and waiting lists for new cars persist.

I know its early to be thinking about used prices when my delivery is still 4 months away, but its always part of the calculation when buying a new car, and in this regard, things are looking better than expected.

Does anyone have any thoughts about where used prices will be in 2 to 3 years time?

My interpretation of the price being held is for priority customers and is not reliant on the model being a FE.

 

[Leonard]

My interpretation of the price being held is for priority customers and is not reliant on the model being a FE.

Hmmm.
I would not be suprised if they say it was deposit holders at the time Matt made the announcement.
I guess we will see in couple of months when the Base configuration opens

 

[Tonyshepp]

Hmmm.
I would not be suprised if they say it was deposit holders at the time Matt made the announcement.
I guess we will see in couple of months when the Base configuration opens

The catch all on this is that option pricing hasn’t been announced. So yes a base V6 maybe honoured at 66k but no one knows what inflationary pricing may be put on the options.

 

[RO62GER]

The catch all on this is that option pricing hasn’t been announced. So yes a base V6 maybe honoured at 66k but no one knows what inflationary pricing may be put on the options.

At the end of the day, Lotus is a business and Geely will be expecting a return on their investment. The delay in bringing the Emira to production must be burning a lot of cash, any business will look for ways to recoup that cash burn. Having a product where supply will outstrip demand for a year or two, gives an opportunity to raise the margin, and they can point to world wide inflation as the reason. After the orders that they promised to honour the price on are delivered, I feel sure they will raise the price.

 

[emiraspain]

At the end of the day, Lotus is a business and Geely will be expecting a return on their investment. The delay in bringing the Emira to production must be burning a lot of cash, any business will look for ways to recoup that cash burn. Having a product where supply will outstrip demand for a year or two, gives an opportunity to raise the margin, and they can point to world wide inflation as the reason. After the orders that they promised to honour the price on are delivered, I feel sure they will raise the price.

as much as I hate to say it, this also depends in part on the car itself, reviews by the reviewers and now soon, by the customers. As we know expectations are perhaps a little unrealistically high due to it being a Lotus, as much as due to it being a good looking car, and so far, it has not quite held its own, lets say overall its a solid 7.5 / 10 if we take all reviews, no matter how fair or unfair into account.

If owners make their own reviews and the public perception brings the 7.5 up to towards 9 then values will hold strong. If we are in the end disappointed and the 7.5 heads down to 7, I feel sure values will fall and Evora values will raise as will cayman GTS's, which still see relatively strong demand, not 911 strong, but strong.
Used car values seem to still show no sign of falling and I think we are at least a year away if not more like 2 years away from them returning the 10-15% depreciation a year. I was at a Mclaren dealer yesterday *talking about Lotus, they said they have 9 cars on the floor in the whole of the UK, 9 new cars available for this make in the whole country..... Defenders are what, a year waiting list too.... things are far from looking even close to the direction of normal.
Lets hope the real life reviews raise the Emira, as I personally dont think Evo and other none very +ve reviews will change their rating of the car, even when they get the Sport model on its correct harder tyres etc, it is simply never going to live up to what they want, for this they needed a 100% different V6 engine / gear box from BMW or whoever, but they dont have it and thats that, we live with it and live with the reviews. You can only do so much with an engine that is xx years old and has not had the yearly developments others have had. It is what it is and it is the sum of all of its reviews, we can simply chose to listen to the one we prefer, but general public and used prices will be related to ALL of them, good and bad.

 

[Lotustoronto]

as much as I hate to say it, this also depends in part on the car itself, reviews by the reviewers and now soon, by the customers. As we know expectations are perhaps a little unrealistically high due to it being a Lotus, as much as due to it being a good looking car, and so far, it has not quite held its own, lets say overall its a solid 7.5 / 10 if we take all reviews, no matter how fair or unfair into account.

If owners make their own reviews and the public perception brings the 7.5 up to towards 9 then values will hold strong. If we are in the end disappointed and the 7.5 heads down to 7, I feel sure values will fall and Evora values will raise as will cayman GTS's, which still see relatively strong demand, not 911 strong, but strong.
Used car values seem to still show no sign of falling and I think we are at least a year away if not more like 2 years away from them returning the 10-15% depreciation a year. I was at a Mclaren dealer yesterday *talking about Lotus, they said they have 9 cars on the floor in the whole of the UK, 9 new cars available for this make in the whole country..... Defenders are what, a year waiting list too.... things are far from looking even close to the direction of normal.
Lets hope the real life reviews raise the Emira, as I personally dont think Evo and other none very +ve reviews will change their rating of the car, even with they get the sport on sport tyres etc, it is never going to live up to what they want, for this they needed a 100% different V6 engine / gear box from BMW or whoever, but they dont have it and thats that, we live with it and live with the reviews. It is what it is and it is the sum of all of its reviews, we can simply chose to listen to the one we prefer, but general public and used prices will be related to ALL of them, good and bad.

Reviews of new cars will almost always impact re-sale and demand. Enthusiast are different, but these days average people put a lot of weight on reviews, more so than the Clarkson era. Youtube and online research has changed the way people purchase. It's one of the reasons I am shocked by Lotus lack of digital marketing.

 

[Vanman1936]

Reviews of new cars will almost always impact re-sale and demand. Enthusiast are different, but these days average people put a lot of weight on reviews, more so than the Clarkson era. Youtube and online research has changed the way people purchase. It's one of the reasons I am shocked by Lotus lack of digital marketing.

I am guessing the top gear review / video matters most….and Chris Harris was rather positive!

 

[Climber]

I am guessing the top gear review / video matters most….and Chris Harris was rather positive!I

I am guessing the top gear review / video matters most….and Chris Harris was rather positive!

If you listen to all the reviews they are all the same with Emphasis on the different aspects.

Looks like nothing close to its price. This will have a profound effect of the market.

Lotus builds cars that are different their suspension & tires work with the road. They build more travel because it maintains a more constant contact with the road. Chris states that he drove in the rain 🌧 without the traction control turning on. The car is made to work with the road not fight it. Different philosophy..

Some drivers enjoy this feeling and others only want a clinical tool.

EVO should have compared the cars in the rain. That would have really highlighted the difference and played to Emira’s strengths.
This is a car that can be used more of the time in a greater range of circumstances.

Because of it’s incredible looks and small production volume. I don’t think that the price will drop for 2-4 year’s..

The only real issue for Lotus is Reliability.
If customers have a lot of issues with cars, this will kill demand and future values. Look at Maserati.

 

[DJS]

The demand for a used Emira will be huge despite what any of the reviews say, supply verses demand won't even out for 2 to 3 years at least and that's when a lot of the used cars will be going on to market. My opinion is that with the new car values only going one way in the next year or two this will only help Emira residuals, especially for us FE owners.

Put it this way it will be a sound investment especially as its one of the last ICE cars, I also think you are in a better position in some of the countries worldwide where the opportunity to own an Emira FE is a lot lower.

 

[Kentviking]

I’m doing 15 hours in mine over 3 days this weekend - can’t wait! I may be cursing the lack of aircon by Sunday.

That's a lot of driving. Just got back from Bulgaria today...two days of driving 18 hours each day (shared a bit with the wife)...it is a necessary evil to do our Bulgaria visits this way as we have two dogs. Am pondering using the Emira next year, just need to see if one of the dogs can fit on the rear shelf

 

[Evotion]

I still think the price we pay for our FE Emiras will never be reached again. - even if a 2008-esque global recession hits us.

 

[TomE]

That's a lot of driving. Just got back from Bulgaria today...two days of driving 18 hours each day (shared a bit with the wife)...it is a necessary evil to do our Bulgaria visits this way as we have two dogs. Am pondering using the Emira next year, just need to see if one of the dogs can fit on the rear shelf

Terrier certainly. Labrador possibly. Great Dane unlikely.

 

[Leonard]

Terrier certainly. Labrador possibly. Great Dane unlikely.

View attachment 8202

Unhappy dog for 18 hours definitely

 

[Kentviking]

Terrier certainly. Labrador possibly. Great Dane unlikely.

View attachment 8202

border collie on the shelf, german shepherd in the footwell. Probably have to stop quite a bit more often than we currently do in the velar to given them some room to stretch. Will have to test and see. Don't want to be cruel. But they have always been happier in the cabin than in the boot.

 

[Jon_N]

My guess is you’ll have a short window when supply is limited where they’ll trade over list…
Give it a few years & will be lots more available & prices will have come back in step.

 

[Eagle7]

My guess is you’ll have a short window when supply is limited where they’ll trade over list…
Give it a few years & will be lots more available & prices will have come back in step.

Depends on what inflation does to prices for new ones, plus this is the end of the ICE era. If this was the first car in a long future of development of more powerful ICE cars, then yeah the used prices for this first model would go down. Lotus is not Porsche or Corvette though, where they're producing tens of thousands of cars each year. The V6 FE is going to be a very limited production car by comparison.

As the opportunity to buy a new ICE car starts to vanish under new laws, nostalgia is going to become a factor in holding values up. Unless something else happens to hinder it, the supply chain is going to recover, but from what I'm reading it's going to take about 2 years or so for that to happen. That will be good news for the i4 Emira, but the V6 will be at the end of its life by then for them to be able to use it in a new car.

The V6 Emiras will have a valuable niche as being a V6. They'll have that great sound, some will have a manual, and the V6 will have lower overall production numbers than the i4. Then divide all that up by outside color, suspension choice, and interior color and material. Used car prices for any particular combination will vary, but they'll all be valuable. How many owners will be keeping theirs as prices for new ones continue to go up? If you want a particular color, chassis and interior, it's very likely there won't be a lot of examples available to buy. Then add the fact that at that point, you're now very subject to dealer pricing for those rare used examples.

Based on how reliable the pre-production cars have been, I think the production cars are going to be very reliable. Gorgeous looks, desirable, reliable, end of an era... that's going to add up to these being a solid value over time.

 

[EspritGuy]

Terrier certainly. Labrador possibly. Great Dane unlikely.

View attachment 8202

No Hound of the Baskerville?