Can someone help with a Pricing question?

[JKP]

Hi All... I have been off the Forum for some time now and just revisiting. I am in the very first batch of V6 FE cars ordered. I placed my order (spec'd car) before the price increase announcement some time ago. I saw the video from Lotus promising to honor pricing for those who've already placed their orders. If someone knows the answer, can you please let me know if my order is price protected? I see the term FE 1.0 and FE 2.0 used here, is this being used to differentiate original pricing vs. increased pricing, or something else? Can't believe I am still waiting for this car. Seems like a lifetime ago that I deposited, let alone placed the order. Much appreciate the help!

 

[JKP]

Hi All... I have been off the Forum for some time now and just revisiting. I am in the very first batch of V6 FE cars ordered. I placed my order (spec'd car) before the price increase announcement some time ago. I saw the video from Lotus promising to honor pricing for those who've already placed their orders. If someone knows the answer, can you please let me know if my order is price protected? I see the term FE 1.0 and FE 2.0 used here, is this being used to differentiate original pricing vs. increased pricing, or something else? Can't believe I am still waiting for this car. Seems like a lifetime ago that I deposited, let alone placed the order. Much appreciate the help!

I placed me order (provided final specs) on March 8, 2022 if this helps.

 

[Eagle7]

Hi All... I have been off the Forum for some time now and just revisiting. I am in the very first batch of V6 FE cars ordered. I placed my order (spec'd car) before the price increase announcement some time ago. I saw the video from Lotus promising to honor pricing for those who've already placed their orders. If someone knows the answer, can you please let me know if my order is price protected? I see the term FE 1.0 and FE 2.0 used here, is this being used to differentiate original pricing vs. increased pricing, or something else? Can't believe I am still waiting for this car. Seems like a lifetime ago that I deposited, let alone placed the order. Much appreciate the help!

If your actual order (not a deposit) is in for one of the original V6 FE's, then you're price-protected.

 

[JKP]

If your actual order (not a deposit) is in for one of the original V6 FE's, then you're price-protected.

Yes, the actual order is in. Thank you, this is great news. Wish the price was locked for everyone.

 

[Guest316]

When did the price increase happen? I put a deposit on an emira almost two years ago, sep 21. At that time, people were talking about super car looks for sports car money, and entry level Lotus to compete with cayman, a bargain at $86k. Yesterday I went to lotus‘s website to play with the configurator, and I noticed that I am looking at $105k starting! That is almost $20k over what was promised. My brother bought a 23 C8 for $88k with options! I think the C8 is much more of a car than the Emira. Also, it lost every comparison I saw against the cayman. That is not good.
I was hoping for more. I was willing to accept its flaws and shortcomings for $86k. But for $105k, the competitors list is much more extensive. I would rather pay $130k for an m8 (I know what you are thinking, but I don’t track, and the m8 might suit my driving better), but I wanted a manual lotus because I grew up in love with the Esprit. But this is no Esprit, and the value proposition for the price is not there at $105k. You can get an entry 911 for that much, which in my opinion is a much more car than the Emira.
As you can see, I am disappointed, frustrated, and saddened that I have to take my deposit back and let go of a car that I was having high hopes for.
I hope that I am mistaken in every assessment I had about the car, and I hope that it is much more than I think it is, and I hope you guys enjoy your cars and fall in love with them.
Good luck and Godspeed.

 

[kitkat]

When did the price increase happen? I put a deposit on an emira almost two years ago, sep 21. At that time, people were talking about super car looks for sports car money, and entry level Lotus to compete with cayman, a bargain at $86k. Yesterday I went to lotus‘s website to play with the configurator, and I noticed that I am looking at $105k starting! That is almost $20k over what was promised. My brother bought a 23 C8 for $88k with options! I think the C8 is much more of a car than the Emira. Also, it lost every comparison I saw against the cayman. That is not good.
I was hoping for more. I was willing to accept its flaws and shortcomings for $86k. But for $105k, the competitors list is much more extensive. I would rather pay $130k for an m8 (I know what you are thinking, but I don’t track, and the m8 might suit my driving better), but I wanted a manual lotus because I grew up in love with the Esprit. But this is no Esprit, and the value proposition for the price is not there at $105k. You can get an entry 911 for that much, which in my opinion is a much more car than the Emira.
As you can see, I am disappointed, frustrated, and saddened that I have to take my deposit back and let go of a car that I was having high hopes for.
I hope that I am mistaken in every assessment I had about the car, and I hope that it is much more than I think it is, and I hope you guys enjoy your cars and fall in love with them.
Good luck and Godspeed.

The FE 1.0 and FE 2.0 was never promised at $86K, you’re thinking the base model. The FE 1.0 which has all the packages was introduced at $96K and the FE 2.0 had the price increase to $105K.

The i4 AMG FE with all the packages is $99.9K.

As far as I’m aware there is no base pricing available yet.

 

[Eagle7]

The original price in the U.S. for the FE V6 was $93,900 or roughly $94k. At that time there was approximately an $11k difference between the projected base model, and the FE V6 which had virtually all the options as a standard bundle. The projected base price for the V6 was originally $82,900, but that's never been something you could configure online.

Since then inflation has obviously struck, and that's had an effect on pricing. The first allocation batch of the V6 FE of 700 cars to North America is now being referred to as FE 1.0. Due to the huge number of deposits U.S. dealers were receiving, Lotus agreed to increase the allocation to North America to I believe it was 1,900 cars, and the additional allocations are being referred to as FE 2.0. FE V6 1.0's are grandfathered in at the original quoted price of $93,900 to those who put in actual orders. FE V6 2.0 cars have seen a price increase to $104,900 or roughly $105k, however they can now be had with the additional 7 colors that weren't available to the original FE customers. Grandfathered FE 1.0 customers can't choose those colors; their orders are locked in.

Now as for base pricing, obviously that too is going to see a price increase but we haven't seen an official number yet. I don't see it being the same $11k as the FE increase, because it won't have all the options which each have their own increases. Maybe somewhere around $89k for the base V6? It's going to depend on when they go live on the configurator for base model orders. The longer they wait, the longer inflation keeps pushing up the costs.

Unfortunately until you can make a hard factory order for a base model, you can't get a locked in price, and we won't know what that's going to be until they go live with the configurator. If you're budgeting, I would say plan for at least a minimum of $90k for a base V6, plus whatever options you decide to add, plus destination which I believe is going to be $2,200 in the U.S., plus tax and all that jazz. Sadly, due to inflation you can pretty much figure on spending at least $100k even for a V6 base car by the time you get out the door. If you can get an FE 2.0 allocation, figure on that being a $115k+ car depending on your tax rate, and whether you add ppf or anything like that.

Unless you get a base i4, the dream of owning the stunning looking last ICE sports car from Lotus for under $100k, is rapidly diminishing as inflation eats away at that dream.

 

[Guest316]

Thank you KitKat and Eagle7 for the reply and information. When I put the deposit down almost two years ago, the dealer quoted me around $93k for the FE 1.0. After a few month, I learned that I will not get an allocation for the FE, but I will get a later car, and the upside to that is that it is going lower in price (something around $86k). $105k is a hard pill to swallow compared to other cars at that price.