Emira production is underway

[SlavaUkraini]

OR…
OR…
Lucky enough to flip the b!tch with low miles and that very expensive badge for a profit and reinvest in a base with the color of their choice.

Mentioning this for a friend.

You better hope when they release base pricing, the FE comes out to more than 1,000 cheaper than the equivalent options selected lol. Although, with current demand you are right and you will still make out well I presume.

 

[Porter]

There's a big difference between being able to control the color accuracy of a printed piece which gives you an analog representation, versus digital which should have, but doesn't have much accuracy control at all. Cell phones can do some amazing things with their small cameras, but not all cell phones are alike, and that's the majority of the cameras that are going to be used to take photos nowadays. All cell phones process the color and light dynamics before you see the image. Some allow you to see the image in raw format without that processing, but doing your own color adjustments on a raw format image isn't something that the average person knows about. Most don't care either, it's just point and shoot and that's good enough.

Once the phone has it, now there's different methods of storage formats that can be used to store it, which can change things slightly. Then you have the device it's being transferred to, usually a computer, that has its own processing it does on it. From there it goes to a web browser, all of which also have their own methods of handling color, and after all that, people see it on whatever device they're using to view it. Those devices also have their own methods of processing color and they're not all the same.

The advantage of digital is instant gratification; point, shoot, upload, worldwide distribution within minutes. True color accuracy is the compromise, but for most people and in most situations, that's not a big deal. For true color accuracy, there isn't a truly accurate, reliable single standard of handling images and color across all these devices and mediums of representing color at this time. Hopefully in the future there will be a much closer method that's universal, but for now, everything digital is an approximation. They can be good, sometimes very good, but it's the consistency that publishers don't have control over, like they do with printed materials. Printed pieces are also expensive, and that's a factor too. I had a graphics business for 15 years, and on the wall I had a sign that said "Time, Quality, Price; pick any two". That reality is still true today.

What all this seems to boil down to is that you're understandably cynical about screen-based devices and color rendering because of years having to deal with their godawful inaccuracy during a time period when almost nothing with a screen used any kind of color correction profile, so they were all varying degrees of wrong. I totally get it and I empathize with it.

But hear me out... Those days of the "wild west" with regard to screen presentation are largely over now, at least where mobile and tablet devices (major vendor iOS and Android products) are concerned. It changed in 2017 with the release of the iPhone X and the Google Pixel 2. Both device families supported full DCI-P3 display gamut and came pre-configured with an appropriate display color profile to manage the color pipeline. Since then, every major mobile device manufacturer now applies default color correction profiles to each device they bring to market, based on the particular screen part they ship with it.

If you own a modern high quality smartphone (less than 3 years old) from a major manufacturer, it's very likely to be (roughly) color corrected. You can screw it up in some cases by intentionally using a "vivid mode" on the display or leaving the screen brightness too low, but amazingly it's now possible to get a pretty good default color rendering experience on a mobile device compared to the designer's intent. We're living in the future.

 

[SlavaUkraini]

What all this seems to boil down to is that you're understandably cynical about screen-based devices and color rendering because of years having to deal with their godawful inaccuracy during a time period when almost nothing with a screen used any kind of color correction profile, so they were all varying degrees of wrong. I totally get it and I empathize with it.

But hear me out... Those days of the "wild west" with regard to screen presentation are largely over now, at least where mobile and tablet devices (major vendor iOS and Android products) are concerned. It changed in 2017 with the release of the iPhone X and the Google Pixel 2. Both device families supported full DCI-P3 display gamut and came pre-configured with an appropriate display color profile to manage the color pipeline. Since then, every major mobile device manufacturer now applies default color correction profiles to each device they bring to market, based on the particular screen part they ship with it.

If you own a modern high quality smartphone (less than 3 years old) from a major manufacturer, it's very likely to be (roughly) color corrected. You can screw it up in some cases by intentionally using a "vivid mode" on the display or leaving the screen brightness too low, but amazingly it's now possible to get a pretty good default color rendering experience on a mobile device compared to the designer's intent. We're living in the future.

Also, let’s just put all of this technology aside for a second. Literally every other car manufacturer puts photos of their cars out for their customer. I mean what the hell are we even talking about here. Am I living in the twilight zone?

 

[TomE]

I feel bad for those purchasing FE cars, not really knowing what their car color will truly look like.
There are going to be some very disappointed gents, who will now be stuck with colors they never chose or wanted.
Dream crushed.
Most have commented that those who are in the FE group of buyers, lucked out.
In the end it may be the patient buyers who will not only be able to see their chosen colors in the flesh, but also be able to test drive the Emira before deciding on their final specs, who are truly the lucky ones.
I just hope all of you early FE buyers end up loving your Emiras.

We all know it's hugely frustrating not having photos of the FE colours.

I've been one of the fortunate few to have seen all of them in real life. Honestly, they are all stunning. More complex than previous Lotus paints in terms of the depth, travel across the Emira's curves and the changes in the effect of the metallic fleck with lighting, angle and viewing distance. It is incredibly difficult to convey this in a photo and the leaked pics don't do them justice.

I still stand by my descriptions, written while the colours were fresh in my mind and before the latest configurator came out:

Emira colours - seeing cars at Hethel

We were able to see all the FE colours on complete or nearly complete cars during our visit to Hethel yesterday. These were in two places. Most were in the production hall, a large hangar with high ceilings and well-lit artificial light plus some big windows down one side letting in the bright...

www.emiraforum.com

When you see a car in real life your eyes and brain subconsciously take account of the surroundings and so your perception of the car's colour is with most of the reflections and environmental influences filtered out. You see the car itself. Take a picture of it and it's a mess of reflections of the surroundings, which is why most of my snaps of cars look disappointing when I look back at them later. Here's just one example - I don't remember all these reflections when I saw the car in real life, nor when I previewed on my phone before snapping this:

The configurator attempts to solve this by rendering the colours in an artificial setting, so these types of reflections are less of a problem. I think it does a good job of representing the colours in different lighting. Certainly more useful than those old paper brochures with a flat square of colour samples. The planform samples are also useful. The disc samples are OK but you can't see the complex changes across the curves.

Will Nimbus be a bit beige? Possibly in some lighting if you really look for it in some sections of the car. But if you step back and look at the whole car and walk around it you're not going to be thinking "damn, why did I get this beige one". Similarly for "OAP" Magma Red.

Ade and I both said we'd have willingly spent our whole day at the factory just looking at the cars in the 6 colours, walking around them, enjoying the details and the overall effects, seeing how that changed as the lighting changed. The colours each highlight the sculpture of the car in different ways.

Of course we're all going to jump on every new video and leaked picture. Try not to over-analyse them. No single photo conveys the richness and variety of the colours. Which is why I still think Lotus should have released 20/30/50 images of each colour in different settings.

Hethel Yellow is the only non-metallic and that may be why pictures appear to be much more representative. This recent one is a good example:

 

[roundincircles]

As a early adopter at McLaren I went through the same process, ie ordering before production started. But we got invited to see some cars. When we saw the cars in the flesh it became clear no photos or images get across the subtlety or tone/colour or it’s impact on the cars shape. This has remained a feature of McLaren cars, with launch images people are underwhelmed but in the flesh the cars make a positive impact.

Modern digital renders are pretty good and the latest Lotus configurator provides decent renders. A good example is Nimbus Grey which changes tone(colour density and reflection) on different surfaces in the render, as it does in the flesh. However it’s an artificial digital representation.

So I’m sure something is holding Lotus back which will be remedied in a couple of months resulting in invites to see cars in the flesh.

 

[Leonard]

As a early adopter at McLaren I went through the same process, ie ordering before production started. But we got invited to see some cars. When we saw the cars in the flesh it became clear no photos or images get across the subtlety or tone/colour or it’s impact on the cars shape. This has remained a feature of McLaren cars, with launch images people are underwhelmed but in the flesh the cars make a positive impact.

Modern digital renders are pretty good and the latest Lotus configurator provides decent renders. A good example is Nimbus Grey which changes tone(colour density and reflection) on different surfaces in the render, as it does in the flesh. However it’s an artificial digital representation.

So I’m sure something is holding Lotus back which will be remedied in a couple of months resulting in invites to see cars in the flesh.

I understand all of this talk about complexity of colour, lighting and digital representation. BUT I don't think I've ever seen a few well taken photos of a car and then seen it in real life and thought "that looks nothing it!" I cant think of one occasion to be honest and I've seen a few cars in my time.
To say a digital image of a rendered car with a Pantone colour is a better representation to the human eye than a digital photo of a car taken in a neutral environment or one with other well known colours for the eye to cross reference against just doesn't cut it for me. Sorry

 

[Leonard]

So I’m sure something is holding Lotus back which will be remedied in a couple of months resulting in invites to see cars in the flesh.

I hope they are going to put on a bus as the petrol ️ could cost 5% of the price of the car in 2 months time

 

[Autopsy]

One interesting detail I’d like to share is the first time I walked into my local lotus showroom, I gasped at how flat & beige the nimbus planform was. The sales assistant immediately addressed my concern by covering the spotlight pointing towards the planform then shine his phone’s torch at it. That’s when I saw nimbus’s deep shadow and silver highlight and a bit of gold in between properly.

Not that I won’t pay actual money to see 50 photos of nimbus emiras in all kinds of condition anyway. So we are not against each other.

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

One interesting detail I’d like to share is the first time I walked into my local lotus showroom, I gasped at how flat & beige the nimbus planform was. The sales assistant immediately addressed my concern by covering the spotlight pointing towards the planform then shine his phone’s torch at it. That’s when I saw nimbus’s deep shadow and silver highlight and a bit of gold in between properly.

Not that I won’t pay actual money to see 50 photos of nimbus emiras in all kinds of condition anyway. So we are not against each other.

Speaks volumes when you have to adjust the lighting in the room to appreciate the colour......

Should stand out for me immediately, if it doesn't then I'll choose something else.

 

[Tonyshepp]

Evija deliveries start in June, they need to keep doing teasers for those deposit holders too

Each evija owner is equivalent to 25 of us Emira buyers as the evija is 2 million isn't it?

I hope they are going to put on a bus as the petrol ️ could cost a fifth of the price of the car in 2 months time
View attachment 3765

There was petrol/diesel mayhem in chesterfield yesterday with no fuel left. Only one place had some and wanted £1.78 for petrol...

 

[First Lotus]

Remember Type 132 reveal is coming on 29 March, so of course they are reminding people about EV capability

They really have thrown themselves in at the deep end... Everything basically starting to be delivered/launched March to June?! 3 models from a company that haven't launched a car in over 10 years!
No wonder they are struggling.
And I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't selling many evijas... They've no track record in anything top end as far as I know and have only be known for epic handling on overgrown go karts. That's a great base for us wanting the thrills of the drive. But a £2m client buying an evija needs way more. And certainty in different areas. They are unlikely to be chucking it down the B roads littered with potholes!

 

[First Lotus]

You better hope when they release base pricing, the FE comes out to more than 1,000 cheaper than the equivalent options selected lol. Although, with current demand you are right and you will still make out well I presume.

I would like to think that loaded with the same extras there would be much more of a saving than that. I think someone (probably @TomE as he knows more than anyone else on here) mentioned 3k saving.
But there are probably some things people with FE don't particularly want so if you took them out it might not be that different. Then they just get the benefit of getting an early car. However, that comes with the downside of not seeing the actual colour or test driving. 2 huge factors. So for best service you would think they would've saved more or been treated particularly well. They are essentially going to be Lotus's mobile advertising.

 

[Leonard]

Each evija owner is equivalent to 25 of us Emira buyers as the evija is 2 million isn't it?

There was petrol/diesel mayhem in chesterfield yesterday with no fuel left. Only one place had some and wanted £1.78 for petrol...

Saw my first £2+ yesterday. Ridiculous

 

[torstin]

Maybe they just didn't want to create this kind of attention. They already have way more orders than they could handle.

I still see adverts daily for the Emira on Instagram - so they’re still canvassing new orders

 

[andrew6382]

Find this a little worrying..... new car from lotus, and still now asking them to sort things, yes ok dont know all details..... but whats it going to be like when we have issues with the EMIRA

 

[EM33RA]

Find this a little worrying..... new car from lotus, and still now asking them to sort things, yes ok dont know all details..... but whats it going to be like when we have issues with the EMIRA

View attachment 3767

Hmmm that’s not good whatever the reason.

 

[TomE]

And I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't selling many evijas... They've no track record in anything top end as far as I know and have only be known for epic handling on overgrown go karts. That's a great base for us wanting the thrills of the drive. But a £2m client buying an evija needs way more. And certainty in different areas. They are unlikely to be chucking it down the B roads littered with potholes!

They've taken deposits on more than half the 130 Evijas. Unlike us mere mortals paying £2-5k for our Emira deposit, that's £250k per car. I dropped out of the "I'm interested" process when I was asked to pay that

 

[TomE]

I would like to think that loaded with the same extras there would be much more of a saving than that. I think someone (probably @TomE as he knows more than anyone else on here) mentioned 3k saving.
But there are probably some things people with FE don't particularly want so if you took them out it might not be that different. Then they just get the benefit of getting an early car. However, that comes with the downside of not seeing the actual colour or test driving. 2 huge factors. So for best service you would think they would've saved more or been treated particularly well. They are essentially going to be Lotus's mobile advertising.

The discount was just under £3k back in January for V6 First Edition versus Base Edition + same options. That's roughly equivalent to getting the KEF audio for free.

We don't know what they might do about the significant inflation pressures on material costs, so Base, options and i4 FE prices may all change.

In theory the V6 FE price could change too, as the deposit doesn't guarantee the price. Hopefully offset by higher order volumes and production efficiencies. But there may be some tough decisions for Lotus about sticking to previously published prices versus the fallout if they increase them.

 

[TomE]

Find this a little worrying..... new car from lotus, and still now asking them to sort things, yes ok dont know all details..... but whats it going to be like when we have issues with the EMIRA

View attachment 3767

My guess would be a missing soft top. The supplier had several Covid-related deaths and shut down for a period, so has a big backlog. A lot of customers were offered free hardtops so they could receive their cars but are waiting for the soft top to be provided.

 

[Racer X]

There's a big difference between being able to control the color accuracy of a printed piece which gives you an analog representation, versus digital which should have, but doesn't have much accuracy control at all. Cell phones can do some amazing things with their small cameras, but not all cell phones are alike, and that's the majority of the cameras that are going to be used to take photos nowadays. All cell phones process the color and light dynamics before you see the image. Some allow you to see the image in raw format without that processing, but doing your own color adjustments on a raw format image isn't something that the average person knows about. Most don't care either, it's just point and shoot and that's good enough.

Once the phone has it, now there's different methods of storage formats that can be used to store it, which can change things slightly. Then you have the device it's being transferred to, usually a computer, that has its own processing it does on it. From there it goes to a web browser, all of which also have their own methods of handling color, and after all that, people see it on whatever device they're using to view it. Those devices also have their own methods of processing color and they're not all the same.

The advantage of digital is instant gratification; point, shoot, upload, worldwide distribution within minutes. True color accuracy is the compromise, but for most people and in most situations, that's not a big deal. For true color accuracy, there isn't a truly accurate, reliable single standard of handling images and color across all these devices and mediums of representing color at this time. Hopefully in the future there will be a much closer method that's universal, but for now, everything digital is an approximation. They can be good, sometimes very good, but it's the consistency that publishers don't have control over, like they do with printed materials. Printed pieces are also expensive, and that's a factor too. I had a graphics business for 15 years, and on the wall I had a sign that said "Time, Quality, Price; pick any two". That reality is still true today.