Factory Tour Thread

[DAMOH]

Nice

Factory Tour notes 5th May…

Just got home after this morning’s factory tour so thought I’d share my thoughts & observations.

Firstly, a few things that have been noted by others who’ve been on the tour…

• Nick the tour guide is a superb host
• You get the feeling that Lotus is a happy & friendly place to work (happy staff=happy cars)
• Huge focus on quality throughout the build process. Hugely impressive stuff!

Notes on colours…

• There’s no such thing as a bad/disappointing colour. They all looked great to me & my wife.
• I got to see magma red, dark verdant, Hethel yellow, Seneca blue outdoors in both full sun & shade.
• I saw all 6 FE colours indoors under factory lights.
• Hethel yellow - rich & warm mustard
• Magma red - deep & opulent cherry
• Nimbus grey - fluid silvery bronze/beige
• Shadow grey - dark & sophisticated
• Seneca blue - lively/electric
• Dark verdant - simply stunning

Notes on interiors…

• As noted by others, the quality of finish of all the alcantara & leathers were brilliant. So much better than the show car. You won’t be disappointed.
• I got to see all interior colour options. Again, like the exterior colour options, they all looked brilliant, particularly the tan leather which really shows off the Kef speakers beautifully.

V6 engine sound…

• Lovely exotic growl on start up inside the factory
• I got to hear a few V6 drive by whilst outside. They fill the air with a delightful, visceral rumble.

Now for the best bit…

• Upon informing Nick (the consummate tour host) that we were still undecided between Magma red, Hethel yellow & dark verdant & needed to finalise our order today, he very kindly got on his phone & called a colleague to ask if he could swing by to give us all a DV drive by outside.
• We all put the tour on hold & headed outside to see the DV Emira with black forged wheels driving towards us in the bright Norfolk sunshine (yes it does exist!).
• The shimmer & shine of DV in full sun was breathtaking (cue audible gasps from the tour group).
• As us Brits say about sunshine, “don’t blink or you’ll miss it” so cue the cloud & shade, which really changed the look of the dark verdant to an equally stunning almost black, almost deep teal finish.
• My wife said it’s like the Superman of car colours - is it a bird, is it a plane, is it green, is it black, is it teal? Whatever it is, it has bucket loads of enigmatic je ne sais quoi

To conclude…

• Congrats to Lotus for taking my excitement level to a new level.
• Congrats to anybody who’s ordered an Emira. I’m convinced it’s going to be worth the wait(weight).
• Needless to say from my descriptions, I’ve changed the order from Hethel yellow with tan interior (I tried to make it work in my head, but it just didn’t) to DV with tan.
• Having seen DV inside the factory & outside in both sun & shade, I think the configurator provides a good representation of how the car looks in different light conditions. However, it looks even better in the flesh!

And finally…

We got to see the launch of the GT4 which was drop dead gorgeous
View attachment 5211

Factory Tour notes 5th May…

Just got home after this morning’s factory tour so thought I’d share my thoughts & observations.

Firstly, a few things that have been noted by others who’ve been on the tour…

• Nick the tour guide is a superb host
• You get the feeling that Lotus is a happy & friendly place to work (happy staff=happy cars)
• Huge focus on quality throughout the build process. Hugely impressive stuff!

Notes on colours…

• There’s no such thing as a bad/disappointing colour. They all looked great to me & my wife.
• I got to see magma red, dark verdant, Hethel yellow, Seneca blue outdoors in both full sun & shade.
• I saw all 6 FE colours indoors under factory lights.
• Hethel yellow - rich & warm mustard
• Magma red - deep & opulent cherry
• Nimbus grey - fluid silvery bronze/beige
• Shadow grey - dark & sophisticated
• Seneca blue - lively/electric
• Dark verdant - simply stunning

Notes on interiors…

• As noted by others, the quality of finish of all the alcantara & leathers were brilliant. So much better than the show car. You won’t be disappointed.
• I got to see all interior colour options. Again, like the exterior colour options, they all looked brilliant, particularly the tan leather which really shows off the Kef speakers beautifully.

V6 engine sound…

• Lovely exotic growl on start up inside the factory
• I got to hear a few V6 drive by whilst outside. They fill the air with a delightful, visceral rumble.

Now for the best bit…

• Upon informing Nick (the consummate tour host) that we were still undecided between Magma red, Hethel yellow & dark verdant & needed to finalise our order today, he very kindly got on his phone & called a colleague to ask if he could swing by to give us all a DV drive by outside.
• We all put the tour on hold & headed outside to see the DV Emira with black forged wheels driving towards us in the bright Norfolk sunshine (yes it does exist!).
• The shimmer & shine of DV in full sun was breathtaking (cue audible gasps from the tour group).
• As us Brits say about sunshine, “don’t blink or you’ll miss it” so cue the cloud & shade, which really changed the look of the dark verdant to an equally stunning almost black, almost deep teal finish.
• My wife said it’s like the Superman of car colours - is it a bird, is it a plane, is it green, is it black, is it teal? Whatever it is, it has bucket loads of enigmatic je ne sais quoi

To conclude…

• Congrats to Lotus for taking my excitement level to a new level.
• Congrats to anybody who’s ordered an Emira. I’m convinced it’s going to be worth the wait(weight).
• Needless to say from my descriptions, I’ve changed the order from Hethel yellow with tan interior (I tried to make it work in my head, but it just didn’t) to DV with tan.
• Having seen DV inside the factory & outside in both sun & shade, I think the configurator provides a good representation of how the car looks in different light conditions. However, it looks even better in the flesh!

And finally…

We got to see the launch of the GT4 which was drop dead gorgeous
View attachment 5211

Good summary and nice to meet you all on the tour this morning.
I went to the factory hoping to make a decision between Nimbus, Shadow and potentially Magma but now seriously considering DV .
Key take away for me was that any combo will look amazing. Still got a few hours to lock in the configuration so may just roll a dice to decide in the morning!

 

[DAMOH]

Thank you. Really appreciate you sharing your experience with us. Any comments on how Magma and Seneca looked under the sun?

Thank you. Really appreciate you sharing your experience with us. Any comments on how Magma and Seneca looked under the sun?

Couple of Pics of Seneca (and Shadow) in bright sunshine at Hampton Court Palace last year - not quite as sunny this morn at Hethel but the blue looked the same.

 

[Wizardwings]

Nice



Good summary and nice to meet you all on the tour this morning.
I went to the factory hoping to make a decision between Nimbus, Shadow and potentially Magma but now seriously considering DV .
Key take away for me was that any combo will look amazing. Still got a few hours to lock in the configuration so may just roll a dice to decide in the morning!

What was your impression of Magma??

 

[TomE]

Superb! Thanks for the feedback. Did you happen to take note on the deviated stitching on the dash and other interior bits? Did you notice if it continued through to the manual shift boot and sun visors?

I saw the stitching when I was at the factory in January. It was on dash assemblies in a holding area before being fitted to cars, which meant I could stand and look along the stitch lines. They were absolutely laser-straight and 100% even.

My host said they came from a supplier in Germany and were machine stitched to very high tolerances.

It didn’t see the shift boots or visors but if they’ve had the same level of attention to detail and supplier QA
I reckon they’ll be equally impressive.

 

[DAMOH]

What was your impression of Magma??

Very nice. It is definitely a bit darker than the configurator - the pics from the dealers event last week should give you a good feel for it. Personally I would go black pack with Magma to give it a more sporty feel.

 

[eclat2emira]

Nice



Good summary and nice to meet you all on the tour this morning.
I went to the factory hoping to make a decision between Nimbus, Shadow and potentially Magma but now seriously considering DV .
Key take away for me was that any combo will look amazing. Still got a few hours to lock in the configuration so may just roll a dice to decide in the morning!

DV, DV, DV......come over to the dark side - it is your destiny!

 

[EmiraMike]

Nice



Good summary and nice to meet you all on the tour this morning.
I went to the factory hoping to make a decision between Nimbus, Shadow and potentially Magma but now seriously considering DV .
Key take away for me was that any combo will look amazing. Still got a few hours to lock in the configuration so may just roll a dice to decide in the morning!

Thanks. It was nice to meet you all today. Best of luck rolling the FE colour dice. As you say, you can’t really go wrong so it’s a win win.
I’m enjoying the ride over on the dark side

I’ve been trying to find an image that best represents what I saw today when seeing the DV outside & this is it…

 

[Cachaco131]

Factory Tour notes 5th May…

Just got home after this morning’s factory tour so thought I’d share my thoughts & observations.

Firstly, a few things that have been noted by others who’ve been on the tour…

• Nick the tour guide is a superb host
• You get the feeling that Lotus is a happy & friendly place to work (happy staff=happy cars)
• Huge focus on quality throughout the build process. Hugely impressive stuff!

Notes on colours…

• There’s no such thing as a bad/disappointing colour. They all looked great to me & my wife.
• I got to see magma red, dark verdant, Hethel yellow, Seneca blue outdoors in both full sun & shade.
• I saw all 6 FE colours indoors under factory lights.
• Hethel yellow - rich & warm mustard
• Magma red - deep & opulent cherry
• Nimbus grey - fluid silvery bronze/beige
• Shadow grey - dark & sophisticated
• Seneca blue - lively/electric
• Dark verdant - simply stunning

Notes on interiors…

• As noted by others, the quality of finish of all the alcantara & leathers were brilliant. So much better than the show car. You won’t be disappointed.
• I got to see all interior colour options. Again, like the exterior colour options, they all looked brilliant, particularly the tan leather which really shows off the Kef speakers beautifully.

V6 engine sound…

• Lovely exotic growl on start up inside the factory
• I got to hear a few V6 drive by whilst outside. They fill the air with a delightful, visceral rumble.

Now for the best bit…

• Upon informing Nick (the consummate tour host) that we were still undecided between Magma red, Hethel yellow & dark verdant & needed to finalise our order today, he very kindly got on his phone & called a colleague to ask if he could swing by to give us all a DV drive by outside.
• We all put the tour on hold & headed outside to see the DV Emira with black forged wheels driving towards us in the bright Norfolk sunshine (yes it does exist!).
• The shimmer & shine of DV in full sun was breathtaking (cue audible gasps from the tour group).
• As us Brits say about sunshine, “don’t blink or you’ll miss it” so cue the cloud & shade, which really changed the look of the dark verdant to an equally stunning almost black, almost deep teal finish.
• My wife said it’s like the Superman of car colours - is it a bird, is it a plane, is it green, is it black, is it teal? Whatever it is, it has bucket loads of enigmatic je ne sais quoi

To conclude…

• Congrats to Lotus for taking my excitement level to a new level.
• Congrats to anybody who’s ordered an Emira. I’m convinced it’s going to be worth the wait(weight).
• Needless to say from my descriptions, I’ve changed the order from Hethel yellow with tan interior (I tried to make it work in my head, but it just didn’t) to DV with tan.
• Having seen DV inside the factory & outside in both sun & shade, I think the configurator provides a good representation of how the car looks in different light conditions. However, it looks even better in the flesh!

And finally…

We got to see the launch of the GT4 which was drop dead gorgeous
View attachment 5211

Thanks for the feedback. Since we get a lot of sun in California, do you think DV will remotely resemble BRG?

Also, is the GT4 in the picture Hethel Yellow as well or different tone?

 

[eclat2emira]

Thanks. It was nice to meet you all today. Best of luck rolling the FE colour dice. As you say, you can’t really go wrong so it’s a win win.
I’m enjoying the ride over on the dark side
View attachment 5214
I’ve been trying to find an image that best represents what I saw today when seeing the DV outside & this is it…
View attachment 5215

Man that looks epic! One of the few images that would have me even consider black wheels.

 

[EmiraMike]

Thanks for the feedback. Since we get a lot of sun in California, do you think DV will remotely resemble BRG?

Also, is the GT4 in the picture Hethel Yellow as well or different tone?

My pleasure. I think DV will look absolutely stunning in sunny California with plenty of complex sparkle & mirroring of it's surroundings. Whilst it's unmistakingly green, it's darker than a classic BRG but, dare I say, this is to it's benefit as it looks arguably more contemporary & sleek. A was smitten at first glance.

 

[eclat2emira]

My pleasure. I think DV will look absolutely stunning in sunny California with plenty of complex sparkle & mirroring of it's surroundings. Whilst it's unmistakingly green, it's darker than a classic BRG but, dare I say, this is to it's benefit as it looks arguably more contemporary & sleek. A was smitten at first glance.

Thanks for the feedback. Since we get a lot of sun in California, do you think DV will remotely resemble BRG?

Also, is the GT4 in the picture Hethel Yellow as well or different tone?

The Emira in DV in California sunshine will be a knockout.

 

[EmiraMike]

My pleasure. I think DV will look absolutely stunning in sunny California with plenty of complex sparkle & mirroring of it's surroundings. Whilst it's unmistakingly green, it's darker than a classic BRG but, dare I say, this is to it's benefit as it looks arguably more contemporary & sleek. A was smitten at first glance.

Sorry, I forgot to answer your GT4 question. I asked Nick (the tour host) the same question on seeing the launch GT4 before seeing any Hethel yellow cars. His answer matched what I saw later - the GT4 yellow has a more bronze tone compared to the deep mustard (NYC taxi) HY. Both colours were very nice.

 

[jamesbxxx]

Confirmed by Nick the guide, cars on the line no longer have the exposed mesh gear linkage. Instead there is a solid black blanking plate. Anyone know anything more?

 

[freefall_junkie]

Confirmed by Nick the guide, cars on the line no longer have the exposed mesh gear linkage. Instead there is a solid black blanking plate. Anyone know anything more?

I'd forgotten about that. It was the one disappointing thing on our tour. Hopefully there might still be a way to expose the linkage but it didn't look promising did it?

 

[virtualmacho]

Confirmed by Nick the guide, cars on the line no longer have the exposed mesh gear linkage. Instead there is a solid black blanking plate. Anyone know anything more?

Removable and replaceable with an aluminum mesh grating, perhaps?

 

[TomE]

I wonder if that was the reason for having to rework the cars to meet type approval?

 

[digilotus]

Oh no! I hope this is limited to some specific region only requirement and not applied globally. e.g. The US-specific headlights with the amber strips are not used worldwide.

It was one of the 'jewelery' selling points for the car. I would hate a big lump of plastic covering it all up!

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

Confirmed by Nick the guide, cars on the line no longer have the exposed mesh gear linkage. Instead there is a solid black blanking plate. Anyone know anything more?

so we've been mis-sold something....

i was looking forward to this

Why is it ok in an old exige but not the new Emira? New regs>?

 

[virtualmacho]

Why is it ok in an old exige but not the new Emira? New regs>?

I'm thinking it could be illegal in some countries to have an exposed mechanical component in the vicinity of cup holders. Must had been a really tough choice.

 

[Jonhklee]

so we've been mis-sold something....

i was looking forward to this

Why is it ok in an old exige but not the new Emira? New regs>?

I bet the “blanking panel” is easily removable by owners