Factory Tour Thread

[SlavaUkraini]

You don't think they make advancements in paint technology? They most certainly do, just like they make advancements in alloys, plastics, composites, glass, tire compounds, etc.

Today's paints aren't simply yesterday's enamels with different colors.

They may have, who knows. No one knows. The car is not released yet. We don’t know what it looks like in the flesh. How it will wear. How it will handle swirls. How soft the paint is. You make a lot of baseless claims on passion, which I can understand, but we need to be realistic about stuff. It’s an exciting new process they’ve put together but this car is still a profit for them and it’s not a million dollar car. The chances of them making paint breakthroughs for the 3 car models they make is slim to none in my opinion

 

[Johnson]

I hit this leaked factory image with slightly adjusted levels in Photoshop. For those of you that have seen a Magma car in the flesh, is it close to what we can expect? (And why do I have to ask this??)

 

[Cachaco131]

After spending a great deal of time working with these colors on the computer, it's starting to become apparent that these truly are next generation paints. Not only are these cars going to look like nothing else out on the road because of their shape, but these new metallics are going to stand out as something special too. The combination is going to look stellar. These cars are going to look way more expensive than they are.

These new metallics change their color tone and intensity depending on light source and angle, more than I've seen metallics do before. Usually you just see a light bloom when the light hits a metallic, and you can see the flakes. These new ones shift the color tone from light to dark dramatically.

Magma and Nimbus are going to look very rich and high class, while Verdant is going to look mysterious.

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These aren't showy, "look at me" colors like you get on a Lambo for example. These are rich, elegant and classy. As many have said who've seen them, you can't go wrong with any of them. The Emira is going to look epic in any of the FE colors.

I like this picture because it shows what I stated above. Seneca isn't much better at showing the lines of the car relative to Hethel Yellow.

 

[Eagle7]

They may have, who knows. No one knows. The car is not released yet. We don’t know what it looks like in the flesh. How it will wear. How it will handle swirls. How soft the paint is. You make a lot of baseless claims on passion, which I can understand, but we need to be realistic about stuff. It’s an exciting new process they’ve put together but this car is still a profit for them and it’s not a million dollar car. The chances of them making paint breakthroughs for the 3 car models they make is slim to none in my opinion

They're not making the breakthrough; the paint company does that. Lotus is the first to use this new paint system, these new paints may require an advanced system like this, to be able to use them in a mass-produced assembly line process. This is a first for this system, and it's Lotus that gets to use it. Lotus is also the first to use KEF as an audio supplier, a well-known high-end audiophile company. This is KEF's first entry into the automotive market. There are some important firsts here, which you would normally associate with a much higher profile company. Lotus must have shown the execs at these companies something that convinced them to use Lotus as the entry point into the overall industry. That's not something trivial, as the investment these companies have to make to do this isn't trivial.

You're now one of a very few that seem to get upset when I make positive comments about Lotus and the Emira, and feel it's necessary to clamp down on that. Some apparently get so upset about it they have to block me so they won't have to see my posts. The accusations are categorized as fan boi, simple enthusiasm, emotional, passion, baseless, etc., as though that's all they are. You're entitled to your opinion, views, perceptions of course, as everyone is. We'll see. When the actual reviews arrive... we'll see if I'm some of the above, all of the above, or none of the above.

 

[Eagle7]

I like this picture because it shows what I stated above. Seneca isn't much better at showing the lines of the car relative to Hethel Yellow.

Yeah I agree. They're both beautiful colors, and do a nice job of showing the overall shape of the car and its features, which is not a bad thing by any means. Nimbus and Magma do a better job of showing the details and lesser curved shapes of the car, as opposed to the overall shape. Shadow Gray and especially Dark Verdant on the other hand, are more enigmatic. They show the overall shape as a block image, but also have a lot of reflections on the surfaces which don't necessarily show the details, but show a lot of surface shape movement instead. Very interesting and intriguing.

The Emira is going to be able to wear many different colors, and wear them well.

 

[EspritGuy]

This is SHIT I made my decision based on color samples that a lotus rep send me and now I am shown a dark ugly ass color on a toy car that looks like crap. I wanted a brighter red. I was debating between the Magma red and the nimbus grey. The toy car looks like shit and the McLaren looks amazing…
Again why can’t the build a car in each color and publishes pictures???
This is really stupid, asinine, not logical. How do we communicate our frustrations????

For your own sanity, please go to a dealer with the color disks.
Until then you have the updated configurator, pirated photos and member observations. The toy is not representative.
And yes, we are owed photos.

 

[Eagle7]

I give up on the guessing game of choosing a color based on lighting. My final build is due the first of May so I‘m going to stick with my first choice of green. If it does not meet expectations I will wrap it and move on. The factory picture of magma just makes it to risky for me. I kind of hope for further delays just so I do not have to look at it sitting in the garage until spring! November delivery in New Hampshire is less than ideal.

Yeah I'm going to be pretty much in the same boat. I may get mine in December, but I won't be surprised if it arrives in January instead. Either of those months is the dead of winter in the Pacific northwest, and we definitely have snow and ice on the ground during those months. I'm having the car delivered by covered carrier, and it will probably go straight into the garage where I'll be sitting in it a lot, reading every single page of the owner's manual, listening to different songs and types of music on the KEF audio system, etc. lol. If we have a light winter the roads can clear up and dry out sometimes for a few days. I'll take the car out if and when I can.

If the price of gas hasn't gone out of sight, and we're not in the middle of WW3, next year will be a good driving experience year.

 

[Nova]

If the factory uses fluorescent lights, those lights are generally missing most of the warmer colors, reds in particular, while emphasizing the cooler colors, especially blue. This can darken and even shift the perceived color of a paint.

That'd be a good question to ask Lotus. Newer commercial buildings tend to favor LED lighting, especially in advanced first-world countries with stringent new building efficiency laws. Broad-spectrum high CRI LED lighting improves worker safety and is the lighting of choice for new light-industrial interior lighting.

 

[SlavaUkraini]

@Eagle7 I’m not going to get into a long winded back and forth. I appreciate your enthusiasm. I don’t think I’ve even really replied to your comments before, so I’m not sure why you say “I feel the need to clamp down on your comments”. In any case, I’m not singling your posts out and looking to pick them apart. I just disagree on going saying “this is truly a breakthrough and the future of paint” when we honestly have no idea. We just don’t and that’s the end of it. It’s new, but there’s plenty of new things that come out that don’t end up being the future. It would be nice if it were. Anyway, as you say, time will tell. It certainly looks good from certain photos and sounds promising.

 

[Maverick1]

It didn't look orangery. That was a concern of mine too.

Like this??

 

[DJS]

I ordered the magma red over the nimbus grey… I want a red not a Burgundy. I know that the nimbus grey is the safe choice but ordered the red because my Porsche is GT silver. Now with the magma red being compared to an ugly ass toy model 1/18 scale.. I am fearing. I made a mistake. I can fly to lotus next month but may not be able to change the build. My deadline for changes was April 20, 2022?
What do you think ???

Although my first choice has always been Seneca my second choice was always Nimbus, however since visiting the factory I would go with Magma over Nimbus. That’s not to say there is anything wrong with Nimbus, it’s still a beautiful colour.

If I had another crack at configuring another Emira I’d go with the following….

Magma
Black pack
Diamond cut wheels
With privacy glass
Silver callipers
Ice grey leather
Alcantara with grey stitch steering wheel.

 

[EM33RA]

Mate

@Eagle7 I’m not going to get into a long winded back and forth. I appreciate your enthusiasm. I don’t think I’ve even really replied to your comments before, so I’m not sure why you say “I feel the need to clamp down on your comments”. In any case, I’m not singling your posts out and looking to pick them apart. I just disagree on going saying “this is truly a breakthrough and the future of paint” when we honestly have no idea. We just don’t and that’s the end of it. It’s new, but there’s plenty of new things that come out that don’t end up being the future. It would be nice if it were. Anyway, as you say, time will tell. It certainly looks good from certain photos and sounds promising.

@Eagle7 I’m not going to get into a long winded back and forth. I appreciate your enthusiasm. I don’t think I’ve even really replied to your comments before, so I’m not sure why you say “I feel the need to clamp down on your comments”. In any case, I’m not singling your posts out and looking to pick them apart. I just disagree on going saying “this is truly a breakthrough and the future of paint” when we honestly have no idea. We just don’t and that’s the end of it. It’s new, but there’s plenty of new things that come out that don’t end up being the future. It would be nice if it were. Anyway, as you say, time will tell. It certainly looks good from certain photos and sounds promising.

Mate don’t even bother, just block his content as I have and move on. He only knows best and is in love with Lotus that everything is pioneering and amazing. As I said we get it please stop . Block & move on.

 

[Eagle7]

Mate


Mate don’t even bother, just block his content as I have and move on. He only knows best and is in love with Lotus that everything is pioneering and amazing. As I said we get it please stop . Block & move on.

@SlavaUkraini there you go, there's one of the few. I actually appreciate when they do this, as it cleans up the static for me so I don't have to block them. It's nice when the self-righteous annoying ones filter themselves out.

You haven't replied to one of my posts before, so I was pre-empting exactly the type of post above. Now you know why. My apologies if it came across a bit gruff.

If you read up on the new paint system and its capabilities, which are a first in the industry, you'll get a better idea of whether or not it's a breakthrough in any way, and why.

Multi-layer paints aren't new, but traditionally they are expensive because they're labor intensive. Being able to automate that so a machine can do it all at once is something I think counts as revolutionary. This means the paints have to be created that can work with that system, so they're new too.

As far as being the "future", if you can deliver beautiful, expensive-looking multi-layer paint jobs quickly, efficiently, without excessive labor costs, and do it on an assembly line like you could the old paints, I don't see why other companies won't upgrade to this. Lotus is more or less pioneering both this system and the KEF audio system in the Emira, and considering the amount of attention the Emira is already gathering, I have no doubt other automotive brands are watching.

 

[NickR]

Hey @NickR good to meet you yesterday
Good overview of the tour you've put there, hope you got back ok!

width of tin foil (you put your sandwiches in).
- Saw lots of AP Racing boxes full of brake components.
- AMG i4 seems to be a highly modern and tech laden engine, cutting edge (though very little info provided besides how it works)

Think that is all I can remember...

All in all, as much as I'd love the Emira soon, Im more than happy to wait for when its ready, it does look really special. Lotus are taking great pride in their new car (and it 'might' not be the last ICE they make... though will be the final prod

@SJR202 good to meet you both on Monday. Got back yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. Great summary.
Not sure if you drifted off, but I wonder if everyone will get the harrier jump jet story!?

 

[NickR]

Personally I don't think you can go wrong with magma. It will take any of the interior colours (except red). Wheel colours etc and you'll get a stunning car.
Yes it's not bright red and has a darker tone but it looks better for it as it doesn't try to copy another well known super car default colour!

 

[SJR202]

@NickR glad you got back ok, hope the 124 is a fun stop gap The tour lead was very good, I think the Harrier jump jet comparison did lose me a little bit!

Paintwise - chaps, dont worry, ALL the colours look better in the flesh than you'd expect, Magma was (to me) the stand out colour that made me question Nimbus on mine. It looks nothing like the diecast model someone shared (jokingly!), the Ferrari Pista link is kind of close, but next to each other the Ferrari would look very flat and one dimensional compared to Magma.

@Eagle7 I dont know anything about paint tech, but having been on factory tours at Porsche, BMW, Ferrari, Lambo etc in the past (non seemed as enthused by their paint booths) Lotus is going to great lengths in their painting, its all brand new high tech robotic spraying - something to do with positive/negative charges, vortexes, state of the art were all words used. Its a newly built sealed area only 2 people are allowed in and they are dressed like its a nuclear leak. From what I understood they dont layer the paint / colours, its all mixed in the charged vortex as it comes out to give the perfect finish everytime. No humans do the painting.

 

[digilotus]

Paintwise - chaps, dont worry, ALL the colours look better in the flesh than you'd expect, Magma was (to me) the stand out colour that made me question Nimbus on mine. It looks nothing like the diecast model someone shared (jokingly!), the Ferrari Pista link is kind of close, but next to each other the Ferrari would look very flat and one dimensional compared to Magma.

From all the comments about Magma Red thus far, and from personally seeing the sample discs a few times in both bright and indoor light, my description is as follows:

• It looks like a deep cherry red, or glass of red wine in the shade. (as those sneaky factory pictures show)
• Its not maroon (which has a brownish tint rather than deep red tint).
• It is a bit darker than Mazda (crystal) Soul Red in the shade.
• In the Sun it looks like someone is shining a torch through a glass of fine red wine.
• Using Russell Carr's words, it has a fine metallic with a lot of "travel" (or contrast) between dark and light that will show off the bodywork curves and angles.

I don't think that the configurator is accurate at all. It's a really difficult colour to capture and render properly. e.g. Most PC monitors simply cant display such a brilliant red hue. Making things worse, things like Apple "Truetone" and "NightShift" (or the Microsoft equivalents) add a warmth (brown tint) that makes it look even less accurate.

@Climber, I had similar concerns about Shadow Grey being too dark, but now I'm questioning whether to get the black pack with Shadow, haha! You could wait for the (flat) vivid red in a future base edition, but I think you'll be absolutely floored when you see Magma in person.

To those who saw Magma on an Emira in the flesh at Hethel, please feel to add/adjust my description.

 

[NickR]

@SlavaUkraini there you go, there's one of the few. I actually appreciate when they do this, as it cleans up the static for me so I don't have to block them. It's nice when the self-righteous annoying ones filter themselves out.

You haven't replied to one of my posts before, so I was pre-empting exactly the type of post above. Now you know why. My apologies if it came across a bit gruff.

If you read up on the new paint system and its capabilities, which are a first in the industry, you'll get a better idea of whether or not it's a breakthrough in any way, and why.

Multi-layer paints aren't new, but traditionally they are expensive because they're labor intensive. Being able to automate that so a machine can do it all at once is something I think counts as revolutionary. This means the paints have to be created that can work with that system, so they're new too.

As far as being the "future", if you can deliver beautiful, expensive-looking multi-layer paint jobs quickly, efficiently, without excessive labor costs, and do it on an assembly line like you could the old paints, I don't see why other companies won't upgrade to this. Lotus is more or less pioneering both this system and the KEF audio system in the Emira, and considering the amount of attention the Emira is already gathering, I have no doubt other automotive brands are watching.

They use a charge based system. The composite panels have a negative charge base layer to attract the p

From all the comments about Magma Red thus far, and from personally seeing the sample discs a few times in both bright and indoor light, my description is as follows:

• It looks like a deep cherry red, or glass of red wine in the shade. (as those sneaky factory pictures show)
• Its not maroon (which has a brownish tint rather than deep red tint).
• It is a bit darker than Mazda (crystal) Soul Red in the shade.
• In the Sun it looks like someone is shining a torch through a glass of fine red wine.
• Using Russell Carr's words, it has a fine metallic with a lot of "travel" (or contrast) between dark and light that will show off the bodywork curves and angles.

I don't think that the configurator is accurate at all. It's a really difficult colour to capture and render properly. e.g. Most PC monitors simply cant display such a brilliant red hue. Making things worse, things like Apple "Truetone" and "NightShift" (or the Microsoft equivalents) add a warmth (brown tint) that makes it look even less accurate.

@Climber, I had similar concerns about Shadow Grey being too dark, but now I'm questioning whether to get the black pack with Shadow, haha! You could wait for the (flat) vivid red in a future base edition, but I think you'll be absolutely floored when you see Magma in person.

To those who saw Magma on an Emira in the flesh at Hethel, please feel to add/adjust my description.

Good description. I'd go with that.

 

[Citizen]

From people that went already to the tour in Hethel, how does the silver forged wheels looks? From 1 to 10

 

[SJR202]

From people that went already to the tour in Hethel, how does the silver forged wheels looks? From 1 to 10

10 - my personal preference is always silver wheels, I dont like black wheels. Diamond cut look nice but having had them are a world of pain after several years.
Its a better silver than you'd find on your average Ford Fiesta I thought, looks like it has a bit more shine to it.
The design I love, I dont really like the base wheels we've seen on photos, the forged wheel design looks amazing on the cars. Even if I ended up with a base edition I'd pay for the forged silver as an extra! Also really shows off the callipers