Goodwood - updates and info

[donskibeat]

Dashcam fitting: previously someone had been told there would be a USB connector in the overhead panel (@donskibeat I think Scott told you?). There isn't one and so no simple connection there. A dashcam will either need hard-wiring into the panel (there's obviously power there) or running a cable tucked into the trim above the windscreen and down the A-pillar. The only 12V socket is behind the armrest, so basically in the rear storage space, and the USB sockets are under the shifter or in the armrest storage. I think I'll be asking my dealer to find a way to hard wire something. The other factor is the large sensor pod top centre of the windscreen and how the rear mirror attaches to it (see pic). This means a dashcam fitted behind the mirror will have its view blocked by the sensor. I think that means having to mount it lower, slightly below the level of the mirror, or off to the passenger side. That might affect what size/shape/mounting/camera position of dashcam you choose.

Hi Tom, thanks for that information - yes that is what I had been told in previous responses - that's a shame and does make it more of a pain to wire one in yourself - appreciate you looking.

 

[Leonard]

could it be?View attachment 6795

Brutal lol

 

[emiraspain]

So from what I'm reading here cans I assume my manual was June build that was last moved to July build Aug delivery is now likely to be August build September delivery?

thats what I am starting to believe, so yes, we have gone from perhaps a 2/4 week delay out now to a 3 month delay, if you consider we were looking originally at June hand over, with clever words altering that to June build and July handover ie the first 2-4 week delay and now, August build, September delivery which could be a window of 4 weeks right there of course. So not June, but September, 3 months and missing out on the summer and me missing out on my 1 month in the UK a year
Ahhh the joys of ordering newly built cars.... Maybe a classic Esprit would be nice .... no no no no no no no.... well

 

[wallstbear]

could it be?View attachment 6795

Gotta say, his choice of color is spot on.

 

[emiraspain]

I consoled myself about the delay by finding they now have the model Emira in exactly my spec:

View attachment 6824

I dont fancy your gear change in that one!!!
Did you casually mention the Evo track day... and comments by said journalist, do they feel comments were strange or maybe expected as due to stage of car, tyres or other factors? Any mention of the "next" evo track review; I am guessing that has maybe happened by now.... or maybe not.

thanks for all the info, it was great!
When you say "call in" you mean phone Lotus customer service ? stupid question.. but...

 

[Leonard]

I consoled myself about the delay by finding they now have the model Emira in exactly my spec:

View attachment 6824

Amazing cheers for the very comprehensive write-up! I thought you had been quiet since visiting
Looking fwd to hearing about the customer service element and future rollout.
Pedal spacing looks very wide on the RHD cars for heel and toe, thoughts?
Was there any chance to listen to the KEF stereo?
Cheers as always

 

[Sirtreeman]

Info update - part 2

Boot space: looked a bit bigger than the Evora. No 12V socket but access to the battery behind a panel and hence possible to fit battery tails if you want to use a charger/conditioner.

View attachment 6818

Screen visibility: I'm not sure which version of software the cars had but I had no problem with seeing and reading the drivers display and infotainment display. That included looking at them from the passenger seat while going up the hill. We had a bright sunny day and I didn't have problems with contrast or reflections. I believe there is at least one more version of software to be delivered, which is aimed at optimising use in very bright and very dark conditions. The software will be able to be updated in future by dealers - not yet clear if it will be something owners will be able to do themselves as well.

View attachment 6819

View attachment 6820

Forward view: for the first time sitting in the car it struck me that you can't see the bonnet or nose of the car. You can see the "Becker Points", the rises in the wings that show you where the axle line is, but you all you can see straight ahead is a thin sliver of exterior colour above the wipers and then the road. I tried raising the seat and leaning forward and it was the same. This is even more dramatic than my Evora and Exige and it gives a real sense of being close to and connected with the road. I loved it. But you will need those front parking sensors

View attachment 6821

View attachment 6822

PPF: Scott says they are going to offer PPF for the factory collection people (and ceramic coating too). They’ve found a local supplier who can handle the volume, so it will be done by a specialist rather than in-house by Lotus. Dealer and home delivery people will have to make own arrangements. Most dealers have a local specialist they use. I believe the Lotus PPF pricing will be similar to specialists, so £3000-3500 for full coverage, less for partial packages.

Type Approval: not formally received yet, but another step signed off last week and final sign off expected by 1 July.

Delays and delivery timeframes: Customer Care on stand had information on delays for individual customers. Contact Centre apparently do have this info too (although I've seen some posts from people saying they called in yesterday and couldn't get the info). Delays vary from +4 weeks upwards and depend on several components, place in queue and build sequencing, so you can't just say for example "everyone with silver wheels is +6 weeks)". This makes sense if you consider their suppliers may be able to deliver enough components for say the first 100 cars in 4 weeks but the next batch is going to be 10 weeks. This is affecting ramp up and post-ramp up run rate. From what I've read so far, people early in the queue (orders up to Goodwood Day 1 last year) are delayed 4-8 weeks and then Goodwood deposits are delayed more. Mine looks like it's +6 weeks on the original June date, so into early August. Yachtie had a Goodwood Day 1 deposit (manual Seneca) and has moved from July to October, which is disappointingly long. Autos (V6 IPS) were said to be "bigger delays" but I've not heard or seen anything specific yet - my hunch is later orders may have bigger delays than earlier ones. This means any chance of cars being delivered in strictly deposit date order are gone, but they will still try to honour that principle, now within the constraints of component supply/availability. Emails to individual customers are going to be sent, as well as people being able to get info at Goodwood or call in. It isn't possible to change your spec to try and reduce the delays.

Dealer demos and test drives: UK dealers are expected to have cars by late July. Hethel are also organising an extra test drive programme centrally, using the HQ cars, press cars, LDA cars and the LDA instructors and factory staff.

Customer service and comms: I had chats with many Lotus people, including Matt, Geoff (head of sales), Scott, the Customer Care team at Goodwood and the recently-joined Head of Customer Experience. I'll write separately on this, as there's a lot of info. Matt wants to do something soon as a follow up, involving this forum and one of the other forums.

I also had interesting chats with Gavan, Russell and Will from the braking systems team. Will drove me up the hill and although that was only a minute or so, we had about 45 minutes in the car with all the queuing and the return run down the hill.

Gav had been with Chris Harris for the Top Gear filming and his off-camera feedback was even more enthusiastic, but filled with swear words (in a good way "f***ing amazing" etc) so not repeatable!

I think I've covered most of the questions people posted earlier in the thread. I'll run through them again and answer any I've missed.

Note: if any of you social media types decide to "borrow" my pictures then some acknowledgement would be appreciated

The cars are great and I'm excited about getting mine, whenever that might be.

Finally, it was great to meet several forum members and chat. Thanks in particular to @JumboJet for managing to get pictures of my hill run in the HY Emira.

This is ace @TomE massive thanks from me

 

[frazzer]

Thanks for all the info @TomE !

 

[Trefoilsearcher]

Info update - part 2

Boot space: looked a bit bigger than the Evora. No 12V socket but access to the battery behind a panel and hence possible to fit battery tails if you want to use a charger/conditioner.

View attachment 6818

Screen visibility: I'm not sure which version of software the cars had but I had no problem with seeing and reading the drivers display and infotainment display. That included looking at them from the passenger seat while going up the hill. We had a bright sunny day and I didn't have problems with contrast or reflections. I believe there is at least one more version of software to be delivered, which is aimed at optimising use in very bright and very dark conditions. The software will be able to be updated in future by dealers - not yet clear if it will be something owners will be able to do themselves as well.

View attachment 6819

View attachment 6820

Forward view: for the first time sitting in the car it struck me that you can't see the bonnet or nose of the car. You can see the "Becker Points", the rises in the wings that show you where the axle line is, but you all you can see straight ahead is a thin sliver of exterior colour above the wipers and then the road. I tried raising the seat and leaning forward and it was the same. This is even more dramatic than my Evora and Exige and it gives a real sense of being close to and connected with the road. I loved it. But you will need those front parking sensors

View attachment 6821

View attachment 6822

PPF: Scott says they are going to offer PPF for the factory collection people (and ceramic coating too). They’ve found a local supplier who can handle the volume, so it will be done by a specialist rather than in-house by Lotus. Dealer and home delivery people will have to make own arrangements. Most dealers have a local specialist they use. I believe the Lotus PPF pricing will be similar to specialists, so £3000-3500 for full coverage, less for partial packages.

Type Approval: not formally received yet, but another step signed off last week and final sign off expected by 1 July.

Delays and delivery timeframes: Customer Care on stand had information on delays for individual customers. Contact Centre apparently do have this info too (although I've seen some posts from people saying they called in yesterday and couldn't get the info). Delays vary from +4 weeks upwards and depend on several components, place in queue and build sequencing, so you can't just say for example "everyone with silver wheels is +6 weeks)". This makes sense if you consider their suppliers may be able to deliver enough components for say the first 100 cars in 4 weeks but the next batch is going to be 10 weeks. This is affecting ramp up and post-ramp up run rate. From what I've read so far, people early in the queue (orders up to Goodwood Day 1 last year) are delayed 4-8 weeks and then Goodwood deposits are delayed more. Mine looks like it's +6 weeks on the original June date, so into early August. Yachtie had a Goodwood Day 1 deposit (manual Seneca) and has moved from July to October, which is disappointingly long. Autos (V6 IPS) were said to be "bigger delays" but I've not heard or seen anything specific yet - my hunch is later orders may have bigger delays than earlier ones. This means any chance of cars being delivered in strictly deposit date order are gone, but they will still try to honour that principle, now within the constraints of component supply/availability. Emails to individual customers are going to be sent, as well as people being able to get info at Goodwood or call in. It isn't possible to change your spec to try and reduce the delays.

Dealer demos and test drives: UK dealers are expected to have cars by late July. Hethel are also organising an extra test drive programme centrally, using the HQ cars, press cars, LDA cars and the LDA instructors and factory staff.

Customer service and comms: I had chats with many Lotus people, including Matt, Geoff (head of sales), Scott, the Customer Care team at Goodwood and the recently-joined Head of Customer Experience. I'll write separately on this, as there's a lot of info. Matt wants to do something soon as a follow up, involving this forum and one of the other forums.

I also had interesting chats with Gavan, Russell and Will from the braking systems team. Will drove me up the hill and although that was only a minute or so, we had about 45 minutes in the car with all the queuing and the return run down the hill.

Gav had been with Chris Harris for the Top Gear filming and his off-camera feedback was even more enthusiastic, but filled with swear words (in a good way "f***ing amazing" etc) so not repeatable!

I think I've covered most of the questions people posted earlier in the thread. I'll run through them again and answer any I've missed.

Note: if any of you social media types decide to "borrow" my pictures then some acknowledgement would be appreciated

The cars are great and I'm excited about getting mine, whenever that might be.

Finally, it was great to meet several forum members and chat. Thanks in particular to @JumboJet for managing to get pictures of my hill run in the HY Emira.

Superb mate, thanks for the full review, makes the wait all worth it, guess my I4 will have further delays than they have stated, but doesn't worry me, would rather have the car 100% than a 'friday' car full of issues and gremlins that will make me want to get rid and move to another brand

 

[TomE]

Hi Tom

Any chance you can make a video please filmed in 4k of a walk around the stand and of all the different Emira's and stick on Youtube please, be great to see.

Nice to see Lotus get a few different colours on display, the Nimbus looks stunning as does red/yellow, they missed a trick though not having a Dark Verdant there.

I'll try on Sunday first thing but I've only got a mobile phone and I'm not a great photo-/video-grapher.

I joked with the Lotus team that they'd not brought a DV car as it didn't actually exist as a colour. I agree they missed an opportunity, as they do have one and it's the only colour now that's not been seen in public.

 

[TomE]

Great pics @TomE - I'm living vicariously though you guys lucky enough to be there! I can't believe it's nearly been a year since Goodwood '21.

I noticed the Nimbus Emira at the Lotus display sits noticeably lower than the Hethel and Magma Emiras. I'm guessing Lotus has it it on lower springs and with spacers like the original Seneca showcar?

I don't think it was lower. I think it does depend on camera angle.

 

[TomE]

Just saw your run Tom with Gav at the wheel! Looking good!

It was with one of the senior braking systems engineers, Will. Good to meet another person at Lotus - ex JLR and with Lotus about 4-5 years, loves the work and being involved in many aspects of the cars as part of a smaller team.

His daily car is a development car, so missing a lot of non-essential trim and is covered in sensors, wiring, data loggers and telemetry. He said it was nice to see and drive a nearly finalised car!

He didn't hang about going up the hill, despite the Cup2s being barely warmed up and uncertainty about how dry the track was, further up under the trees, after showers in the morning.

 

[jpizzle]

It was with one of the senior braking systems engineers, Will. Good to meet another person at Lotus - ex JLR and with Lotus about 4-5 years, loves the work and being involved in many aspects of the cars as part of a smaller team.

His daily car is a development car, so missing a lot of non-essential trim and is covered in sensors, wiring, data loggers and telemetry. He said it was nice to see and drive a nearly finalised car!

He didn't hang about going up the hill, despite the Cup2s being barely warmed up and uncertainty about how dry the track was, further up under the trees, after showers in the morning.

Tom mate do you have Insta?

 

[TomE]

This here is what is sooooo infuriating for some customers they have confirmed what orde no. they are and given indication of delivery dates as per Toms earlier mail, yet when other customers ask they refuse to give this detail out and continue to give the total standard bs and keep us in the dark when they know the information!!!!

I understand the frustration. I was assured at Goodwood by the LCC staff and their boss that the folks staffing the contact centre over the four days of Goodwood had exactly the same info as the team had on-stand at Goodwood.

I suggest if you and others are getting a generic email response then either use live chat or phone them and emphasise that people at Goodwood are being given this info on revised delivery timeframes and being told LCC have it too.

 

[TomE]

Digilotus you're right the doors look like they were painted in a separate paint shop and put on the car later... weird - any other Nimbus Grey pics you can get Tom...? Thanks...

I think it's the effect of the stand lighting and dark floor. Here are some more:

 

[TomE]

has the nimbus one been doing any runs?

No, the Nimbus car is just on the stand. The Seneca, Magma and Hethel cars are doing the runs.

 

[Evotion]

How was the overall sound inside the car compared to your evora @TomE ?
In terms of acoustics, ability to hear the engine over the exhaust, on revving up, gear changes, downshifts and road noise.

 

[TomE]

Someone there, could you take a closer look at how the number plate is mounted? Is it mounted from the bottom or bolted in through holes on the top?

I'll take a look on Sunday if someone else doesn't cover this before then.

 

[emiraspain]

UPDATE - DELIVERY - CUSTOMER SERVICE - DON'T CALL IN.

As per what Tom was told at the show, if I understood it correctly, I called Lotus directly to get an update on my July, delivery as I cannot make it to the show from Spain in order to find out or even see the car, which I have still never seen in person.

From that call I can tell you Alex at the CS department told me that they don't have any further info yet, not until next week after the show, so there is no need to call in to them as they cant help you yet. CS at the show should not be saying what they said, they need to check this, but there you go.

Alex at CS was very helpful though and I also got a text message now asking me to rate Lotus's customer service, which I will follow the link to and do so. Hence, it would appear they are taking our issues with customer service quite seriously as should be the case. Also worth noting, which I think we already knew, customer service don't actually have the info as to which parts are causing the delays, in fact they only have the rumour regarding the auto box, which is surprising as the boss mentioned it or alluded to it in his video.

As Tom mentioned, NEXT WEEK the original July people will/should get a call giving an update on their production, although it probably wont be an "exact" date as we would still be more than 30 days away, but it should be a good indication, just as Tom has received there in person.
Out of curiosity I asked when my deposit had been registered, as I never knew my place in the sun, I mean the queue, and I was told originally it was shown as the 21st of August and I thought... ohhhhhh xxxxx, but before I had a chance to even think of any expletives (which of course I would not have said out loud) I was told it was then altered and corrected to an earlier date as that was not correct in the system.
It would seem that those who placed their orders before July 6th are mainly grouped together to the date of July 6th now anyway, although some are separated out, like the guy who placed his deposit 2 years before the car was revealed . The position in the queue is not that relevant now as Tom has explained, but supposedly I am no. 34... country code for Spain... so thats nice. Maybe may be m a y b e I will get a car in August after all, but I wont be standing up while waiting for it.

Not as useful as Tom's post, but bloody good work none the less.. haha

 

[donskibeat]

Thanks @TomE for the fantastic write-up - yet again doing a much better job than Lotus CS