Information update

So ahead of the information update that is coming next week I was invited down to Hethel to be part of a small panel discussing new and existing questions.

Here's the headlines of what was learned:

Seen all the colours
Seats are going to be great
Finishes are superb
V6 sounds fantastic
Fancy new configurator coming very soon.

Obviously no picture taking allowed in the factory so these were just the ones I could / wanted to take on the day. Plus some renders that represent well the actual colours.

Starting with the hot potato the colours: Seen two cars in Dark verdant (my spec colour) Which IS dark but super classy and is going to be great. But even stood next to it in the factory from one angle green, from another almost black. Which is fine by me but I know many have issue with that. It's pretty exact in the image I’ve posted here of the 3 angles.

Magma red: Is not bright red (although they did have an almost Ferrari red one in the factory which looked cool) The renders I’ve posted with this is pretty spot on to what it looks like.

There was an actual silver car driving round the grounds of the factory which looked off the scale good! Silver with Silver forged wheels. They said they didn’t think it was nimbus grey (it was very close) but it looked sooooo good.

All other colours you have already seen and they look as expected.

Something that made me laugh was that they now have a production ready finished car which will be the first car going out to press. And the first guys to drive it will be on Top Gear. Guess what colour it is?……..White. Ha just brilliant. The first one out there and not in a launch colour. I think what they might have done is pay homage to the first Esprit. The famous story of the PR guy from Lotus Parking a pre production Esprit in the allocated parking spaces outside the main entrance at Pinewood studios so Cubby Broccoli would see it and want it in the Bond film. And the Spy Who Loved me white Esprit rocketed Lotus in to iconic status.

I saw the white one still with a few bits of wrapping on it parked outside and it looked great. In the factory there are all sorts of test colours, black (amazing) flat grey (amazing) dark metallic blue and then many, many flat blue mules. ALL of the cars you have seen in any factory pictures are verification prototypes. Customer production hasn’t started yet. They have screens all round the factory with a digital countdown. Counting down the days till production starts. 45 days, 6 hours, 25 minutes and 32, 31, 30 seconds. Pretty damn cool.


Next seats: There are many VP seats in the factory. And they are MUCH MUCH better than the show car seat. Much deeper, much more supportive and look much more sportier. And they were just production mules. So the fished ones will look great. The hard shell back looks great. Even with coat hooks on the back

There were also a few dashboards hanging round ready to go in cars. And the finish was superb. I think the dashes are made in Germany. The leather on the tops, stitching and finish of all the vents and buttons was really very good.

Spoke to the Head of dynamic testing and he did a few laps in one of the bright Emira liveried dynamic testing cars. V6 auto. And it was fast and loud and everything you’d expect from a Lotus.

The key has been designed in house. So although it will obviously have Geely innards the casing will be Lotus specific so hopefully it will be a nice thing.

There is a brand new configurator coming soon (next week?) and it will allow you to change the background from studio to natural settings and light so light will change etc. And the ability to watch a video of your spec driving down the Big Sur in California. So looking forward to seeing that.

Think that’s it but if you have any questions let me know I might know it or can find out.

 

[ADC]

They are coming....... but they all look good..... sorry not much help I know. I know from speaking to Scott.... he has tried to get pictures out there.... but its complex, more than you think..... lighting.... camera.... colour correction etc

The irony being that everyone views them on pleb-spec monitors / phones, so they vary wildly from real life anyway...

 

[andrew6382]

The irony being that everyone views them on pleb-spec monitors / phones, so they vary wildly from real life anyway...

So true

 

[Leonard]

I don't think thats how it's working. If you change your spec you don't go to the back of the queue. You “might” move back a few spaces but not far. Anyway seeing paint samples of Nimbus and the silver car at the factory it is going to look epic.

I hear you and I know things are rarely as simple as they first appear BUT I still see no reason why they could not (and still could not) show painted cars in all FE colours before asking people to confirm their specification.

 

[andrew6382]

I hear you and I know things are rarely as simple as they first appear BUT I still see no reason why they could not (and still could not) show painted cars in all FE colours before asking people to confirm their specification.

Yes.... I do understand.... what colour have you gone for

 

[Leonard]

Yes.... I do understand.... what colour have you gone for

The one you didn't see 100%

 

[andrew6382]

The one you didn't see 100%

I am not sure..... we saw lots of cars, some with a silver on.... the gery/silver one driving around i could not say.... but i think @Ubergreg I think may have.... my head still sping.... long drive back.... lots to take in..... I hope you get better info in the update

 

[Tonyshepp]

I hear you and I know things are rarely as simple as they first appear BUT I still see no reason why they could not (and still could not) show painted cars in all FE colours before asking people to confirm their specification.

Carry on with this vocalising Leonard and you will end up in detention at Hethel next week and be sworn to an NDA..

 

[Leonard]

I am not sure..... we saw lots of cars, some with a silver on.... the gery/silver one driving around i could not say.... but i think @Ubergreg I think may have.... my head still sping.... long drive back.... lots to take in..... I hope you get better info in the update

Lotus kinda lost me with the zero feedback to customers thing when they painted and shipped a Hethel yellow Emira to China way back in late October early November. I love the fact they have been feeding back to and receiving feedback from you and others this week, but again what are they doing? Just paint the cars, put them out there for all to see and answer the questions paying customers have been asking for the past 6 months
This customer think tank should have been done a year ago

 

[Leonard]

Carry on with this vocalising Leonard and you will end up in detention at Hethel next week and be sworn to an NDA..

I kinda wish I bought the 981 Spyder I was watching on Collecting Cars this week. Yup not mad for Porsches Customer Service either but its probably the only car I will ever need

https://collectingcars.com/for-sale/2016-porsche-981-boxster-spyder-1?utm_medium=email&utm_source=transactional&utm_campaign=alert_v2

 

[Tonyshepp]

I kinda wish I bought the 981 Spyder I was watching on Collecting Cars this week. Yup not mad for Porsches Customer Service either but its probably the only car I will ever need

Nice car and was on my bucket watch list till the Emira came up.

 

[Leonard]

They didn't build and ship it from Hethel - it was built in China....

Why would they build in China if all Emira production is to be carried out in UK?
And if it was built in China I have no doubt they could have built painted and photographed every colour of the rainbow by now

 

[Pegasi]

Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Been waiting for this write-up. Come on @TomE please don’t disappoint.

I want to grab some Magma wine, sit back in my Seneca chair, and read your glorious opinion on happenings!

And smoke some D Verdant!

 

[Tonyshepp]

And smoke some D Verdant!

Wearing your Nimbus Grey slippers

 

[Johnson]

No sure of reasons but was told this by Scott Walker when visited Hethel recently

This is probably very important. If they’ve made a car in China, they’ll make more (i.e. the production line is in place). So… which markets get the UK cars, and which get the Chinese? Will they adjust export volumes to suit demand? Will all the i4 cars be Chinese built?

Something else for the Lotus publicity team to address. I notice that nowhere on my documentation does it say where the car will be made…

 

[Leonard]

This is probably very important. If they’ve made a car in China, they’ll make more (i.e. the production line is in place). So… which markets get the UK cars, and which get the Chinese? Will they adjust export volumes to suit demand? Will all the i4 cars be Chinese built?

Something else for the Lotus publicity team to address. I notice that nowhere on my documentation does it say where the car will be made…

Am i wrong or were we specifically told all Sports car production would remain at Hethel?

 

[andrew6382]

Am i wrong or were we specifically told all Sports car production would remain at Hethel?

Thats what i had understood

 

[TXEMIRA]

Interesting concept is that color isn’t really color. Color is unique to an individual and to the variables.

The only reason colors work for regular cars is because we’ve seen the car before and we’ve seen the color before. So a red Mustang or sky blue Vette have perspective.

New color new car who dis?

It’s impossible to make decisions on configurators alone. Fun times.

Also - you can totally work with Hethel directly. Just get a friend in the UK and have them ship the car, do some fun paperwork, pay the fees, and learn to drive the RHD.

 

[donskibeat]

Thats what i had understood

Agreed, that's what I heard too - think China thing was just for PR / photos, nothing more than that

 

[Eagle7]

I would expect cars built in China, would be for China. Especially since there's a copyright issue with the word LOTUS and they have to add NYO anywhere there's a Lotus logo or the word Lotus. That is exclusively unique to their country and market, so it would make sense to make their cars there and only sell them there.

 

[Eagle7]

It was said to me that they are all new colours..... it infact was commented how many at the show had been trying to match them to old colours.... but they are not

This makes sense and explains why I was having such a difficult time trying to match the disk and planform samples with cars in the old colors. The 'new' colors seem to be more vibrant; richer, deeper color, and a lot of high gloss clear on them.