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.

 

[Johnson]

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.

I wonder... if they left the badges off and then re-badged them in the arrival country, would that infringe on Chinese IP?

If I was a Lotus exec, there's no doubt I'd be considering Chinese production, at least for the Asia-Pacific countries. An established production line, cheap(er) materials and labour, and dramatically lower transportation costs... perhaps a matter of time?

 

[Eagle7]

China is such a huge market, if they can make their own country specific cars for their country, that takes a huge load off Hethel and frees them to make the cars for everywhere else. Makes sense to me.

 

[DaaS]

Any discussions around the V6 power output? 400hp or 416hp? Not that it matters, but mostly curious.

Also wanted to say thank you for providing the update. Also thank you to Lotus for listening to the community and making attempts to improve.

 

[Lots_Of_Trouble]

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

I'd also heard the same

 

[Ubergreg]

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…

All sports cars and more importantly ALL Emira’s will be built in the UK. The factory in China is purely EVs .

 

[Rufy]

great news! Thank you!

 

[Leonard]

All sports cars and more importantly ALL Emira’s will be built in the UK. The factory in China is purely EVs .

IF they made the yellow Emira in China though. They must have tooling set up there to do so, so will make more. Doesn't really bother me, but is at odds with what has been said about company direction and production at Hethel

 

[TomE]

@TomE @andrew6382 @Ubergreg

Chaps,
Did lotus say the FE colours are new colours or repurposed ones?
I e Magma = fire red
And so on?

All new. So Verdant Green isn't Imperial/Empire Green and Magma Red isn't Fire Red. Hethel Yellow (surprisingly) is also new and isn't Saffron, Solar or any of the other previous Lotus yellows. They are also all unique to Lotus, so the greys aren't for example copies of Porsche or McLaren colours as some had been speculating.

 

[Leonard]

All new. So Verdant Green isn't Imperial/Empire Green and Magma Red isn't Fire Red. Hethel Yellow (surprisingly) is also new and isn't Saffron, Solar or any of the other previous Lotus yellows. They are also all unique to Lotus, so the greys aren't for example copies of Porsche or McLaren colours as some had been speculating.

You haven't changed your mind on colour Tom after seeing them?
Were there any other interior options shown?

 

[TomE]

I'm staying with Hethel Yellow - it looked spectacular and it isn't an issue that it's not metallic.

We only saw black leather interiors and seats during our tour unfortunately. The seats are the latest iteration (much improved) but are still pre-production and they are tweaking some minor aspects, for example so they can get the stitching really accurate.

 

[DJS]

I'm staying with Hethel Yellow - it looked spectacular and it isn't an issue that it's not metallic.

We only saw black leather interiors and seats during our tour unfortunately. The seats are the latest iteration (much improved) but are still pre-production and they are tweaking some minor aspects, for example so they can get the stitching really accurate.

Is it double stitching or single on the production cars?

Also TomE will you being doing a write up on your visit? If so really looking forward to your valued opinion.

 

[andrew6382]

I'm staying with Hethel Yellow - it looked spectacular and it isn't an issue that it's not metallic.

We only saw black leather interiors and seats during our tour unfortunately. The seats are the latest iteration (much improved) but are still pre-production and they are tweaking some minor aspects, for example so they can get the stitching really accurate.

The Hethel Yellow..... wow.... so much better in person..... warmer, classy..... nearly got the OK from my better half to switch..... dont get me wrong..... all the FE colours we could see, looked very good.... Some thing I dont think has been mentioned..... the application of the paint was..... well like nothing I had seen before..... giving a depth to the colour, my partner just said, its like the panel and the paint are one

 

[TomE]

Is it double stitching or single on the production cars?

Also TomE will you being doing a write up on your visit? If so really looking forward to your valued opinion.

Write up is coming, I was late getting back from Hethel last night and have some domestic duties to fit in today as well. Lots to share!

 

[NickR]

Write up is coming, I was late getting back from Hethel last night and have some domestic duties to fit in today as well. Lots to share!

Looking forward to it!
So far it's been great to hear from the other chaps who have come away with a positive vibe from the event, good for us deposit holders!

 

[@Life411]

I'm staying with Hethel Yellow - it looked spectacular and it isn't an issue that it's not metallic.

We only saw black leather interiors and seats during our tour unfortunately. The seats are the latest iteration (much improved) but are still pre-production and they are tweaking some minor aspects, for example so they can get the stitching really accurate.

I'm with you on Hethel Yellow with the upper black pack/canopy! Would you mind sharing your other configuration details? I was a little on the fence about little details like brake caliper color.

 

[TomE]

I'm with you on Hethel Yellow with the upper black pack/canopy! Would you mind sharing your other configuration details? I was a little on the fence about little details like brake caliper color.

It's such a personal thing and lots of factors affect it! But here's my spec and thought process.

Wheels: diamond cut. I have DCWs on my Evora and like them, accept that they are more fragile then a non-DCW and can only be refurbished a few times. But it's a weekend car and I do limited mileage so risks are lower. Plus I think the DCW style will become a design characteristic people associate with the Emira, like the boomerang nose vents, side scoop and vertical headlights.

Calipers: black with silver lettering. I don't want the calipers to detract from the body colour or wheels, so the mix of black and silver I think goes well with the DCWs. The yellow calipers are a different yellow to Hethel Yellow or the Lotus logo or the yellow contrast stitching, so I ruled that out. Someone who knows more about Lotus design than me said don't match the caliper colour to the body but if you are doing a colour then same colour for interior stitch and caliper is a good detail. Silver calipers with black lettering would in theory blend into the brake disk and also mirror the DCWs, so a realistic alternative for me.

Interior: black leather with black leather wheel. Have sat in both leather and alcantara Emira interiors, have leather in my Evora and technical fabrics in my Exige. Alcantara is more "race car" and slightly higher maintenance, and to me leather is more "grown up" and easier to maintain. The latest seat version has much more bolstering on the seat and back so I'm not now concerned about a leather seat possibly being less grippy on track (and my Evora has been fine).

Hope that helps. I really don't think you can specify a bad Emira from the FE options.

 

[PaulP]

It's such a personal thing and lots of factors affect it! But here's my spec and thought process.

Wheels: diamond cut. I have DCWs on my Evora and like them, accept that they are more fragile then a non-DCW and can only be refurbished a few times. But it's a weekend car and I do limited mileage so risks are lower. Plus I think the DCW style will become a design characteristic people associate with the Emira, like the boomerang nose vents, side scoop and vertical headlights.

Calipers: black with silver lettering. I don't want the calipers to detract from the body colour or wheels, so the mix of black and silver I think goes well with the DCWs. The yellow calipers are a different yellow to Hethel Yellow or the Lotus logo or the yellow contrast stitching, so I ruled that out. Someone who knows more about Lotus design than me said don't match the caliper colour to the body but if you are doing a colour then same colour for interior stitch and caliper is a good detail. Silver calipers with black lettering would in theory blend into the brake disk and also mirror the DCWs, so a realistic alternative for me.

Interior: black leather with black leather wheel. Have sat in both leather and alcantara Emira interiors, have leather in my Evora and technical fabrics in my Exige. Alcantara is more "race car" and slightly higher maintenance, and to me leather is more "grown up" and easier to maintain. The latest seat version has much more bolstering on the seat and back so I'm not now concerned about a leather seat possibly being less grippy on track (and my Evora has been fine).

Hope that helps. I really don't think you can specify a bad Emira from the FE options.

I'm back and forth between Yellow and Blue at this point - sticking point for me is that I can't get contrasting stitch with leather and plain black leather I'm worried will be dark and boring. Really like the tan, but lotus says Tan leather with Yellow is "not recommended". If I could get yellow stitch with the leather I'd be done!

 

[Magma]

All new. So Verdant Green isn't Imperial/Empire Green and Magma Red isn't Fire Red. Hethel Yellow (surprisingly) is also new and isn't Saffron, Solar or any of the other previous Lotus yellows. They are also all unique to Lotus, so the greys aren't for example copies of Porsche or McLaren colours as some had been speculating.

Huh...interesting. This is completely opposite from what my dealer reported after their meeting with Lotus in Vegas. So much miscommunication it makes your head spin!

 

[Tonyshepp]

Huh...interesting. This is completely opposite from what my dealer reported after their meeting with Lotus in Vegas. So much miscommunication it makes your head spin!

Is Nimbus Grey new or similar to another like McLaren?

 

[andrew6382]

Is Nimbus Grey new or similar to another like McLaren?

All the colours are new.... lots of colour will look like.... but nope the FE colours are all new..... some of the cars built for testing my have old colours on them, they have just used paint they had hanging around. They are so invested in controlling the contanination in the paint area.... They did not let us go round in our size tens .....