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.

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

Red callipers, black leather..

mine too, yellow calipers and Alcantara yellow stich, bp

 

[Citizen]

I think it will look amazing with black pack. Only reason I have gone without is it will look equally as good without! So as you are able to add self healing black ppf for less than cost of Lotus black pack its a no from me

That is the reason also to have ordered mine with no black pack

Nimbus grey, no black pack and then wrap roof and pilars only , mirrors in nimbus color

The rear LOTUS logo also must be painted

Not looking good silver letters on silver paint … let’s see in live though

 

[Tonyshepp]

That is the reason also to have ordered mine with no black pack

Nimbus grey, no black pack and then wrap roof and pilars only , mirrors in nimbus color

The rear LOTUS logo also must be painted

Not looking good silver letters on silver paint … let’s see in live though

I hadn’t thought of wrapping the black pack areas doh!

 

[Eagle7]

That is the reason also to have ordered mine with no black pack

Nimbus grey, no black pack and then wrap roof and pilars only , mirrors in nimbus color

The rear LOTUS logo also must be painted

Not looking good silver letters on silver paint … let’s see in live though

These new renders are based on color corrections made from the excellent descriptions by those who went and saw the FE colors. Thank you thank you thank you!

The silver lettering on the back doesn't really look that bad, but you could of course paint the letters.

 

[NickR]

These new renders are based on color corrections made from the excellent descriptions by those who went and saw the FE colors. Thank you thank you thank you!

The silver lettering on the back doesn't really look that bad, but you could of course paint the letters.
View attachment 2582
View attachment 2583

Hi @Eagle7 . Would you do a red interior and red calipers please?

 

[Leonard]

I hadn’t thought of wrapping the black pack areas doh!

You can do it in self healing as well so less to worry about with swirls and halos on gloss black

 

[Eagle7]

Hi @Eagle7 . Would you do a red interior and red calipers please?

 

[Tonyshepp]

You can do it in self healing as well so less to worry about with swirls and halos on gloss black

And doing all that is cheaper than black pack? Mind you the black pack is a bit more than roof and wing mirrors though.

 

[Leonard]

And doing all that is cheaper than black pack? Mind you the black pack is a bit more than roof and wing mirrors though.

I imagine you will save 200-300 pounds including buying the exhaust tips and black badging. Unless Lotus charge 500+ for the privilege!

 

[Citizen]

These new renders are based on color corrections made from the excellent descriptions by those who went and saw the FE colors. Thank you thank you thank you!

The silver lettering on the back doesn't really look that bad, but you could of course paint the letters.
View attachment 2582
View attachment 2583

Amazing ! Perfect for me

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

Hi, @Eagle7 ,

I think I stick so far with my original order, would it be possible to have the new render?

Nimbus
Black Pack
Black Rims
Yellow Calipers
Alcantara w/yellow stitch

Thanks

 

[TomE]

Did this Nimbus have black roof? If so, Could I ask your opinion on the black roof please? Currently my spec.

We only saw one car with Black Pack and it wasn't Nimbus. I think this is such a personal decision and you have to work out what you prefer. I like BP on Hethel Yellow and have ordered it. Others hate BP on yellow and want to see the volume of yellow on the roof. There was an interesting post a while back (maybe eclat2emira?) about how your eye follows the lines of the car differently with and without BP. BP does make the car look lower.

The only colour I'd think very hard about adding BP to is Dark Verdant. On the down side the colour is sufficiently dark that you may not see the BP as different. But on the plus side it may just be different enough to highlight that the paint is green not black.

 

[TomE]

These new renders are based on color corrections made from the excellent descriptions by those who went and saw the FE colors. Thank you thank you thank you!

The silver lettering on the back doesn't really look that bad, but you could of course paint the letters.
View attachment 2582
View attachment 2583

Those are excellent and really very close to what we saw, as far as you can achieve that in a render.

 

[Eagle7]

Hi, @Eagle7 ,

I think I stick so far with my original order, would it be possible to have the new render?

Nimbus
Black Pack
Black Rims
Yellow Calipers
Alcantara w/yellow stitch

Thanks

 

[EspritGuy]

View attachment 2592
View attachment 2593

Brilliant execution!

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

View attachment 2592
View attachment 2593

Thanks @Eagle7
I'll keep it like this.
Guess when/if I get tired of the black rims, I can always repaint, maybe in bronze will look ok

 

[First Lotus]

View attachment 2592
View attachment 2593

Thanks from me too @Eagle7. That is essentially my spec too. Although I have specc'd DC rims on second deposit, I am torn between going back to black now. I believe black is gloss (matches roof better) and DC is matt. Though I'm worried all black is a bit 2018

 

[FederGigant]

Stop stealing my config guys!

 

[~el~jefe~]

I imagine you will save 200-300 pounds including buying the exhaust tips and black badging. Unless Lotus charge 500+ for the privilege!

Porsche charges $3200 to add "deviated stitching" to the leather that already has black stitching, which is the same thing just a different spool when they make it for you. It might cost $10 more for them to buy a colored spool. I love options like this, bitter and funny but whatever right? i guess that is how they create variation through price shrug?

 

[Porter]

We discussed the ROW situation and some of the US specifics with senior Lotus management. Some things are out of Lotus control as they can't dictate various aspects of the sales process to the dealers. But they can for example take steps to limit people placing multiple deposits with several dealers and some unfair practices.

Did they mention whether they would take action to stop US dealers from demanding bribes in order to complete a previously deposited order? US dealers are calling this "Additional Dealer Markup" but it's fundamentally a bribe that they demand in order to allow the deal to complete, because they know the customer only has a deposit there and not elsewhere (per Lotus rules).

Ford is currently taking action against a number of their dealers for doing this on the F150 Lightning electric truck... for example some dealers have been demanding $30k to $50k+ from the customer above the agreed deal price and forcing the customer to walk away if they don't pay it, even customers with valid deposits down for many months who are attempting to do business in good faith. I'd be very interested to know how Lotus plan to combat this grossly unethical US dealer practice.