It's getting Crowded in here

[digilotus]

If that was the case I'd hope CC would say "sorry no test drives" rather than string us along saying it's still under consideration.

Their solution may be to say you can delay taking delivery of your car until after you get a test drive in a dealer demo sometime in July. In the meantime your car is built and sits on an airfield near Oxford and your delivery date becomes uncertain.

I would imagine that would be super tricky. What if people don't like the test drive?

Potentially a car is built to a customer's requested spec but is now abandoned after a non-favourable test drive. So for Lotus it is now taking up space, becomes an insurance liability and locks up capital until it can find another owner or dealer that agrees to purchase it and move it on. That's not a good business model.

 

[Weyland]

What is there are no production ready vehicles ready for test drive? It's one thing handing them over to journalists for review (which probably come with loads of small print & health & safety), it's another asking the public to jump in and take it for a spin.

I'm sure test drives will be offered once signed off

 

[TomE]

I would imagine that would be super tricky. What if people don't like the test drive?

Potentially a car is built to a customer's requested spec but is now abandoned after a non-favourable test drive. So for Lotus it is now taking up space, becomes an insurance liability and locks up capital until it can find another owner or dealer that agrees to purchase it and move it on. That's not a good business model.

The UK T&Cs allow customers to cancel their order up until commitment, around 30 days before delivery. So they are already running the risk that people cancel (or try to defer) if there is something unexpected from the press reviews or individual test drives. I think the 30 day approach was done because the original plan of a 3rd non-refundable deposit earlier this year was seen as too risky and would cause cancellations/deferrals.

We've already seen Lotus calling people lower down the list to offer people cancelled orders from higher up the list. In several cases those have had quite significant differences in spec, such as Touring/Sport and interior colour.

They are gambling on people taking the car or being able to pass it on to another depositor or sell it via a dealer.

 

[TomE]

What is there are no production ready vehicles ready for test drive? It's one thing handing them over to journalists for review (which probably come with loads of small print & health & safety), it's another asking the public to jump in and take it for a spin.

I'm sure test drives will be offered once signed off

That was part of the alternatives they were looking at. Would mean potentially a closed road (eg motor circuit or airfield), being accompanied and signing something.

 

[digilotus]

The UK T&Cs allow customers to cancel their order up until commitment, around 30 days before delivery. So they are already running the risk that people cancel (or try to defer) if there is something unexpected from the press reviews or individual test drives. I think the 30 day approach was done because the original plan of a 3rd non-refundable deposit earlier this year was seen as too risky and would cause cancellations/deferrals.

We've already seen Lotus calling people lower down the list to offer people cancelled orders from higher up the list. In several cases those have had quite significant differences in spec, such as Touring/Sport and interior colour.

They are gambling on people taking the car or being able to pass it on to another depositor or sell it via a dealer.

Seems like a really silly approach to me! Worse still, the approach is different between regions. e.g. Those down under had to pin down specifications and submit second non-refundable deposits in January within an information vacuum.

Lotus should have copied the Porsche model where customers placed a deposit for a car, wait for an eternity and finally get notified of a factory build slot allocation. Then customers have a couple of weeks to lock down a final spec at which point the deposit is no longer refundable before start of manufacture in about a month's time.

 

[mjw930]

Seems like a really silly approach to me! Worse still, the approach is different between regions. e.g. Those down under had to pin down specifications and submit second non-refundable deposits in January within an information vacuum.

Lotus should have copied the Porsche model where customers placed a deposit for a car, wait for an eternity and finally get notified of a factory build slot allocation. Then customers have a couple of weeks to lock down a final spec at which point the deposit is no longer refundable before start of manufacture in about a month's time.

That is the model most dealers and Lotus Cars NA are following in North America. The biggest difference is Lotus are tracking reservations. Porsche does not, it’s the dealers holding all the cards with Porsche.

I’ve heard that originally Lotus wanted to manage the order in which build slots were allocated but US franchise laws don’t allow that. The best they could do was require a dealer match up a reservation number with each build order but that could be a reservation entered yesterday while 100+ standing reservations were passed by. So, in essence, Lotus dealers still hold all the cards.

 

[freefall_junkie]

If that was the case I'd hope CC would say "sorry no test drives" rather than string us along saying it's still under consideration.

Their solution may be to say you can delay taking delivery of your car until after you get a test drive in a dealer demo sometime in July. In the meantime your car is built and sits on an airfield near Oxford and your delivery date becomes uncertain.

Agree it would be far better to have a firm indication one way or the other rather than being told repeatedly that more information on test drives for July deposit holders is coming imminently - I was first told this months ago. I conveyed exactly that message to Jamie in CS this morning and he said he would chase it internally and get back to me. Since we are now well into June my assumption is that we will just have to wait for dealer demos. I have always known that as an early depositor it was quite possible that I would have to make the final financial commitment without driving the car so I'm pretty sanguine about it, but as usual Lotus comms have been a bit lacking.

 

[TomE]

Seems like a really silly approach to me! Worse still, the approach is different between regions. e.g. Those down under had to pin down specifications and submit second non-refundable deposits in January within an information vacuum.

Lotus should have copied the Porsche model where customers placed a deposit for a car, wait for an eternity and finally get notified of a factory build slot allocation. Then customers have a couple of weeks to lock down a final spec at which point the deposit is no longer refundable before start of manufacture in about a month's time.

Strange approach but kind of understandable in the circumstances. Lotus have messed up the switch to a direct sales channel in the UK, so have no real relationship with customers to lean on. Previously dealers might have been able to handle the situation better.

But, it's a pre-launch process still and in a situation where Lotus aren't just locking in the next 6-12 weeks production (as they would have done pre-pandemic) but are having to lock in the next 6 months. In the US they are locking in on a rolling monthly basis for 6 months ahead, but deliveries start later. For several other markets it has been locked in 8-10 months beforehand but builds will be earlier. UK is the largest single country in the first 6 months production and I guess they're worried about the risk of high volumes of cancellations and deferrals.

 

[Pegasi]

Seems like the crowd is beginning to disperse. Just saying.

 

[EspritGuy]

Seems like the crowd is beginning to disperse. Just saying.

Ouch.....

 

[VL3X]

Seems like the crowd is beginning to disperse. Just saying.

 

[TomE]

But also a stack of new members signed up to the forum today and currently 118 non-members reading forum posts versus 58 members.

 

[EspritGuy]

But also a stack of new members signed up to the forum today and currently 118 non-members reading forum posts versus 58 members.

So the new recruitment campaign is working!

 

[digilotus]

I wonder if the admins can tell how many guests are reading from Stuttgart !

 

[TomE]

…and more importantly, from Hethel.

 

[Pegasi]

Well then I stand corrected! Did they review a DV car today? Haven't watched them all but didn't see that color. Maybe a bunch of folks will switch from DV and at least make some room in that section.

 

[EspritGuy]

But also a stack of new members signed up to the forum today and currently 118 non-members reading forum posts versus 58 members.

And on that note: A question for the Administrators.....
How have the Forum statistics changed with appearance and posting of Emira reviews?
I believe daily web traffic and views can be tracked,
And also member versus guest logins.
So, what was the impact?

 

[Evotion]

June's figures tougher to read for now.

May - quite a lot - will not be that accurate but a decent barometer.


Looks like the site had about 425k visits in May.
2/3rds of those left the site.

100% jump in April, which was a quiet month due to not much new in Emira world.
I would expect June to enjoy another 50% growth and then a further 200% jump in July/August as the car is released.

This the spread of location on traffic, with the percentage increase from April.

UK
47.52%755.6%

USA
29.53%31.00%

Italy
6.29%367.1%

Spain
5.25%

Algeria
1.71%

Others
9.70%


YouTube and Facebook nearly account for 100% of all referral traffic,
Nearly 50% of all traffic comes direct which means, like me, people are using bookmarks, etc, so that is an excellent retention rate.
About a 1/3rd come from search. This is due to this site ranking very well for 'Lotus Emira".

Average age of us on here can be seen here.

 

[EspritGuy]

June's figures tougher to read for now.

May - quite a lot - will not be that accurate but a decent barometer.


Looks like the site had about 425k visits in May.
2/3rds of those left the site.

100% jump in April, which was a quiet month due to not much new in Emira world.
I would expect June to enjoy another 50% growth and then a further 200% jump in July/August as the car is released.

View attachment 6356

This the spread of location on traffic, with the percentage increase from April.
UK
47.52%755.6%

USA
29.53%31.00%

Italy
6.29%367.1%

Spain
5.25%

Algeria
1.71%

Others
9.70%


YouTube and Facebook nearly account for 100% of all referral traffic,
Nearly 50% of all traffic comes direct which means, like me, people are using bookmarks, etc, so that is an excellent retention rate.
About a 1/3rd come from search. This is due to this site ranking very well for 'Lotus Emira".

Average age of us on here can be seen here.

View attachment 6355

Great report. Can't wait to see more. Thanks for the effort. Membership is up too. That speaks to the veracity of the Admins and quality of the content. Also cool this Forum was a Launch just as the Emira. #For the Journey.