June delivery delay - Lotus now says July…

I was down for a June delivery but I’ve just received this from Lotus…

As you’ll be aware from our previous communication, your new Emira specification is now fixed in our production system and scheduled to be completed in June 2022. Therefore, we are pleased to inform you that your new Emira will be ready for handover in July 2022. Ahead of this, we will be in contact to arrange the delivery and handover with you. We appreciate this is later than originally predicted, so please accept our sincere apologies for the slight delay.

In the coming weeks we will be providing more information regarding financial services, trade-in and insurance products that you may be interested in for your new Emira. Following that, a couple of weeks before handover we will be in touch to complete the checkout process.
We know you have been waiting and are excited to receive your new Emira but please be assured that it will be everything you’d expect and more from a Lotus car.

I’m not that surprised but was wondering if anyone else hoping for a June car has been told it’s still on or is everyone’s delayed a little?

 

[TomE]

It has to be a supplier that's notified them at the last minute of an issue. The unprecedented demand is not only on Lotus, but on every one of their suppliers who originally signed on thinking they were going to supply far fewer items than they're now being asked to. They also have to contact their suppliers too and renegotiate new quantity and delivery contracts, and so on.

We just have to be patient (or not for those that decide to cancel) until they get things sorted out.

It's not a supplier issue, although some initial batches of a few ancillary components are delayed and will need to catch up. Black exhaust pipe finishers are one - remember we all spotted the yellow Emira at the Eletre launch had Black Pack but silver tips?

The main issue is they can't ramp up production as fast as they had planned, primarily due to the tough quality requirements they've set themselves. On the plus side, it's good to hear they don't want to compromise on quality and the supplier side isn't a major issue. Clearly the downside is a delay to first deliveries and a longer period to ramp up to target 100 cars/week output. Being realistic, you can see this might also be a reason for further delays if they aren't happy they can get the quality right and the run rate right too.

If what I've been told are the genuine reasons, I really don't see there would be any harm in Lotus saying this to customers - "we want to spend a bit more time getting the cars perfect, we hope you understand".

 

[Eagle7]

It's not a supplier issue, although some initial batches of a few ancillary components are delayed and will need to catch up. Black exhaust pipe finishers are one - remember we all spotted the yellow Emira at the Eletre launch had Black Pack but silver tips?

The main issue is they can't ramp up production as fast as they had planned, primarily due to the tough quality requirements they've set themselves. On the plus side, it's good to hear they don't want to compromise on quality and the supplier side isn't a major issue. Clearly the downside is a delay to first deliveries and a longer period to ramp up to target 100 cars/week output. Being realistic, you can see this might also be a reason for further delays if they aren't happy they can get the quality right and the run rate right too.

If what I've been told are the genuine reasons, I really don't see there would be any harm in Lotus saying this to customers - "we want to spend a bit more time getting the cars perfect, we hope you understand".

I'm absolutely okay with waiting another month if the reason is to get the best quality. The fact they're doing factory tours tells me they aren't trying to hide anything. I'd rather deliveries be a month late but everybody is happy with their cars, than them rushing cars out the door and having a bunch of QC complaints.

 

[TomE]

I'm absolutely okay with waiting another month if the reason is to get the best quality. The fact they're doing factory tours tells me they aren't trying to hide anything. I'd rather deliveries be a month late but everybody is happy with their cars, than them rushing cars out the door and having a bunch of QC complaints.

Exactly. Which is why I think they should say that, not some baloney about unprecedented demand.

The fact they're doing factory tours tells me they aren't trying to hide anything.

They're hiding all the Dark Verdant cars!
(...and on today's tour apparently denied there were any delays... )

 

[Eagle7]

Exactly. Which is why I think they should say that, not some baloney about unprecedented demand.


They're hiding all the Dark Verdant cars!
(...and on today's tour apparently denied there were any delays... )

Well considering they were used to producing about 1,600 cars a year, tripling that is certainly unprecedented for them. That requires more everything which is something they aren't used to, including a bigger work force. C'mon, be honest, nobody wants to publicly admit they're struggling. Not in today's everything has to look perfect selfie culture.

I can't wait until the first actual customer production car rolls off the line, so we can get all this behind us and start focusing on what it's like to be in an Emira. It's going to happen, we just have to be patient until it does.

 

[TomE]

Tripling may be unprecedented but is a core part of the Vision 80 strategy they've been pursuing for the last 4 years. They hired a load of folks from across the industry and had £100m to invest because they wanted to scale up. It wasn't just a vague idea, they have had plans and experienced people working to make it happen. They knew pre-reveal what the Emira production plans were - 5,000 cars on one shift and an option to go to 10,000/15,000 with extra shifts. They deliberately decided to reveal the Emira last July so they could better gauge demand and get a decent run up to start of production. That was risky but on balance has turned out to be a wise move with all the supply chain disruption.

They hit Start of Production on target (actually 2-3 days early) on 7 March. Amazing, considering everything going on. Five weeks after SoP they've hit an issue or issues. It's clearly taken them by surprise and is requiring extra work to remediate and replan.

All the Lotus folks want to make this a success, there's a genuine air of excitement around the place and they are proud of what they're doing. I'm sure they're as annoyed about the delays as we are. They're not "struggling" but they have got a significant issue to resolve.

My key worry is they're treating that as a production, QA, process, engineering, supplier, scheduling issue. Whilst forgetting that it's also a customer relationship and expectation management issue. I've said before, you don't scale from 1,600 to 10,000 cars a year and take the fight to the likes of Porsche by just building a brilliant car to a new higher quality standard. Plenty of people new to Lotus will be looking at how they are handling this and extrapolating to what that might mean for their own ordering, delivery and aftersales experiences.

I'll be patient and wait (and enjoy my other Lotus cars in the meantime) but, as we're already seeing, this is raising doubts for a fair few people. Just saying "be patient, it'll be OK, it's only about the car and that'll be great" may not be enough when this is ringing other alarm bells for customers.

 

[Johnson]

Tripling may be unprecedented but is a core part of the Vision 80 strategy they've been pursuing for the last 4 years. They hired a load of folks from across the industry and had £100m to invest because they wanted to scale up. It wasn't just a vague idea, they have had plans and experienced people working to make it happen. They knew pre-reveal what the Emira production plans were - 5,000 cars on one shift and an option to go to 10,000/15,000 with extra shifts. They deliberately decided to reveal the Emira last July so they could better gauge demand and get a decent run up to start of production. That was risky but on balance has turned out to be a wise move with all the supply chain disruption.

They hit Start of Production on target (actually 2-3 days early) on 7 March. Amazing, considering everything going on. Five weeks after SoP they've hit an issue or issues. It's clearly taken them by surprise and is requiring extra work to remediate and replan.

All the Lotus folks want to make this a success, there's a genuine air of excitement around the place and they are proud of what they're doing. I'm sure they're as annoyed about the delays as we are. They're not "struggling" but they have got a significant issue to resolve.

My key worry is they're treating that as a production, QA, process, engineering, supplier, scheduling issue. Whilst forgetting that it's also a customer relationship and expectation management issue. I've said before, you don't scale from 1,600 to 10,000 cars a year and take the fight to the likes of Porsche by just building a brilliant car to a new higher quality standard. Plenty of people new to Lotus will be looking at how they are handling this and extrapolating to what that might mean for their own ordering, delivery and aftersales experiences.

I'll be patient and wait (and enjoy my other Lotus cars in the meantime) but, as we're already seeing, this is raising doubts for a fair few people. Just saying "be patient, it'll be OK, it's only about the car and that'll be great" may not be enough when this is ringing other alarm bells for customers.

So we know the cars they’d been turning out from the factory were test vehicles for validation (as of last week I know for certain that no customer magma cars had started production). Could it be that the car has failed a safety requirement? What happens if the car requires a redesign?

 

[TomE]

That's right, they're production-spec cars for validation, not yet the customer cars.

If they'd found an issue that needed major rework or a redesign then they'd be facing a bigger delay, as they'd not only have to do the redesigning but potentially also revised sourcing and then re-testing and re-submitting for approval.

We know things like the exposed gear linkage on the manual and the seat height/driver's eyeline were possible tricky areas. But they already knew that last July and were checking with the approval bodies in advance that the proposed designs would be acceptable.

The major safety stuff like crash testing gets extensive computer modelling and then physical tests before submitting for approval, so they are usually very confident beforehand on those kinds of things.

 

[Tonyshepp]

Perhaps good enough before for Lotus isn’t good enough anymore and that they really want the quality to be spot on, whereas before it would be sod it it’s good to go even with trim not aligned etc.
Perhaps some official released photographs of the FE colours would placate us as this moment in time Lotus?

 

[Pav]

That's right, they're production-spec cars for validation, not yet the customer cars.

If they'd found an issue that needed major rework or a redesign then they'd be facing a bigger delay, as they'd not only have to do the redesigning but potentially also revised sourcing and then re-testing and re-submitting for approval.

We know things like the exposed gear linkage on the manual and the seat height/driver's eyeline were possible tricky areas. But they already knew that last July and were checking with the approval bodies in advance that the proposed designs would be acceptable.

The major safety stuff like crash testing gets extensive computer modelling and then physical tests before submitting for approval, so they are usually very confident beforehand on those kinds of things.

Interesting point. I know from restoring cars that the tiniest details can come up and cause much head scratching, just when you think surely everything is concours ready.

On the factory tour I saw a white car with red interior having it's passenger door handle 'fettled' with a bunch of engineers involved. It really could be something as small as that at the end of the day.

Or might even be Health & Safety. There was a mildly amusing fact I learnt that after all the expenditure and automation, no-one had specified how the cars needed to move down the last few stations of the production line (to the alignment and rolling road.) The solution - push them by hand. Probably not the end of the world in of itself but because the floor can get wet, they've had to put gripper tape down so no-one falls over. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this point.

But I do believe they are doing everything to get the car 'right'. I just hope they clear up all the pallets lying around, that was doing my OCD no good whatsoever.

 

[digilotus]

Interesting point. I know from restoring cars that the tiniest details can come up and cause much head scratching, just when you think surely everything is concours ready.

On the factory tour I saw a white car with red interior having it's passenger door handle 'fettled' with a bunch of engineers involved. It really could be something as small as that at the end of the day.

Or might even be Health & Safety. There was a mildly amusing fact I learnt that after all the expenditure and automation, no-one had specified how the cars needed to move down the last few stations of the production line (to the alignment and rolling road.) The solution - push them by hand. Probably not the end of the world in of itself but because the floor can get wet, they've had to put gripper tape down so no-one falls over. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this point.

But I do believe they are doing everything to get the car 'right'. I just hope they clear up all the pallets lying around, that was doing my OCD no good whatsoever.

What did you think of the red leather?

Did the leather seats have the three embossed strips on the lower back seat rests (as seen in the configurator) or was it plan / flat leather like in the dynamic prototype car.

 

[Pav]

What did you think of the red leather?

Did the leather seats have the three embossed strips on the lower back seat rests (as seen in the configurator) or was it plan / flat leather like in the dynamic prototype car.

I was a little distance from the car and it wasn't the brightest lit part of the factory. Both me and my son remarked on how nice the red leather looked, just general aesthetic and quality. Did not focus enough to see stripes and details.

 

[Emira]

Mine was scheduled for July and they've just emailed this:

​ As you’ll be aware from our previous communication, your new Emira specification is now fixed in our production schedule. Shortages across the automotive industry have led to some delays in production, but we are happy to inform you that your new Emira is now scheduled to be completed in July 2022. We appreciate this is later than originally predicted, so please accept our sincere apologies for the slight delay.

Interesting that it differs from the OPs email and no mention of "handover", presumably in August.

 

[Pav]

Back on topic.

I was a July delivery and apparently still am. I don't know who is writing the copy for their emails but telling me July is slightly later than, well, July, is not entirely accurate.

 

[Pav]

Mine was scheduled for July and they've just emailed this:

Interesting that it differs from the OPs email and no mention of "handover", presumably in August.

Ahh good point..

 

[prestonc]

I emailed Customer Care earlier, and I'm now an August 2022 delivery.
Do I believe it?
It was signed by Boris Johnson, so ....

Who knew! Seems Boris was indeed wrong in his first delaying email to me.
Received another email just now. Ok not August delivery any longer.
I'm now July.
Doesn't matter which month I get it, I still won't be able to afford it! I'll just have to take my son's advice!

 

[Emira]

Back on topic.

I was a July delivery and apparently still am. I don't know who is writing the copy for their emails but telling me July is slightly later than, well, July, is not entirely accurate.

Indeed, exactly the same as with me!

 

[roundincircles]

This is the reason given in my email. Mine was originally July delivery/June build.

Shortages across the automotive industry have led to some delays in production, but we are happy to inform you that your new Emira is now scheduled to be completed in July 2022. We appreciate this is later than originally predicted, so please accept our sincere apologies for the slight delay.

 

[frazzer]

Back on topic.

I was a July delivery and apparently still am. I don't know who is writing the copy for their emails but telling me July is slightly later than, well, July, is not entirely accurate.

Same here, but note they talk of 'completion' not handover.

 

[Gibbo205]

Back on topic.

I was a July delivery and apparently still am. I don't know who is writing the copy for their emails but telling me July is slightly later than, well, July, is not entirely accurate.

I've already forwarded the email to a director at Lotus stating the clarity is poor. Completed in July will result in many customers expecting their car in July.

What Lotus should be saying in the emails is we expect to complete the build of your car in July and to then expect handover 2-4 weeks later. Or to expect delivery in August.

Whoever is writing the emails within Lotus needs to be writing the emails to be understandable by a 5 year old kid, because lets face it we are all big kids waiting for our next new toy and all we want to truly know is when were going to get it.

Communication and transparency needs to improve.

Regarding the actual product, I am confident as it has become very transparent to me from meeting Scott, having phone calls with Scott that Lotus have quality of product at top of their agenda and that customer cars will be absolutely perfect and if that means a month or two delay then so be it as I want a perfect car, not a rushed job and I firmly believe Lotus want to ship perfect cars and that to me is what matters.

 

[roundincircles]

Car manufacturers do not have the skills to manage customers, that's always been the retailers job. So this transition to an Agency model will cause angst until they develop customer skills......my guess is it will take some time. Polestar have it and Lotus is in the same ownership so I expect it will come right! But leadership is needed for sure at Lotus.

Lotus manage transaction logistics and this comes through in this behaviour. There is a truism that more info you give out then the more info is needed. Retailers, traditionally, knew how to manage expectation and close debate down.