With everything that's been going on in the world the last 2 years, and right now, if Lotus is only delayed 1 month that's actually pretty darned impressive. As long as the quality is there, I don't mind waiting another month.
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Lotus again delays FE delivery for me.
- Thread starter Cwolf
- Start date
I don't mind waiting only because I'm currently looking at winter delivery here in the north east USA. They can go ahead and delay it 4 month or so and I'll be fine with not paying that car payment and insurance just to have it sit in my garage for those months.
Buttttt Lotus has been well aware of the state of the world these past few years. Don't announce deliveries times unless you are fairly confident you can meet them. I'm also still a little pissed about the lack of contrast stitching and stripe on the manual steering wheels. Seriously.. wtf is that? A supplier issue? Now the titanium black exhaust finishers are apparently on back order too. Just find another supplier for the exhaust finishers and have that lady from the New Dawn video to correct the stitching and stripe for us manual buyers!
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Butttt so have you. You knew it when you put down a deposit. You knew delays would be possible. Would you like to hand stitch thousands of steering wheel covers? You can get yours done yourself once you get your car. In fact, there's likely to be custom steering wheels available from 3rd party suppliers. Yeah I know "I shouldn't have to for a car that's costing this much! I should be able to get what I want when i want!!!" In case you haven't noticed, those days are gone for the moment. Maybe for a very long moment.
We don't know who's supplying the steering wheels, what their situation is, what's happening to their suppliers for the leather. Prices for all kinds of things are jumping. I believe the cost of lithium for batteries is up over 400% in the last 12 months, so that's going to have an effect on the price of electric cars which are already expensive. There's so much crap going on in the world's sources and supply chains right now, that it may take years before this gets back to a semblance of normal.
This is a great time to learn and practice the art of patience; it will serve you well over the next few years. It will keep your blood pressure down, and minimize your risk of strokes and heart attacks because unfortunately, it doesn't look like things are going to get better anytime soon.
The Emira dates aren't confirmed, not for anyone. The June delivery folks have recently been told of an updated delivery in July, but that's not confirmed either and depends on factors outside Lotus control. July delivery batch (and beyond) don't know if they're also delayed or not. i4 people were supposed to be contacted from 8 April (and previously promised contact in November, December, January and March) but still haven't been contacted and have had no update on timing. EU and US folks also don't have accurate info on delivery timing either.
I've now heard of some June people being told they're still on for a June delivery despite the majority being delayed to July. While other people have been told there will be no June deliveries. Both sets of info have come from Lotus Customer Care in the last 4 days, so they're being inconsistent.
We all know there's stuff going on in the world and unexpected stuff happens. All Lotus need to do is tell people what's going on and give clear, consistent messages. I think we'd all be far more understanding. As it is, I'm disappointed I won't have my Emira for three car events and am resetting my expectations for yet further delays to come. I've got other options I can use in the meantime. But I feel sorry for those who are car-less and/or new to Lotus and are having to put up with this unnecessarily poor level of comms.
roundincircles
Emira Fanatic
Yes, its like poking a jelly I guess.
I know , from experience, how complicated it can become in development and start up.......surprises with tooling, materials, processes, design, fabrication, suppliers etc......its the uncertainty that makes it hard to take a position as until something is certain (ie modified tool, new supplier, redesign) and tangible, prediction is a fools game, but an estimate is not.
Take the Artura. Mechanical and software integration only reared its head late in VP testing.....the major alterations requiring new parts and a retest programme requiring the proof that the ' revised new' was trustworthy and reliable. This, after two years has still not got a launch date.
Eventually we will be able to put cream on the jelly but don't ask me when!
Considering that when they have said something, they aren't able to follow through on it, or some of their team issues conflicting information, it may be that they just aren't saying anything because they don't really have "clear, consistent" info. "What's going on" could be shifting right under their feet. I don't know. Maybe they don't even know at this time. I don't get the impression they're deliberately trying to delay things, so all we can do is keep the faith and be patient.
If this was unique to Lotus it would be something worrisome, but since the entire industry is going through this right now.... at least they have financial backing this time to help carry them through these rough spots.
Saying they don't have a clear consistent timeline and that they'll notify buyers once they do is actually saying something. I"m not sure what industries you've worked in or who you've dealt with but the worst thing you can do in a time of uncertainty is bury your head in the sand and ignore your customers (deliberately or not).
With regards other car manufactures, this depends. Porsche for me have been very pro-active communicating delays and issues. For example, after the conflict in Ukraine broke out there was a clear instruction from my dealer that the production of certain cars would cease by a certain date - wiring harnesses were given as a reason. When I tried to order specific options I was advised certain ones would delay my order by months. Mercedes has been a similar pro-active experience (the new SL).
I thought lotus was aspiring to be a world class company and not just lumped in with the rest of the industry.
I'm glad you never miss an opportunity to dump on the company. I can always count on you to chip in and take a leak on anything said. They aren't Porsche or Mercedes. The employee breakroom for those companies is probably as big as the entire production facility at Lotus.
If you haven't committed to your order yet, might I suggest you pull your deposit and go with one of those other world class companies? Because Lotus isn't providing that level of experience at the moment, and it doesn't appear they're going to anytime soon. If you're only going to try and discourage everyone, then this probably isn't the experience for you.
Just because I like a brand / product doesn’t mean I need to worship it like you do. I can enjoy it and still point out it’s issues - that’s how things improve. We’d be in horse drawn carriages if everyone thought like you…thankfully this isn’t the case.
As you’ve made it personal, it’s either you have fairly low standards or a high tolerance for a mediocre level of service - either way that’s your choice so good on you. I don’t.
Ive passed my complaints on to Lotus directly and as I know they check these forums I’ll continue to voice my concerns when they can do better and don’t.
I don't worship it. I understand it. When do you enjoy the brand?
"We’d be in horse drawn carriages if everyone thought like you…thankfully this isn’t the case" This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
It's you that's made it personal. You jump on my posts often enough that I pretty much expect it now. I have neither low standards nor unrealistic expectations. I understood what this journey with Lotus would possibly be like when I placed my deposit back in July. I don't now expect it to be suddenly different just because I want it to be. It is what it is. Could it be better? Absolutely, and I've said so.
I too have written to Lotus; to Matt personally. My comments and suggestions have been personally delivered to him by others. He knows. It's on him to decide how he wants to handle all this. He somewhat tipped his hand in the interview with TG when he said "If you want sports cars, we have to make money". That says a lot. He most likely feels he doesn't have the time to hold people's hand right now, and I can certainly understand that. He's focusing on getting cars in production and out the door so they can make money. It's a business. You can either understand that and be patient through it, or complain and complain as though that's somehow going to make anything better, or they don't know about your complaints because you haven't complained enough.
They're not doing everything perfectly. They know it. They're not communicating with people the way we want. They know it. They know that you and others aren't happy about it. Their position seems to be instead of talking about it, just do it; get cars produced and into customers hands, and make sure the cars are high quality. Although I would be handling things differently, I'm not in their shoes and I don't know all that they're dealing with.
It's one thing to voice your concerns, it's another to do it continuously. Give 'em some slack. Let them get the cars in production without unduly discouraging their efforts. That isn't worshipping a brand, it's just being supportive through the ups (look at the car!) and downs (why aren't they telling us the details of their struggles?). Maybe they just don't want to. Right now maybe they just want to focus on making a great car. That's the journey we're all on with this deal; if that's unacceptable, move on. If you're staying, at least try and encourage them instead of bringing them down.
I wonder if Geely have the same worries about how Lotus is handling everything as we do? Will Matt still be with Lotus by the end of The year?
That may very well be one of the pressures he's under. The Chinese don't strike me as the kind of people who are looking for talk; they expect results. Promises have already been made; now it's time to deliver.
andrew6382
Emira Fiend
Hi @TomE , as ever well writen...... as you said nothing Lotus can do about issues in the world . But plenty they sould be doing for there customers, but still seems like they defalt to treating you like Mushrooms .... kept in the dark and feeding you s**t ..... That dispite the new hirings I was told they have made
I guess being a October depositor as thing are now.... I would guess at eariest delivery summer 2023, if even then. Market force putting cost of ownership past me
Hope everything gets sorted, or at least you get consistent information
Anyone in the US that is getting stellar service from “Lotus” is getting it from their dealer.
Anyone in the US that is not getting stellar service can blame both their dealer and Lotus. Bonus points for blaming Lotus US.
If the bare minimum is accepting a deposit and not communicating much of anything effectively, and this is a pass or fail course, then unfortunately it’s a pass.
#ForTheStillExcited
Anyone in the US that is not getting stellar service can blame both their dealer and Lotus. Bonus points for blaming Lotus US.
If the bare minimum is accepting a deposit and not communicating much of anything effectively, and this is a pass or fail course, then unfortunately it’s a pass.
#ForTheStillExcited
Thanks, with that amount of cars getting moved forward in June you would expect the July and august deliveries to be moved forward a month also.
Otherwise that’s a lot of cars to deliver in July and August.
I know Lotus have a comms strategy of not saying anything unless they are confident in it being accurate. Or at least that was the previous strategy in January when Matt told me and Ade that's what it had been. I don't see any evidence of it changing, despite Matt saying they wanted to get better.
It's a high risk strategy, particularly when you cut off all the dealers from your comms and are trying to lure in new buyers from other brands. People who have previously been in a pre-launch process with Lotus or other manufacturers know you don't get test drives, detailed specifications, confirmation of timings until quite close to delivery etc etc. But those exercises have typically been for a few hundred customers - and what they usually do get is some periodic updates with some sort of content.
Lotus launched the Emira globally and on a scale unlike their or many other previous pre-launch exercises. They had to, as they needed to gauge demand so they could build a factory, hire staff and get a supply chain mobilised in the middle of a pandemic. But apart from a few "you're a priority customer" emails, they've not handled it at all like a pre-launch exercise. A large number of customers don't see it as a pre-launch and so have higher expectations on what they will get in terms of info and clarity. That may be unreasonable but Lotus have fallen into the trap of not understanding or managing those people's expectations. They could have told people more about the steps from reveal to launch and some of the uncertainties plus how they were tackling them (as I know they have). They might have lost a few orders, but I think most people would have understood and reset their expectations accordingly.
Instead (for example) they gave hundreds of people specific months when they expected to deliver their cars. They waited to do this until they were close to start of production. There was some small print and cavets, but the key message was "you're in the June/July/etc batch". Two months before the first of those delivery months they then slipped the date. No explanation (in fact some weasely words trying to make it sound like not a delay), followed by confusion on whether the delay affects everyone, some people, people in later months.
Before they communicated the delay, someone must have assessed the underlying causes and how they thought it was going to affect different customers. Why not just tell people that info? It doesn't need a lot of people to communicate it. In fact you could do one email to all customers with the relevant info.
Of course they are focused on quality and getting the cars built. But the people doing that aren't the people who handle the customer comms, so it's not an either/or situation. You can build a quality car AND communicate with customers.
I'll cut Lotus a lot of slack, probably more than most because I know the people, know the car will be brilliant and live near a great dealer for aftersales. For lots of others it's much harder to be patient when the company gives the impression of caring so little about the people buying their cars.
I know of 2 people who have been told specifically they are still June delivery. Plus 3 people who have not had an email about delaying June to July, so may be still in June. I initially thought auto/manual was a factor, as the first two were both autos. But two others are manual and one I'm not sure. Some are very early deposits (first 20) but others are deposits after mine (so after first 20-50). Hence no pattern at the moment.
I've heard a rumour, not yet verified, that something has been raised during type approval that means having to make changes to production cars. So not a supply chain or build issue. Not clear yet if that affects all cars or if it needs new parts or reworking cars already in build. I'll try to find out more info.
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