Lotus again delays FE delivery for me.

[Green]

That's 100% true as it happened to me. I was #1 and lost my spot to someone who was 6 months later than me but had $20,000 extra to give the dealer. Lotus told me they can do nothing about it. No first edition for me; and it left such a bad taste in my mouth I'm barely interested in the car now. Not fun ! lol

Wait your dealer was only getting one first edition?

 

[Jonhklee]

I am happy to wait too, providing this will be my last ever ICE car and my first Lotus.
I want Lotus to make everything perfect and not to fudge quality and mechanicals just to deliver “sooner”. Quality comes to those who wait is a apt saying here.
I have now asked my wife to get me a Hethel factory tour as my next birthday present, so plenty of time to choose final spec. I deposited on 12th July for my AMGi4 - still no calls. I’m not bothered, as I want to see and hear about published reviews first anyway.

 

[4GIV8M3]

Wait your dealer was only getting one first edition?

6 and none of them went to the first 6 depositors. They all went to people who skipped the line

 

[Maverick1]

6 and none of them went to the first 6 depositors. They all went to people who skipped the line

Like I said, no one can be trusted when there's money at stake.
Unfortunately that's the human condition today.
Greed runs the world, we just need to accept this and live life accordingly.

 

[Green]

6 and none of them went to the first 6 depositors. They all went to people who skipped the line

Lame I would not buy car if that happened to me.

 

[4GIV8M3]

Lame I would not buy car if that happened to me.

Yeah it is what it is. Lotus is a brand that you have to really like/love to buy one. Kinda hard to have those feelings after this happened. Life goes on though

 

[PaperLawyer]

I deposited on 12th July for my AMGi4 - still no calls. I’m not bothered, as I want to see and hear about published reviews first anyway.

Yep, I've similarly not heard (deposit on the evening of the 11th July and I'm also after an i4) but I'm similarly relaxed (having taken a look at the cars on the factory tour, last week).

 

[Eagle7]

I don't see how the number of cars they produce (or plan to produce) is any excuse for anything. Boutique manufacturers typically over-communicate as a differentiator. It's a sign of quality, it tells their customers that they aren't buying a commodity (i.e. a Honda).

Lotus has sent you an email announcing a 1-month delay? I received nothing and my information was in line with this post: https://www.lotustalk.com/threads/emira-production-and-delivery-update.487308/ except my dealer told me my car would be built in August and delivered in September.

View attachment 4764

I assume, and perhaps incorrectly, that if there's a delay in the UK there will be a cascade to the rest of the world. Unless Lotus is able to accelerate production somehow? Either way, I'm prepared to wait. The wait doesn't bother me, but then again, I don't want to project my expectations onto others.

Lotus did NOT send me an email; they've sent those out to their customers in the U.K., which are all getting right-hand drive cars. So far, it seems most of the running cars are left-hand drive, and it looks like next week the dealers will be getting left-hand drive cars for official demo and showroom models. Somebody who recently was on a factory tour said they saw the line full of left-hand drive cars. Not sure if that means anything specifically, unless there's some issue with right-hand drive models and/or type approval in the U.K.

At this point I'm taking the safe route of assuming a 1 month delay in the U.K. might mean a 1 month delay for the North American cars too. If not, great. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Mike-engel]

6 and none of them went to the first 6 depositors. They all went to people who skipped the line

Perhaps you would be willing to share the name of the dealer? It would be helpful to future buyers, and would seem to be the only defense buyers have against this kind of behavior.

 

[EspritGuy]

6 and none of them went to the first 6 depositors. They all went to people who skipped the line

That is a complete lack of integrity and reprehensible.
Sorry for you.

 

[Mike-engel]

I imagine this has already been discussed, so please forgive me for asking. But now that US dealers have gotten notice of their first allocation and are taking orders, does anyone know when they will be advised of their next allocations? And similarly, since the only V6 FEs for the US are these first 700 cars, in what order will the next allocations be filled with respect to build type. Will i4 FEs come next or V6 own spec? Or a mixture? I think I will be part of the next allocation for my dealer (based on the size of their first allocation). I’d hate to be jumped over because I request the wrong spec. My preference is a V6 car, but I think I’d be equally happy with the i4, particularly with the dual clutch. I’d appreciate any insights about how things are likely to go in the US after the first 700 cars are spoken for. I also wonder, once these cars hit the streets, if the ADM thing becomes an even bigger problem for the current deposit holders. My dealer says they aren’t doing ADM, but there is no way to know if that’s true so I’m taking them at their word.

 

[TomE]

I don’t know that that is true. Totally aside from dealer machinations on their end of the line, Lotus is going to manufacture the cars in the most efficient and cost effective way as possible. They will batch the cars according to the fewest line changeovers and maximum efficiency.

Lotus doesn't need to batch for manufacture and there is no production line to change over. Each car moves between the production stations with it's own build spec, so they can build manuals mixed in with autos, LHD with RHD, V6 with AMG and flex all of that from car to car within a single shift. That's the advantage of building a new state of the art factory geared towards producing multiple variations. They need to bed it in with the limited First Edition specs, but it'll cope with Base + options and later the mix of Emira and Type 135 EV.

Panel painting is done in batches, usually for a few weeks of production at a time, but the paint line can handle changing colour between each car without slowing overall car production.

 

[TomE]

6 and none of them went to the first 6 depositors. They all went to people who skipped the line

Really sorry to hear this. It's this kind of behaviour by dealers that undermines what Lotus are trying to do. Lotus are very constrained in what they can do to prevent this. It's still worth letting Lotus Cars USA know, as it can affect future allocations.

I guess we also have to bear in mind a few years ago these same dealers had Evoras sat on their lots and were having to discount them to sell them. The dealers will argue what goes around comes around. But that doesn't seem fair when it results in deposit holders being pushed down the queue by anyone who is prepared to pay a markup.

 

[ADC]

Really sorry to hear this. It's this kind of behaviour by dealers that undermines what Lotus are trying to do. Lotus are very constrained in what they can do to prevent this. It's still worth letting Lotus Cars USA know, as it can affect future allocations.

I guess we also have to bear in mind a few years ago these same dealers had Evoras sat on their lots and were having to discount them to sell them. The dealers will argue what goes around comes around. But that doesn't seem fair when it results in deposit holders being pushed down the queue by anyone who is prepared to pay a markup.

What really sucks is that people burned by this sort of bullshit actually have almost no incentive to complain and let Lotus put the dealer on their shitlist... because then that means they'd have to wait even longer (whether due to the dealer getting their future allocations strangled, or having to rejoin the queue at the back with another dealer)

I feel for you all over that side of the pond... the US car market is truly a broken and wretched thing.

 

[4380r]

Lotus doesn't need to batch for manufacture and there is no production line to change over. Each car moves between the production stations with it's own build spec, so they can build manuals mixed in with autos, LHD with RHD, V6 with AMG and flex all of that from car to car within a single shift. That's the advantage of building a new state of the art factory geared towards producing multiple variations. They need to bed it in with the limited First Edition specs, but it'll cope with Base + options and later the mix of Emira and Type 135 EV.

Panel painting is done in batches, usually for a few weeks of production at a time, but the paint line can handle changing colour between each car without slowing overall car production.

I agree about the panel painting, but you are inaccurately oversimplifying the agileness of the production line.

 

[TomE]

Care to explain?

 

[Jon_N]

Wow! This thread is a shocking insight to me of the way the US car buying process works!

 

[roundincircles]

As Tom E says, production is just in time, batch size is one. Takt time is currently planned at 17 mins iirc.......this means a car ls completed every 17 mins when factory is fully bedded in.

Output is disconnected from order book, typically it matches average daily demand. So the Takt time drives output and assembly actions.....ie sub contract component delivery, sub assembly rate, raw material contracts of supply, labour etc. To change output takes months of planning.....for instance a second shift may require extra tooling, machine tools, raw material supplies, trained labour......takes months and only committed if the market is judged to be there.

 

[roundincircles]

Just one observation, current delivery delays will not project into the future.

As the factory beds in ( and the suppliers) then assembly cycle times will shorten and, thus, daily out put increases. There will be uncertainty for sure but as the processes mature certainty arrives and predictability with it.

In the interim we just have to be patient!

 

[eclat2emira]

Have a look here for a small dose of perspective. I'm not a Lotus apologist, just a realist...

Grandad forced to do school run in rain as new car not built

The former Jaguar Land Rover worker has been waiting more than 12 months for his new car as the firm is gripped by a global semi-conductor computer chip shortage

www.birminghammail.co.uk