My trip to Hethel

[xen]

These are under factory lighting which isn't exactly showroom lighting, and they look pretty darned good; very rich and premium looking.

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Thanks @Eagle7 That does look pretty sweet - just wish I could see it on finished wheels

There isn’t any picture Lotus could release that’s ‘worse’ than this…why don’t they just…(another deep breath)

I’m between Seneca and Magma. I’m normally not a blue car guy but it’s a case of The devil you know for now.

 

[CDM1855]

Come over make a few days of it, I mean Norwich is a complete shit hole but I'm sure you'll enjoy the tour.

Norwich isn’t a shit hole

 

[Maverick1]

Solution to everyone's color choice dilemma.
Since the shape of the Emira looks very similar to modern Ferrari's, when you picture a Ferrari in your mind, what color is it?
There's the color you should get on your Emira.
Personally, if I were to picture a Ferrari in my mind it would either be red or yellow and then probably silver third.
I think with the exotic car shape of the Emira, it begs a bright, bold color.
I'm now down to Seneca blue or Yellow.

 

[Johnson]

Solution to everyone's color choice dilemma.
Since the shape of the Emira looks very similar to modern Ferrari's, when you picture a Ferrari in your mind, what color is it?
There's the color you should get on your Emira.
Personally, if I were to picture a Ferrari in my mind it would either be red or yellow and then probably silver third.
I think with the exotic car shape of the Emira, it begs a bright, bold color.
I'm now down to Seneca blue or Yellow.
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Yep, disappointing we didn’t get a bright red for the FE. I’m more than happy to be mistaken for a Ferrari.

 

[xen]

Solution to everyone's color choice dilemma.
Since the shape of the Emira looks very similar to modern Ferrari's, when you picture a Ferrari in your mind, what color is it?
There's the color you should get on your Emira.
Personally, if I were to picture a Ferrari in my mind it would either be red or yellow and then probably silver third.
I think with the exotic car shape of the Emira, it begs a bright, bold color.
I'm now down to Seneca blue or Yellow.
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These pictures distort the size of the Emira - something Lotus’s marketing seem to push with the angles and perspectives used.

The Emira is a sports car styled like a super car but is appreciably smaller than one (the V8 Ferrari’s in the pictures at least). If you adjust the images to scale it’ll look and ‘feel’ a little different.

 

[PaperLawyer]

Yep, disappointing we didn’t get a bright red for the FE. I’m more than happy to be mistaken for a Ferrari.

Hmmm, we saw the solid "vivid red" on a panel next to a magma red panel - the solid red was very much your run-of-the-mill postbox red and, in that moment, I realised why magma red was being offered as an FE colour.

 

[andyss]

Hmmm, we saw the solid "vivid red" on a panel next to a magma red panel - the solid red was very much your run-of-the-mill postbox red and, in that moment, I realised why magma red was being offered as an FE colour.

Indeed. TBH to me all of the FE colours look pretty special in their own way - they all pop when you see them in the flesh, there's not a bad one in there. Which means the rest is just down to personal taste. Obvs many would prefer a bigger range (or some quality pics of each in various lights, etc...). A bigger range would just make it harder for me

 

[NicolasB]

This has to be one of the very best photos of the car. Is it real or Photoshop? @TomE shared it earlier in the week, wondering where it was taken.

 

[DaaS]

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This has to be one of the very best photos of the car. Is it real or Photoshop? @TomE shared it earlier in the week, wondering where it was taken.

Original version was Seneca in China

 

[digilotus]

Indeed. TBH to me all of the FE colours look pretty special in their own way - they all pop when you see them in the flesh, there's not a bad one in there. Which means the rest is just down to personal taste. Obvs many would prefer a bigger range (or some quality pics of each in various lights, etc...). A bigger range would just make it harder for me

I don't think the biggest problem is the limited colour range, rather that we don't really know what we're getting. (Exception being those ordering the show car spec).

Any interested party without an Emira order can book a Lotus factory tour and see most (if not all) the FE colours in the flesh, yet no photos can be shared with deposit paying customers who put real money on the table as non-refundable deposits with associated vehicle orders. And press can take factory photos of half finished cars painted in future base edition colours and publish them in magazines...!

Only in the last week has anyone ever seen a Silver ULW forged wheel and discovered that they have a satin finish when the configurator looks chrome gloss silver. How many more incorrect "assumptions" have we made that may lead to disappointment?

Here's a thought - Why don't they pull the base cast wheels off the dynamic prototype and put FE ULW forged wheels on it? Silver on one side and gloss black on the other. This is not hard stuff but will make a significant difference for customers making configuration decisions.

So my fear is that the current process may result in disappointment or regret which is all preventable. E.g.
"Darn, I should have got that other colour as it looks better!"
"Oh crap that's not the colour I was expecting!"
"Those wheels really don't suit the duco!"
"Why are the silver wheels not shiny?"
List goes on...

 

[NicolasB]

Original version was Seneca in China

Thanks! Stance is perfect on that car.

 

[TomE]

View attachment 4745


This has to be one of the very best photos of the car. Is it real or Photoshop? @TomE shared it earlier in the week, wondering where it was taken.

It's a composite - original Seneca photo re-edited to Hethel Yellow and has all the other elements of my spec. Credit to Mickle on TheLotusForums, who is getting the same spec externally. The editing has taken into account the pictures we have of the HY car at the Eletre reveal and some leaked pictures from the factory.

 

[andyss]

I don't think the biggest problem is the limited colour range, rather that we don't really know what we're getting. (Exception being those ordering the show car spec).

Any interested party without an Emira order can book a Lotus factory tour and see most (if not all) the FE colours in the flesh, yet no photos can be shared with deposit paying customers who put real money on the table as non-refundable deposits with associated vehicle orders. And press can take factory photos of half finished cars painted in future base edition colours and publish them in magazines...!

Only in the last week has anyone ever seen a Silver ULW forged wheel and discovered that they have a satin finish when the configurator looks chrome gloss silver. How many more incorrect "assumptions" have we made that may lead to disappointment?

Here's a thought - Why don't they pull the base cast wheels off the dynamic prototype and put FE ULW forged wheels on it? Silver on one side and gloss black on the other. This is not hard stuff but will make a significant difference for customers making configuration decisions.

So my fear is that the current process may result in disappointment or regret which is all preventable. E.g.
"Darn, I should have got that other colour as it looks better!"
"Oh crap that's not the colour I was expecting!"
"Those wheels really don't suit the duco!"
"Why are the silver wheels not shiny?"
List goes on...

Understood. When I was there I saw exactly one set of diamond cut and one set of silver forged wheels. Literally everything else was on the cast wheels. I got the impression that wheel supply is one of their problems.

There's much that could/should have been done better, and as I've said before I'm aware it's much easier for me to be sanguine about it than for earlier depositors as it's almost certain that there will be a bunch of cars or there with customers before I have to lock in my spec (deposit on first day of roadshows). After the apparent surge of interest in what the depositors were saying, shown by inviting TomE and others in, it seems Lotus has lost much of that

 

[vision]

Understood. When I was there I saw exactly one set of diamond cut and one set of silver forged wheels. Literally everything else was on the cast wheels. I got the impression that wheel supply is one of their problems.

There's much that could/should have been done better, and as I've said before I'm aware it's much easier for me to be sanguine about it than for earlier depositors as it's almost certain that there will be a bunch of cars or there with customers before I have to lock in my spec (deposit on first day of roadshows). After the apparent surge of interest in what the depositors were saying, shown by inviting TomE and others in, it seems Lotus has lost much of that

Understood. When I was there I saw exactly one set of diamond cut and one set of silver forged wheels. Literally everything else was on the cast wheels. I got the impression that wheel supply is one of their problems.

There's much that could/should have been done better, and as I've said before I'm aware it's much easier for me to be sanguine about it than for earlier depositors as it's almost certain that there will be a bunch of cars or there with customers before I have to lock in my spec (deposit on first day of roadshows). After the apparent surge of interest in what the depositors were saying, shown by inviting TomE and others in, it seems Lotus has lost much of that

I think Im local to you, this is the best thing I have ever done, it could be really rubbish, I don't care. I would go out tomorrow and by an Exige but this is better and cheaper?

 

[EspritGuy]

These are under factory lighting which isn't exactly showroom lighting, and they look pretty darned good; very rich and premium looking.

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Is no one trusting the Configurator / video?
Did I ask the wrong question?

 

[TomE]

Is no one trusting the Configurator / video?
Did I ask the wrong question?

I saw all the FE colours on cars two days before the new (current) configurator was launched. I wrote my thoughts on each colour the same day as my visit and had the colours still fresh in my mind when the configurator was released. I though it gave a good representation. It doesn't quite capture the effect of the metallic fleck when you are close up but it does give a good indication of how the colours vary with different lighting.

It would be interesting to hear feedback from people who have been on factory tours. How did the colours in real life compare to what you'd seen on the configurator?

 

[TomE]

There's much that could/should have been done better, and as I've said before I'm aware it's much easier for me to be sanguine about it than for earlier depositors as it's almost certain that there will be a bunch of cars or there with customers before I have to lock in my spec (deposit on first day of roadshows). After the apparent surge of interest in what the depositors were saying, shown by inviting TomE and others in, it seems Lotus has lost much of that

I can confirm nothing the six of us fed back to Lotus execs when we visited the factory in January has resulted in any visible improvement in customer experience

 

[Eagle7]

A configurator can only go so far; it's not like the old days with very predictable enamels and how they look. These new multi-layer metallics are much more reactive to light and color transfer from their surroundings. The new configurator seems to be, I'd say about 96-98% accurate in the lighting conditions it portrays. All kinds of other things are going to affect how it looks when you see an actual car; dealer showroom lighting, daylight, sunny versus overcast, time-of-day, whatever colors are around the car when you see it.

The configurator should be close enough to make a decision. There will be "ideal" moments where an actual car may look better or worse, but that's the nature of these new metallics. They're much more dynamic than what we've seen before. Hethel and Seneca seem to be the most stable in that regard, with the other 4 metallics being more dynamic.

Pick the color you like, and just know that at times it's going to look different than at other times.

 

[Porter]

Indeed. TBH to me all of the FE colours look pretty special in their own way - they all pop when you see them in the flesh, there's not a bad one in there. Which means the rest is just down to personal taste.

Man, it sure would be great if all the people buying the car could have the same basic experience and draw appropriate conclusions, like you did.

You know, that thing that's usually accomplished by the manufacturer publishing photographs of the actual painted vehicle so that people can see what the colors look like, rather than relying entirely on a stupid 3D render with completely arbitrary computer-generated coloration.

 

[freefall_junkie]

I can confirm nothing the six of us fed back to Lotus execs when we visited the factory in January has resulted in any visible improvement in customer experience

It seems odd that they asked for feedback and have then ignored it. Why do you think this is? Unless they have adopted the Micheal O'Leary IDGAF about customers approach to running a business There are a lot of good people at Lotus so this seems unlikely?