Phone call from lotus

[prestonc]

Depends on your definition!

If you can get in and out of a sports car, can drive it as it should be driven, don't look like Mr Magoo, then all is good.

 

[Leonard]

Depends on your definition!

If you can get in and out of a sports car, can drive it as it should be driven, don't look like Mr Magoo, then all is good.

Why I'm getting it now

 

[prestonc]

Why I'm getting it now

You know it, time is our enemy.
Now or never

 

[Stormcloud]

Great to hear! I too buckled on the phone call. Had every intention of the I4, then in the call said, go on then.

Is the tracker worth it?

Added the tracker in the end, it can't do any harm to any insurance quotes and may help if future resale is a thing. Had a tracker on the Ariel and I think I paid for a lifetime sub or something, oh well, I ticked the box.

 

[DJS]

Anyone had the call from lotus yet that has placed their online deposit on or after the 10th of July?

 

[donskibeat]

Anyone had the call from lotus yet that has placed their online deposit on or after the 10th of July?

No I am still waiting, placed my deposit on 12th July

 

[sslater006]

Anyone had the call from lotus yet that has placed their online deposit on or after the 10th of July?

I placed mine on 11th and still waiting...

 

[sslater006]

By the way, is it just me, or does the new Maserati MC20 bear a striking resemblance to our little Lotus...

 

[DJS]

I placed mine on 11th and still waiting...

So at least we have established that they are still phoning the 8th and 9th of July.

Speaking to a senior Lotus representative at the road show he said up to the Saturday the 10th of July morning they had taken 600 online orders max. He said they are gearing up to do over 1000 cars for 2022, this would suggest anyone who put a deposit down August onwards may struggle to get a car next year.

This must be frustrating for the late depositors as no guarantees.

Lotus can you please confirm?

 

[Stormcloud]

So at least we have established that they are still phoning the 8th and 9th of July.

Speaking to a senior Lotus representative at the road show he said up to the Saturday the 10th of July morning they had taken 600 online orders max. He said they are gearing up to do over 1000 cars for 2022, this would suggest anyone who put a deposit down August onwards may struggle to get a car next year.

This must be frustrating for the late depositors as no guarantees.

Lotus can you please confirm?

It's a concern for late depositors, but Lotus can't really make a move until they see the numbers that firm up v6 after the Nov 5th cut off. I was told they were planning just over 500, they have since doubled that with a night shift, so 1000 cars in first year. I guess they'll run a 2nd line for AMG...

From a Lotus point of view, if you are say 1400 in the queue and once it comes to commital you are still only 1200 in the queue then they'll have to just be straight and say early 2023 or top of the list for base + options.

I was not at Goodwood, but from all reports, if depositors number in the 500 for each day, I got the call Wednesday after depositing 9th at 3.30pm and was told "within the first 700". Surely 10th will be at some point next week.

I had this numbers game with the sales guy at the roadshow when they repeated the 90/10 v6/AMG first year split, so even though you make a 1000 cars, you will only build 100 i4FE in first year, if i wanted an i4FE I have to ignore the 5th of November v6 action, wait until December for my i4FE call to then be told I'm 300 in the queue, and so can forget Autumn 2022, one sales guy said yes, head of global sales said nothing is decided until after the 5th. So it's hold tight for now.

They must be taking the additional 3k depositors as a pretty solid bet for v6 and working around that marker, as you'll have had the opportunity to see the car at the roadshows and still want to commit another 3k. There will be no more offerings between now and early December when very early depositors are called and given build slots, so far less opportunity to have a big tail off in 5k depositors bailing out. That is all based on depositors realising they will not get to see or drive the car before they commit 10%, quite a few on various forums do not seem to realise this point. Risk you take.

 

[TomE]

So at least we have established that they are still phoning the 8th and 9th of July.

Speaking to a senior Lotus representative at the road show he said up to the Saturday the 10th of July morning they had taken 600 online orders max. He said they are gearing up to do over 1000 cars for 2022, this would suggest anyone who put a deposit down August onwards may struggle to get a car next year.

This must be frustrating for the late depositors as no guarantees.

Lotus can you please confirm?

The info I had on Wed afternoon was they were still calling people who'd placed deposits 8-10 July (ie during Goodwood FOS). That was the main peak for deposits - they took about 500 deposits a day during Goodwood. So it's going to take them a while to get beyond that to the 12 July onwards folks.

I don't think 600 by 10th July is correct. I know they had 100-150 before the reveal on 6 July and another 500 deposits before Goodwood started on 8 July. Building 1000+ for 2022 is what I'd heard - that's just for UK, up from the pre-Goodwood plan of 550. It's not clear if that increase is due to global re-allocations (more likely) or a second shift (less likely that they'd do that straight away - maybe later for i4).

One factor to bear in mind is the conversion rate from deposit to committed order. Overall that will probably be about 60-70%. So far people have only had to decide between a still-refundable extra deposit to stay in the V6 FE queue or defer into round 2 (i4 FE vs own spec) or cancel. About 50% of those contacted so far are going for V6 FE. Staying in the V6 FE queue doesn't yet count as commitment, so some may still defer or cancel when they get to that point in December - say 10% will leave the V6 FE queue. Roughly 25 people a day have been cancelling deposits and about 50 new deposits have been placed per day due to the roadshows, but are at the tail of the queue.

To turn this into some rough numbers, assume 3000 deposits, 60-70% conversion, 50% V6 FE currently less another 10% leaving in December. So that's 700-850 V6 FE to build for UK versus the 1000 UK capacity, so V6 FE folks should all get a car during next year.

The intention is to start i4 FE deliveries in autumn 2022, so assume the remainder of the 1000 ie 150-300 would be delivered for UK in 2022. In 2023 the own-spec deliveries are due to start from January, so early 2023 would be a blend of i4 FE and V6/i4 own spec. Using the same approach to the numbers as above suggests 900-1100 UK cars to be delivered in 2023 to fulfil all deposits placed up to about now. So (roughly) anyone placing a deposit now could be late 2023 or early 2024 delivery.

Lots of assumptions in this. Most importantly I've assumed only one shift but we know Lotus are looking at how to add a second or third and hence deliver quicker. That will partly depend on conversion rates and new orders from US, Asia etc as they get pricing and roadshows.

If you're a later depositer (post Goodwood) wanting an i4 FE I think it's more likely you'll see that in 2023 than in 2022, unless Lotus add another shift. If you want to go for own spec that definitely won't be until 2023 and Lotus have already said this.

 

[DJS]

2,500 uk deposits by last Saturday, there is going to be a lot of unhappy customers I’m afraid. Lotus are still saying on their online chat that depositors this week will still get a car late summer 2022 (No chance) Like you say decisions are still to be made on the 5th November but Lotus can not build over 2,500 cars in 2022.

Will be interesting to see.

 

[Stormcloud]

Maybe the 90/10 split was right then. Fulfill all the v6 orders and whatever remains you then start on the i4FE, although picking up a car near Christmas or wait a few more months and pick from a wider colour pallette and perhaps other options is a no brainer. FE saves you some pennies on options, but you probably would not spec all those options anyway. Oh well, wait and see then.

 

[DJS]

Ok so just had my call from Lotus 10 minutes ago (Deposit placed 10th July) and I have some information for you all.

Im roughy call number 700, 40% are going for the i4 so that would put me 420 ish in the queue as I am going for the V6 FE.

10% of people are dropping out all together due to the inflated price 60k to 80k and some are waiting to spec the base car. Hopefully that puts me closer to the first 300 cars delivered.

The bad news for some is there are over 2,500 calls to go. The next round of calls for the final locked in deposit when you get your build slot is now likely to start after xmas.

 

[TomE]

Thanks, that's useful info. Sounds like they are a long way behind plan on calling people if after 3 weeks they've only called 700. It was supposed to be 100 calls per day! That's going to take another 10 weeks, way beyond the 5 Nov deadline they have been quoting.

Did they mention extending that date, at least for people they've not contacted yet?

I'd heard similar figures about choice of V6 FE vs other options and cancellations. Means we can start speculating on our delivery dates

 

[DJS]

Thanks, that's useful info. Sounds like they are a long behind plan on calling people if after 3 weeks they've only called 700. It was supposed to be 100 calls per day! That's going to take another 10 weeks, way beyond the 5 Nov deadline they have been quoting.

Did they mention extending that date, at least for people they've not contacted yet?

I'd heard similar figures about choice of V6 FE vs other options and cancellations. Means we can start speculating on our delivery dates

They couldn't confirm buts is likely calls will extend to the end of November hence the final deposit after xmas.

 

[Tommyboy1986]

I put my order down on the 10th of august , I called lotus direct to see when to expect a call they said as I was a august deposit maker that I should get a call by the second week in November .
I have also been assured that I will be getting a first edition car and if opted in for a v6 I should still get delivery by end of 2022 .
who knows it’s just a waiting game so I’m not going to lose any sleep just roll with the punches and enjoy it as and when it arrives

 

[donskibeat]

Perhaps rather than calling people they should just get in touch via email to speed this process up, as it does seem to be taking an age if only contacted 700 people in 3 weeks!

I placed my deposit on 7th July and still haven't had a phone call. The email I got on 18th September titled "Stand by to configure your Emira" said "Emira has proven to be phenomenally popular, it will take a few weeks to contact all priority customers and this will be carried out in the sequence first priority order customer payments were received."

The communication from Lotus does seem to be a real issue at this stage, perhaps rather than sending out the less than useful "Emira October Update" email I received today they should be sending out email which contains useful information and updates to the customers because to be fair we seem to be getting more information from this forum than we do from Lotus themselves! for instance we only know about the second deposit being due early November from what people post here, no one from Lotus had emailed us and told us that.

 

[AlexB]

I put my order down on the 10th of august , I called lotus direct to see when to expect a call they said as I was a august deposit maker that I should get a call by the second week in November .
I have also been assured that I will be getting a first edition car and if opted in for a v6 I should still get delivery by end of 2023 .
who knows it’s just a waiting game so I’m not going to lose any sleep just roll with the punches and enjoy it as and when it arrives

Do you really mean end of 2023?

 

[EspritGuy]

I put my order down on the 10th of august , I called lotus direct to see when to expect a call they said as I was a august deposit maker that I should get a call by the second week in November .
I have also been assured that I will be getting a first edition car and if opted in for a v6 I should still get delivery by end of 2023 .
who knows it’s just a waiting game so I’m not going to lose any sleep just roll with the punches and enjoy it as and when it arrives

Would you kindly clarify timeline: if you were assured a FE in V6 kit wouldn't it be by end of 2022?
Thanks...