Prices increase update from Lotus - and stopping of reservations for V6 FE

Please be advised that, as a result of significantly increasing costs, the Lotus Emira will later this year be subject to new pricing.

Whilst a significant level of cost increase has been absorbed, with effect from 1 June 2023, the retail price will increase to £81,995 (incl VAT) for the Emira V6 First Edition, and £77,795 (incl VAT) for the Emira First Edition 4-cylinder turbocharged variant. Full pricing details can be found on our website. However, your Emira reservation will not be affected by this increase, we can confirm your reservation has been price protected.

We are fully committed to our production schedule and in the next two weeks, we will be in touch via email to update you further on the progression of your Lotus Emira.

Due to overwhelming demand, we will be closing reservations for Lotus Emira V6 First Edition. We will be sharing the exact timings soon.

 

[RO62GER]

Amusing that mine says my price will be protected - when my Emira is already sitting in my driveway...........

That must be a relief for you

 

[donskibeat]

That must be a relief for you

Just had another email from them...... muppets!

 

[Ftype]

But you dont have a contract, there's an option for you to purchase a car and for them to sell you one. The deposit placed isn't a contract at a specific price and isnt a contract.

Why did the MD make a price pledge to those with an order then ?

 

[Duncx]

No way!!! My order was placed on July 11th 2021 and my reservation is protected. I'm so sorry you've had this news.

My first deposit was pre-reveal, July 6th 2021, placed with a Lotus main dealer. As soon as the official order book opened I paid Lotus themselves, on July 7th 2021.

I originally ordered a V6M but quickly changed to an i4, with repeated reassurance from Lotus CC that my place in the queue was protected and my i4 order was "very, very close to the top" of the i4 list.

My car was due to be built in June this year but today I received the email, my price is going up!

Knee jerk reaction from me, I've cancelled, I'm out.

 

[Nova]

Just had another email from them...... muppets!

View attachment 22682

Is this for real? I don't know anymore when it comes to Lotus.

 

[donskibeat]

Is this for real? I don't know anymore when it comes to Lotus.

I think the "technical error" was sending it to me when I already have my car!

 

[krist]

At least you in the UK know what is going on. I ordered in DE, and have no clue when, and at what price Lotus will build my car. As it is an i4, ordered Jan22, i suspect it will be sometime in '24. Now if it confirms that they do not plan to honour their June22 pledge on price, I definitely pull my deposit. It makes no sense to wait for the Emira, at a price that may further increase, with unknown delivery, when there so many alternatives available...

 

[New to Lotus]

It's your own fault, what have lotus done in this near 2 year debacle that makes you think lotus could be trusted to keep their word. Fool me once and all that, glad I cancelled last year really poor from lotus and no I don't think its worth 85k unless you live in Clarkson world where every car you drive costs 100k plus!!!!.

 

[GAVLA]

My first deposit was pre-reveal, July 6th 2021, placed with a Lotus main dealer. As soon as the official order book opened I paid Lotus themselves, on July 7th 2021.

I originally ordered a V6M but quickly changed to an i4, with repeated reassurance from Lotus CC that my place in the queue was protected and my i4 order was "very, very close to the top" of the i4 list.

My car was due to be built in June this year but today I received the email, my price is going up!

Knee jerk reaction from me, I've cancelled, I'm out.

I don't blame you. I would have done the same in your position. Switching from V6 to i4 must have put you down the list, despite assurances to the contrary. I feel for you and all those who feel royally let down.

 

[Forlorn]

Just had another email from them...... muppets!

View attachment 22682

They are muppets, I cancelled some 3 weeks ago and received my £5k deposit last week.
Today I received the email that due to my delivery of June my Emira price has risen to £81,995. Don’t they know I am out? Does one hand know what the other is doing. Beggars belief. They are bloody useless.
I think I have dodged a bullet on this one. Pleased I bought a 718 Spyder. My luck.

 

[Nova]

I think the "technical error" was sending it to me when I already have my car!

Oh... well, the drama continues for the rest of us, then.

 

[Jon_N]

I'm sat here thinking 'is the emira really a £85k car for a manual V6 with 400bhp? I know you can say, 'thats just the price of cars these days' but it really does start to push it towards another bracket.

It’s really not an £85k car with an old Toyota engine…. I was out anyway, just need to get round to requesting my deposit back, but confirms I made the right call….

 

[Ftype]

It's your own fault, what have lotus done in this near 2 year debacle that makes you think lotus could be trusted to keep their word. Fool me once and all that, glad I cancelled last year really poor from lotus and no I don't think its worth 85k unless you live in Clarkson world where every car you drive costs 100k plus!!!!

They are muppets, I cancelled some 3 weeks ago and received my £5k deposit last week.
Today I received the email that due to my delivery of June my Emira price has risen to £81,995. Don’t they know I am out? Does one hand know what the other is doing. Beggars belief. They are bloody useless.
I think I have dodged a bullet on this one. Pleased I bought a 718 Spyder. My luck.

Well done ! I cancelled last week before being told today that my price was going up. Glad I am out.

 

[GAVLA]

It’s really not an £85k car with an old Toyota engine…. I was out anyway, just need to get round to requesting my deposit back, but confirms I made the right call….

I respect your reasons, but I do believe it's worth the extra just about, and am convinced it will be a future classic car and highly collectable especially if they end up making fewer FE models.

 

[Gizmo750]

Just had another email from them...... muppets!

View attachment 22682

Good to see that some people have received two emails, when others like me haven't had any! Left me wondering what the score is with my order now.

 

[For the drivers]

Had a few sleepless nights just a few weeks ago whether to cancel my order ,todays announcement has cemented in my own mind I did the right thing to request a refund . The Emira replacement

in the meantime blowing my mind away. Sincerely feel sorry for deposit holders not knowing which way to turn now.

 

[Ftype]

Good to see that some people have received two emails, when others like me haven't had any! Left me wondering what the score is with my order now.

Probably lost your order

 

[Eagle7]

This is such a frustrating situation for everybody, including Lotus. Being delayed through issues and circumstances they had no control over. Incredibly unfortunate timing trying to get a new model into production in a new facility with a new production process, what with the Covid debacle and all the problems that caused worldwide. Not being prepared for an avalanche of deposits beyond anything they've ever had before. It's all just terribly unfortunate for everyone involved.

Now we get price increases we all knew had to happen due to inflation which is hitting everything everywhere globally. The sticky issue now is what is the legal definition of an order versus a deposit, with a company that the customer can order directly from (the U.K.)? Technically a deposit is refundable, so it's not the same as a hard order which is not refundable. At least that's how it is in the U.S. I don't know how British law would rule on that. Matt's video could technically be classified as referring to actual orders versus deposits. If he had said "The price quoted for your order" instead of "Emira" it would have been clearer. Because a deposit is refundable, technically it can be viewed as a 'maybe' you'll order, but because it is refundable, it's not a guarantee you're going to place an actual order. And therein lies the issue here.

Since it wasn't possible to place a hard order on the models for which prices were quoted, does that legally bind Lotus to those prices? For PR purposes it would, but would it in a court of law? If you've made a non-refundable down payment on an agree-to-purchase hard order, that's a separate issue, and those seem to be price-protected. A deposit isn't a guarantee that you're going to go through with an actual hard order.

If all models were already in production and people had been ordering and buying them at advertised prices, it would be different, but this is really fuzzy right now. Promised models that haven't been produced yet, being advertised at price points based on pre-production prototypes, that brought in thousands of deposits as a result. It's a PR nightmare for sure, but the legalities of it are something else again. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[Gizmo750]

This is such a frustrating situation for everybody, including Lotus. Being delayed through issues and circumstances they had no control over. Incredibly unfortunate timing trying to get a new model into production in a new facility with a new production process, what with the Covid debacle and all the problems that caused worldwide. Not being prepared for an avalanche of deposits beyond anything they've ever had before. It's all just terribly unfortunate for everyone involved.

Now we get price increases we all knew had to happen due to inflation which is hitting everything everywhere globally. The sticky issue now is what is the legal definition of an order versus a deposit, with a company that the customer can order directly from (the U.K.)? Technically a deposit is refundable, so it's not the same as a hard order which is not refundable. At least that's how it is in the U.S. I don't know how British law would rule on that. Matt's video could technically be classified as referring to actual orders versus deposits. If he had said "The price quoted for your order" instead of "Emira" it would have been clearer. Because a deposit is refundable, technically it can be viewed as a 'maybe' you'll order, but because it is refundable, it's not a guarantee you're going to place an actual order. And therein lies the issue here.

Since it wasn't possible to place a hard order on the models for which prices were quoted, does that legally bind Lotus to those prices? For PR purposes it would, but would it in a court of law? If you've made a non-refundable down payment on an agree-to-purchase hard order, that's a separate issue, and those seem to be price-protected. A deposit isn't a guarantee that you're going to go through with an actual hard order.

If all models were already in production and people had been ordering and buying them at advertised prices, it would be different, but this is really fuzzy right now. Promised models that haven't been produced yet, being advertised at price points based on pre-production prototypes, that brought in thousands of deposits as a result. It's a PR nightmare for sure, but the legalities of it are something else again. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

Haven't Lotus continually referred to "record number of orders" and such, so they clearly think that those placing deposits are placing orders.

 

[jimbobc]

I’d be interested how many drop out due to this announcement