Test drives and final stage of buying process for UK July delivery batch

[Eagle7]

I didn’t get time to respond to this on Thursday when you posted it and wanted to write a properly considered reply. Things have moved on with the thread but I want to come back to this.

I think most of my post was pretty factual. In expressing my frustration I‘ve tried to give some context. People can disagree with my reasons or my reaction to things but at least they know why.

This isn’t specifically about test drives (which all through last year I’d have been OK with not getting) but about that as the latest example of the poor customer care and zero evidence of improvement.

I wonder sometimes what would have happened if I hadn’t joined this forum (I didn’t at the start as I was already active on existing ones) and had just taken a more laid back approach. It might have been less stressful. Certainly much less time-consuming. But it’s about the owners community I’ve been part of for 25 years. And the two strands of helping each other out and of the relationship we have between owners and with staff at Hethel and the dealers and indies. And about welcoming and helping new people joining that. Maybe it is really a cult!

There are plenty of existing owners bemoaning the move to EVs and SUVs, the extra weight of the cars, not following Chapman’s principles etc. Ten years ago a few of those also criticised the Evora for breaking with Lotus tradition. I don’t want to be a “hark back to the good old days” guy. New Lotus has got some great opportunities, amazing levels of investment and a bright future. Change is good but not easy.

I don’t think New Lotus is too bothered about the previous customer demographic. At least not the ones who still wish Lotus made 750kg track machines that sold in the low thousands - because those people didn’t buy frequently enough and weren’t going to buy enough £50/75/100k cars.

You‘re all aware of some of the discussions I’ve had with Lotus. There has been other stuff I haven’t shared. Some because I was asked not to publish info about the car. Some about what’s going on inside Lotus, as it’s not fair to say too much about that. And lastly there’s stuff about how Lotus have treated me - as a customer and a community member.

Some of it has been shabby, disheartening, condescending and rude. I’ve been “warned off” from pushing on some topics. I’ve found out some of my feedback has been discounted because I’m apparently part of the “old guard” Lotus community and a trouble maker and not the target demographic for New Lotus. I could give more examples but won’t. It doesn’t affect you folks and your buying journey, which we all know and talk about anyway.

As I said, I’m excited to be getting the car next month. It’ll be amazing. I’m looking forward to sharing my Emira adventures and meeting other owners and being part of the community. I have a great dealer and they will look after me. I should only need to see them once a year and hopefully will deal with HQ even less.

I’m a customer and community member. I’m not a Lotus rep or ambassador, nor a forum rep or shop steward representing a group of owners to Lotus. I try to be an enthusiast without being blinkered. And I try to challenge what’s not working without being unreasonable or overly-emotional.

It‘s now day 11 of being able to say “my new car will be here next month”

Wow. If some inside Lotus consider you a trouble maker, I can only imagine what they think of me lol. Oh well, I'm buying a car, not corporate politics. The closer we get to seeing final production cars, the more I'm starting to feel the same excitement I felt when I first saw the car. I think it's going to be a real gem.

 

[Leonard]

i hope the day 11 does not end up getting past day 30...!
and yes, in any corporation there is always the internal politics and wrangling and back stabbing, Im glad I left that atmosphere some 25 years ago, Lotus will be no different and as I indicated elsewhere, I am sure over the next 1 -2 years there will be more and larger changes made, its a normal growing pain process...
Cant wait to see your review of the car, when you do get it.... and before that, someone doing the driving day experience..... both will be slightly before mine

I sincerely hope that the core enthusiasts at Lotus who are passionate about the brand and customer base don't get pushed out. Its always the really good folk that go first and those that choose to stay often get broken and disparaged. Matt seems like a passionate and empathetic leader so I'm hoping this filters down and Lotus can keep the people that really matter and attract new people that share the passion and vision.

 

[digilotus]

I sincerely hope that the core enthusiasts at Lotus who are passionate about the brand and customer base don't get pushed out. Its always the really good folk that go first and those that choose to stay often get broken and disparaged. Matt seems like a passionate and empathetic leader so I'm hoping this filters down and Lotus can keep the people that really matter and attract new people that share the passion and vision.

As nice as Matt is, with customer service and comms issues the buck stops with him.

If Lotus senior leadership prioritised customer service, they would beat people to a pulp to make it happen. I suspect they are prioritising getting the Emira out the door so that revenue starts coming in, with other priorities lower down the list. They are a business after all.

 

[Leonard]

As nice as Matt is, with customer service and comms issues the buck stops with him.

If Lotus senior leadership prioritised customer service, they would beat people to a pulp to make it happen. I suspect they are prioritising getting the Emira out the door so that revenue starts coming in, with other priorities lower down the list. They are a business after all.

I'm kind of over the CS side now.

As a CX professional myself I am COMPLETELY bamboozled by what may be happening at Lotus for the comms to be so bad.

But I totally agree the buck stops at Senior/Director level. For some reason it isn't being prioritised and isn't deemed important. It needs someone to come in from the outside and shake it up. It's just embarrassing at this point

 

[Eagle7]

I'm kind of over the CS side now.

As a CX professional myself I am COMPLETELY bamboozled by what may be happening at Lotus for the comms to be so bad.

But I totally agree the buck stops at Senior/Director level. For some reason it isn't being prioritised and isn't deemed important. It needs someone to come in from the outside and shake it up. It's just embarrassing at this point

It may also be somewhat of a do-or-die situation. We don't know what kind of pressure is coming down from Geely to get cars finished and in production. Based on Matt's all-in on that one single thing at the expense of everything else, that may be why everything else looks like it's not important to him. It probably is important, but he's had to prioritize and that's just the way it is. Might not be ideal for him either, but it's not like he could or would say anything about that.

At this point it looks like we've gotten through all those rough seas and final production cars are starting to come off the line. I sincerely hope once customer cars start being delivered, Matt can put some attention on these other areas. We'll see soon enough I reckon.

 

[MCS]

Have they drafted the comms team in to build cars? All hands to the pump as they say

 

[digilotus]

Have they drafted the comms team in to build cars? All hands to the pump as they say

Looks like the comms team have been putting together the pre-production seats!

 

[TomE]

It may also be somewhat of a do-or-die situation. We don't know what kind of pressure is coming down from Geely to get cars finished and in production. Based on Matt's all-in on that one single thing at the expense of everything else, that may be why everything else looks like it's not important to him. It probably is important, but he's had to prioritize and that's just the way it is. Might not be ideal for him either, but it's not like he could or would say anything about that.

At this point it looks like we've gotten through all those rough seas and final production cars are starting to come off the line. I sincerely hope once customer cars start being delivered, Matt can put some attention on these other areas. We'll see soon enough I reckon.

I think you're being overly generous. The Vision80 strategy was signed off by Geely in 2018 and the Emira had been in development for 2 years before the reveal. Changes to the UK dealer network were implemented early last year. Nothing was done about customer service, then or now, apart from setting up a small outsourced contact centre for the UK.

This isn't a sudden and recent "we're all going to have to focus on getting the car out so haven't time to sort other stuff" situation. They've known for YEARS they were changing the retail model and how they interacted with customers. Senior people planned how they were going to approach it and have deliberately created the situation we have seen over the last year. They didn't just forget or get diverted by other stuff. Matt has said to me and others at least four times (July and Sept 2021, Jan and March 2022) that they need to improve the customer experience. There's no evidence of changes and any improvements from now onwards are too late for a large number of the 7000 Emira deposit holders.

Is your "we'll see soon enough" a Lotus-style "soon"?

 

[TomE]

Have they drafted the comms team in to build cars? All hands to the pump as they say

You're assuming there's a comms team...

 

[emiraspain]

Have they drafted the comms team in to build cars? All hands to the pump as they say

if you want your car to be SILENT, no steering FEEDBACK, and have no CLUE as to whats going on in the corner, then go for them on the shop floor....

 

[Eagle7]

You're assuming there's a comms team...

Maybe they misunderstood what we wanted, and thought it was a commissary team. They do have one there at HQ, don't they? So "where's the beef?" (old commercial, look it up).

 

[Leonard]

Matt has said to me and others at least four times (July and Sept 2021, Jan and March 2022) that they need to improve the customer experience. There's no evidence of changes and any improvements from now onwards are too late for a large number of the 7000 Emira deposit holders.

Do you know why this is Tom, cmon you can tell us, we wont tell anyone else Be great to know so I can sleep soundly at night

 

[Eagle7]

I think you're being overly generous. The Vision80 strategy was signed off by Geely in 2018 and the Emira had been in development for 2 years before the reveal. Changes to the UK dealer network were implemented early last year. Nothing was done about customer service, then or now, apart from setting up a small outsourced contact centre for the UK.

This isn't a sudden and recent "we're all going to have to focus on getting the car out so haven't time to sort other stuff" situation. They've known for YEARS they were changing the retail model and how they interacted with customers. Senior people planned how they were going to approach it and have deliberately created the situation we have seen over the last year. They didn't just forget or get diverted by other stuff. Matt has said to me and others at least four times (July and Sept 2021, Jan and March 2022) that they need to improve the customer experience. There's no evidence of changes and any improvements from now onwards are too late for a large number of the 7000 Emira deposit holders.

Is your "we'll see soon enough" a Lotus-style "soon"?

Okay they suck. I'm buying one anyways lol.

In all fairness though, in 2018 or 2019 when they started development for the Emira, there wasn't a world-wide pandemic and all the problems that brought. That changed a lot of things, including time tables and projected plans.

However that's no excuse; they still suck, and I'm still buying one. It's a Lotus, right? I own an Alfa Romeo... I'm already half-crazy so if there are things about Lotus that will drive me crazy, it's a short trip.

 

[Tonyshepp]

Do you know why this is Tom, cmon you can tell us, we wont tell anyone else Be great to know so I can sleep soundly at night

Lack of money, lack of need to change. On the forum we are a small minority compared to the thousands of deposits. If there were several thousand dissenters something would change.
Unfortunately....

 

[Leonard]

Lack of money, lack of need to change. On the forum we are a small minority compared to the thousands of deposits. If there were several thousand dissenters something would change.
Unfortunately....

But who is in charge of looking at the current offering and thinking it's acceptable You shouldn't have to wait for folk to start complaining and cancelling orders before making changes, especially when you have proactively moved to a D2C business model...

 

[Tonyshepp]

But who is in charge of looking at the current offering and thinking it's acceptable You shouldn't have to wait for folk to start complaining and cancelling orders before making changes, especially when you have proactively moved to a D2C business model...

Maybe it's been offshored...

 

[Leonard]

Maybe it's been offshored...

That wouldn't be a bad thing if it's done well

 

[vdr]

“Sad, as it could’ve been so much better. At this point I just want the car and don’t want to have to deal with Lotus pre-sales process any more. I cancelled my Eletre deposit.”

As someone who’s had an Emira deposit with my local dealer for nearly 10 months, with no feedback as to whether I made the cut for an FE or when I can even place an order, I found it quite ballsy of the same, aforementioned dealer to inquire as to whether I also wanted to place a deposit on an Eletre.

Sure…. why not? The stellar communication and service I’ve received up to this point begs for my continued patronage (sarcasm mode in full effect).

 

[NicolasB]

Have they drafted the comms team in to build cars? All hands to the pump as they say

Exactly my first thought!

 

[Tonyshepp]

Doesn't bode well for after sales..