U.S. Update: Allocation & Order Date

[Mike-engel]

yeah, i'm confused by a lot of the contradictory info. I think @TomE said even someone that were to put a deposit down by march of '22 would be able to get a FE car, and I think in that same post (from memory) said that would result in a mid '23 delivery date, so seems like the latest anyone that is already on a list would get a car would be spring '23, but I really don't know at all.... given the timeline, I'm actually fine with waiting till spring '23 since weather here would mean I just put it in the garage after october anyway....

Yes, but if you had it over the winter you could compulsively stare at it, brush it with ostrich feathers, or even wipe it down with Wolfgang detail spray and a microfiber cloth….repeat staring… #thou_shalt_covet while waiting to get out on winding country roads in the spring.

 

[Psb1816]

Reason #1,001 why the outdated dealership sales model needs to disappear. Tesla's dealer-less approach was such a breath of fresh air. I placed my deposit in Atlanta and took delivery in Portland, yet none of that mattered because the reservation was based purely on a timestamp, not who or where it was made or based on "previous sales volume", wtf is that all about?

I ordered the car on my phone and it was delivered directly to my house in Oregon. Easiest process ever. I hope Lotus (and others) take note for future sales...

My thoughts exactly. Piling into the best dealer kicked my dick in the dirt on this one.

 

[Eagle7]

Is it "order" before March or "deposit" before March? I think this is where the confusion is coming from. Words mean things and people seem to be using them interchangeably even though they're two different things.

I believe it's order, not deposit, although if you already have a deposit in, that counts. We'll have to get clarification on that since we haven't been able to actually order a car up to this point, they've only been taking deposits. Dealers are supposed to be able to start placing actual orders starting in March, so all current existing deposits can be converted into orders at that time, as long as the customer decides to go ahead and make the purchase. Right now deposits are refundable, but once you place an order it's no longer refundable. If you already had a deposit and turn it into an order, that holds your place in line for build and delivery based on when you placed your deposit. If you had a deposit and didn't make the cut for this year's delivery, turn your deposit into an order by the end of March, and your car will be built and delivered next year.

If somebody who didn't have a deposit wants a V6 FE, they can still order one in March, but they'll be at the end of the production and delivery line behind all those who already had deposits, and made them orders. They'll still get their car, but probably in the latter half of next year unless Lotus is able to really crank up production.

 

[Psb1816]

Hey @Magma. Would you mind mentioning when you put in your first deposit? I thought that as long as one put in their deposit by November 4.2021 that they would be able to receive a FE car. Maybe not with the first allocation, but eventually. Are you saying you won’t get a FE with the first allocation, or just not at all?

I put a deposit july 24 and received an “approval” from lotus in sept and got the sorry about your Luck today.

 

[Magma]

Hey @Magma. Would you mind mentioning when you put in your first deposit? I thought that as long as one put in their deposit by November 4.2021 that they would be able to receive a FE car. Maybe not with the first allocation, but eventually. Are you saying you won’t get a FE with the first allocation, or just not at all?

I put my deposit down on July 13th.

This is the email communication I received from Gator this morning. I honestly don't know if they will stop distributing FE cars. That's been a huge question of mine as well. The latest I heard was that if your deposit was in my March, you could get an FE.

 

[Eagle7]

My thoughts exactly. Piling into the best dealer kicked my dick in the dirt on this one.

There's a difference between a customer order and a dealer order. A customer order is you ordering a car and putting down a deposit on it. You pay the balance either directly or through financing when the car is delivered. When dealers order, they're ordering for inventory to be put on their lots to sell. They don't already have a customer for them yet. They typically use (unless this has changed) a flooring system where they commit to the manufacturer, to receive x number of vehicles, and the factory fronts them that amount with the expectation that they will get paid for them when the dealer sells them. If they don't sell in the time frame expected, then the dealer has to start paying flooring charges to the manufacturer for each month they sit there on their lot unsold. This is why dealers will suddenly be interested in making discounts at the end of a month, or fire sale certain vehicles that have been sitting there awhile, because it's literally costing them each month for it to sit there. They're actually losing money if they don't sell it.

Now you can see why previous sales performance and allocations matter, because the manufacturer doesn't want to have loads of money tied up in a dealer who isn't moving cars, or doesn't have a good track record of sales and paying the manufacturer in a timely manner. Dealers who are in good standing with the manufacturer are going to get more vehicles and get them first, because they've proven themselves. This is all business as usual and something the customer never usually sees or knows about.

A customer order is a different matter. Paying for the car is on the customer, not the dealer, but the dealer still has to commit to the order on their account before the manufacturer will produce and deliver it. This is why dealers don't want you backing out of the sale once you place an order, because they're still on the hook to pay the manufacturer for it. It's also why a manufacturer might be leery of building an order and delivering it to a low performance dealer who they've had issues with in the past, and they'll want to see proof of an actual customer order so they can be assured they'll get paid on time.

The Emira situation is unusual because of the unprecedented demand suddenly being dropped onto a small dealer network, and a company that's not used to this kind of demand. If everybody can be understanding and patient while they work through the teething problems, they'll be rewarded with a car that looks like it might become THE iconic ICE sports car, period.

 

[Porter]

I think the piece that a lot of folks are going to be upset about is the inevitable price hike between cars sold as a MY23 vehicle (this V6 FE allocation) and cars that will be sold as MY24. Lotus have a legal obligation to honor pricing as published for the MY23 cars, it's called the "offer" price. But any MY24 car is a different product, even if physically identical. Pricing for that product is not yet announced. Could be higher, maybe even significantly higher.

 

[Eagle7]

I put my deposit down on July 13th.

This is the email communication I received from Gator this morning. I honestly don't know if they will stop distributing FE cars. That's been a huge question of mine as well. The latest I heard was that if your deposit was in my March, you could get an FE.

View attachment 2793

Okay this is misleading. They're talking about ordering and getting a car THIS YEAR from their allocation for THIS year, that's why they refer to their "current list of allocations" and if somebody withdraws their deposit you might get a chance to get one of their cars allocated for THIS year. Lotus has said that anybody who orders a V6 FE by the end of March will get their car, and it will be delivered either this year or next year, but you will get it. They aren't limiting the number of FE's they're going to produce to allocations; they'll produce as many as they get orders for based on how many they get by the end of March.

If you are a deposit holder with Gator (or any dealer) and they've told you that you aren't going to be getting one out of their allocations for THIS YEAR, tell them you want to place your ORDER (not deposit) anyways for next year's allocation, but you MUST DO IT BY THE END OF MARCH. This will be a non-refundable order just so you know.

Gator doesn't seem to understand this by saying if you didn't get an FE out of their allocation for this year, you'll just have to settle for ordering a base Emira beginning this summer, like too bad so sad. That's not what Lotus is saying. @TomE if you can contact your contact(s) at Lotus and let them know, they need to issue a clear statement about this so dealers aren't misleading people and robbing them of getting an FE.

 

[darkling]

only thing eagle in cailfornia they can't ask for a second deposit state law or some crap . i asked 4 different times so i could just drop it now. Did get this from lotus does match up with what dealer said tho on my ordering .




Thank you for becoming a priority Emira customer.



You’re in the fast lane and we’ll let you know first about any important Emira updates as they occur.



In the meantime, you can look forward to configuring your car and completing your order in the Winter.



Welcome to Emira. Not just another sports car. The other sports car.



Lotus Cars USA

 

[TXEMIRA]

@GatorMotorsport - if you share all you know with us, we will get your emails better than a few font & color changes so it’s a bit more clear for your customers if you’d like.

Good deal?

 

[TXEMIRA]

Okay this is misleading. They're talking about ordering and getting a car THIS YEAR from their allocation for THIS year, that's why they refer to their "current list of allocations" and if somebody withdraws their deposit you might get a chance to get one of their cars allocated for THIS year. Lotus has said that anybody who orders a V6 FE by the end of March will get their car, and it will be delivered either this year or next year, but you will get it. They aren't limiting the number of FE's they're going to produce to allocations; they'll produce as many as they get orders for based on how many they get by the end of March.

If you are a deposit holder with Gator (or any dealer) and they've told you that you aren't going to be getting one out of their allocations for THIS YEAR, tell them you want to place your ORDER (not deposit) anyways for next year's allocation, but you MUST DO IT BY THE END OF MARCH. This will be a non-refundable order just so you know.

Gator doesn't seem to understand this by saying if you didn't get an FE out of their allocation for this year, you'll just have to settle for ordering a base Emira beginning this summer, like too bad so sad. That's not what Lotus is saying. @TomE if you can contact your contact(s) at Lotus and let them know, they need to issue a clear statement about this so dealers aren't misleading people and robbing them of getting an FE.

@GatorMotorsport is allegedly on here and could help immensely.

 

[Eagle7]

only thing eagle in cailfornia they can't ask for a second deposit state law or some crap . i asked 4 different times so i could just drop it now .

Well if you already have a deposit, that becomes a non-refundable order once you place your order. If California doesn't allow them to ask for more money as part of the deposit, it's still a valid deposit. You'll just have to pay more when the car arrives.

 

[scoates]

I'm not in the US, but I've posted about this elsewhere and people seemed to agree there was confusion about the "order by March and you get an FE" and the 700 cars coming in. As far as I'm aware, it is the orders submitted to Lotus by March will be an FE, and they have to come out of the 700.

It seems to me the order allocation may be going along the overall order of deposits which would be the fairest way to do it. With only 700 cars it is likely they were all accounted for extremely quickly, and the fact that some larger dealers are getting way fewer than expected, and smaller dealers are getting more could show they are going on overall country-wide deposit date rather than previous sales.

 

[digilotus]

The way I interpret all the data provided so far is as follows:

- There is an allocation of 700 V6 FE cars to be manufactured in 2022 destined for the North American market, no more.
- The number of US V6 FE deposits exceeds this allocation. This means that some will miss out on a V6 FE.
- V6 FE production for all markets will cease in December 2022 with V6 Base production starting in early 2023.
- Additional cars beyond the North America allocation of 700 will be FE M139 or V6 Base models.
- The majority of the 700 V6 FE cars will be delivered to customers in 2022, with those manufactured in late 2022 being delivered in the first couple of months of 2023.
- Regarding the end of March date, those who have a V6 FE allocation confirmed by the dealer will be able to lock in their spec by end of March (depending on build allocation slot). Early slot customers need to lock in a spec now. Last slot customers will need to lock in by end of March.
- New US customers who just decided that they want a V6 FE now will miss out and need to wait for the Base edition and join the back of the V6 base edition queue.

 

[Porter]

I'm not in the US, but I've posted about this elsewhere and people seemed to agree there was confusion about the "order by March and you get an FE" and the 700 cars coming in. As far as I'm aware, it is the orders submitted to Lotus by March will be an FE, and they have to come out of the 700.

It seems to me the order allocation may be going along the overall order of deposits which would be the fairest way to do it. With only 700 cars it is likely they were all accounted for extremely quickly, and the fact that some larger dealers are getting way fewer than expected, and smaller dealers are getting more could show they are going on overall country-wide deposit date rather than previous sales.

That would be great, but if any of that is factual then they should say so publicly. This is another example of Lotus not communicating with the US customer base and instead relying on some weird double-secret hush-hush backdoor comms strategy through the employees of independently-owned dealers, who absolutely do not fully understand the detail or nuance of what they're being told. If they understood all of it, then every dealer's narrative would match. And they do not. So unfortunately it makes Lotus as a brand look incompetent. That surely can't be their intent here.

I don't get it. Either they aren't employing people to do comms work, or they aren't giving the people who are employed to do it sufficient freedom to meet customer expectations. It boggles the mind.

 

[Eagle7]

The way I interpret all the data provided so far is as follows:

- There is an allocation of 700 V6 FE cars to be manufactured in 2022 destined for the US market, no more.
- The number of US V6 FE deposits exceeds this allocation. This means that some will miss out on a V6 FE.
- V6 FE production for all markets will cease in December 2022 with V6 Base production starting in early 2023.
- Additional cars beyond the US allocation of 700 will be FE M139 or V6 Base models.
- The majority of the 700 V6 FE cars will be delivered to customers in 2022, with those manufactured in late 2022 being delivered in the first couple of months of 2023.
- Regarding the end of March date, those who have a V6 FE allocation confirmed by the dealer will be able to lock in their spec by end of March (depending on build allocation slot). Early slot customers need to lock in a spec now. Last slot customers will need to lock in by end of March.
- New US customers who just decided that they want a V6 FE now will miss out and need to wait for the Base edition and join the back of the V6 base edition queue.

That is slightly different than what I understood. I've requested clarification on this, and I'm waiting on clarification from Lotus.

 

[LotusB]

@Eagle7 I have no idea where you're getting your information from, but it's wrong. I'm sorry I don't have the time right now to go line-by-line...

Just in general, reading this thread, it seems people are just speaking into an echo chamber. The information has already been announced, we just keep hoping that it may be wrong, since it doesn't match our desires.

There will be 700 First Edition cars (V6) brought to North America, allocations are already sent to dealers. If you're lucky enough to be within their allocation window (or someone ahead of you cancels dropping you down), you'll have an opportunity to buy the V6 FE. If not, you maintain your place in line for I4 FE or base model.

Don't overthink it people, Lotus doesn't have much in the form of communication, but there's also not much to communicate. Everything has already been stated, we just keep wishing there were more.

 

[Porter]

My thoughts exactly. Piling into the best dealer kicked my dick in the dirt on this one.

Come on, nobody kicked you anywhere. A huge number of us put in paid deposits all the way back in June/July of last year. If you weren't in that group, then you probably aren't getting a car until the next model year. It's reasonable.

 

[Eagle7]

I've requested clarification from Lotus on this, and I'm waiting for the response.

 

[Porter]

@Eagle7 I have no idea where you're getting your information from, but it's wrong. I'm sorry I don't have the time right now to go line-by-line...

Just in general, reading this thread, it seems people are just speaking into an echo chamber. The information has already been announced, we just keep hoping that it may be wrong, since it doesn't match our desires.

There will be 700 First Edition cars (V6) brought to North America, allocations are already sent to dealers. If you're lucky enough to be within their allocation window (or someone ahead of you cancels dropping you down), you'll have an opportunity to buy the V6 FE. If not, you maintain your place in line for I4 FE or base model.

Don't overthink it people, Lotus doesn't have much in the form of communication, but there's also not much to communicate. Everything has already been stated, we just keep wishing there were more.

And what about the people who reserved the day of Goodwood, were number 4 or 5 in line at their dealer, and will be told "sorry, too bad" as the 20th or 30th buyer in line at another dealer (who maybe ordered many weeks later) gets the car instead? That's literally what you're describing here.