USA/Canada Delivery Thread

[Concept24]

Sorry but the volume of issues with the EMIRA is unacceptable so far. I accept that there will be teething pains but the issues are way to big and frequent so far on this forum.

If you want to compare it to the C8 Corvette teething pains, its like apples to oranges,

GM is QUICKLY responding to C8 issues. Blown C8 Zo6 engine ? you get a brand new car and you are put first in line and get your car remade within a few weeks and delivered. BANG DONE. GM wants owners happy.

This LOTUS crap is really a turn off for me. Too bad.

The big problem with GM is that they replace failed components/modules with the exact same thing. Chances are that it will fail again. And yes, those with leaky transmission cases were often sitting at the dealership for many weeks, waiting for the part to get in. Sound familiar?

 

[kitkat]

The big problem with GM is that they replace failed components/modules with the exact same thing. Chances are that it will fail again. And yes, those with leaky transmission cases were often sitting at the dealership for many weeks, waiting for the part to get in. Sound familiar?

Yup, exactly like replacing ECUs and O2 sensors on the Emira.

 

[Concept24]

Yup, exactly like replacing ECUs and O2 sensors on the Emira.

Yes, indeed. Can you imagine a brand new 2016 Acura NSX having the same issues? If they did, they were rare.

 

[Porter]

I celebrated the 2 year anniversary of my initial deposit by filing a FOIA request with the EPA.

 

[Lotustoronto]

Sorry but the volume of issues with the EMIRA is unacceptable so far. I accept that there will be teething pains but the issues are way to big and frequent so far on this forum.

If you want to compare it to the C8 Corvette teething pains, its like apples to oranges,

GM is QUICKLY responding to C8 issues. Blown C8 Zo6 engine ? you get a brand new car and you are put first in line and get your car remade within a few weeks and delivered. BANG DONE. GM wants owners happy.

This LOTUS crap is really a turn off for me. Too bad.

Emira has been in production for 9 months. For them to find all the teething issues and remedy the fix with suppliers and perhaps even re-tool / re-engineer some issues would take a lot longer than 9 months. This car won't be fully sorted until year two or sometime mid 2024. This is expected for any vehicle being built, but especially for one built mostly by hand in small quantities with new staff and factory.

Let's not compare bowling green and Hethel. Corvette will pump out in 1 year what Lotus will do in 5. I won't deny that it's not an ideal situation, but if you want a rare car with the all traits the Emira has, you don't have a choice. No car has low volume, rarity, hand assembled and great QC. It's impossible. Toyota arguably has the best QC, which is achieved by using old parts for a very long time and fine tuning them over years and years of mass production.

There is one exception; Lexus LFA. Reliable, rare, hand built, small quantities. They lost money on every one sold.

 

[KCMO68_510]

The same issues occurred over a year ago with the original European press tour.

You've seen and will continue to see the following comments:

- Forums have a disproportionate amount of complainers.

I'm sure their is someone who can make this point without it seeming ironic, BUT this one is funny.

 

[Porter]

Emira has been in production for 9 months. For them to find all the teething issues and remedy the fix with suppliers and perhaps even re-tool / re-engineer some issues would take a lot longer than 9 months. This car won't be fully sorted until year two or sometime mid 2024. This is expected for any vehicle being built, but especially for one built mostly by hand in small quantities with new staff and factory.

Nobody is complaining about any of that, not seriously. What is unacceptable is for Lotus to be in a such a tough situation, with customers in major markets waiting years for cars that at this point may never arrive because regulatory homologation has not been completed, and yet flatly refuse to communicate with those customers directly in any meaningful way to help them understand the situation. Even the delay communications with US owners were handed off entirely to local dealers, who understandably had no real interest in being a pipeline for that kind of communication, nor do they have a financial incentive of any kind to participate in the tin-can-telephone routine with the factory and the buyer. Hell, the dealers are having to give 2+ years of stonewalling while they wait for any kind of financial upside from the whole mess - which they can't get until cars move through their showroom and start delivering.

What Lotus ideally should be doing, considering the tiny scale of their brand and the passionate direct engagement of their owner community, is having a regular (quarterly?) report-out with the deposit holders in key markets about where things stand with production and regulatory certification processes, what has already been addressed in their "known issues" backlog (without disclosing too much), and what the Lotus team hopes to achieve in the coming months in the pursuit of constant process and quality improvement. A newsletter would cover it nicely, but if they wanted to shoot for the moon and act like a 21st century company they could literally do it as a webinar with a PowerPoint, and the comments section closed. Humanize the thing by highlighting a few Lotus employees who did a great job lately, celebrated a major work milestone, or had a new baby, etc.

Unrealistic? Maybe. But only because the norms in the auto industry have been established by CYA lawyers and other control drones, rather than anyone who understands how brands and their customers exist symbiotically.

 

[Green]

They should send them to dealerships out here. They'll be snaped up, quickly. I'd like to test drive one with the i6.

Yeah there is over 13 pages of used Supras on auto Trader. That should tell you something.

 

[EspritGuy]

Nobody is complaining about any of that, not seriously. What is unacceptable is for Lotus to be in a such a tough situation, with customers in major markets waiting years for cars that at this point may never arrive because regulatory homologation has not been completed, and yet flatly refuse to communicate with those customers directly in any meaningful way to help them understand the situation. Even the delay communications with US owners were handed off entirely to local dealers, who understandably had no real interest in being a pipeline for that kind of communication, nor do they have a financial incentive of any kind to participate in the tin-can-telephone routine with the factory and the buyer. Hell, the dealers are having to give 2+ years of stonewalling while they wait for any kind of financial upside from the whole mess - which they can't get until cars move through their showroom and start delivering.

What Lotus ideally should be doing, considering the tiny scale of their brand and the passionate direct engagement of their owner community, is having a regular (quarterly?) report-out with the deposit holders in key markets about where things stand with production and regulatory certification processes, what has already been addressed in their "known issues" backlog (without disclosing too much), and what the Lotus team hopes to achieve in the coming months in the pursuit of constant process and quality improvement. A newsletter would cover it nicely, but if they wanted to shoot for the moon and act like a 21st century company they could literally do it as a webinar with a PowerPoint, and the comments section closed. Humanize the thing by highlighting a few Lotus employees who did a great job lately, celebrated a major work milestone, or had a new baby, etc.

Unrealistic? Maybe. But only because the norms in the auto industry have been established by CYA lawyers and other control drones, rather than anyone who understands how brands and their customers exist symbiotically.

Yes, what he said. Communicate like a grown up company.
Fill in the blanks, which have grown in number.
Playing hard to get won't work out well.

 

[Lotustoronto]

Nobody is complaining about any of that, not seriously. What is unacceptable is for Lotus to be in a such a tough situation, with customers in major markets waiting years for cars that at this point may never arrive because regulatory homologation has not been completed, and yet flatly refuse to communicate with those customers directly in any meaningful way to help them understand the situation. Even the delay communications with US owners were handed off entirely to local dealers, who understandably had no real interest in being a pipeline for that kind of communication, nor do they have a financial incentive of any kind to participate in the tin-can-telephone routine with the factory and the buyer. Hell, the dealers are having to give 2+ years of stonewalling while they wait for any kind of financial upside from the whole mess - which they can't get until cars move through their showroom and start delivering.

What Lotus ideally should be doing, considering the tiny scale of their brand and the passionate direct engagement of their owner community, is having a regular (quarterly?) report-out with the deposit holders in key markets about where things stand with production and regulatory certification processes, what has already been addressed in their "known issues" backlog (without disclosing too much), and what the Lotus team hopes to achieve in the coming months in the pursuit of constant process and quality improvement. A newsletter would cover it nicely, but if they wanted to shoot for the moon and act like a 21st century company they could literally do it as a webinar with a PowerPoint, and the comments section closed. Humanize the thing by highlighting a few Lotus employees who did a great job lately, celebrated a major work milestone, or had a new baby, etc.

Unrealistic? Maybe. But only because the norms in the auto industry have been established by CYA lawyers and other control drones, rather than anyone who understands how brands and their customers exist symbiotically.

You're not wrong. Comms are beyond terrible. I honestly think Lotus themselves are a little out of their depth. Trying to launch an all new EV brand is their main focus. All marketing $$, employees and the companies future is based on it. I honestly think from a board room perspective they look at Emira as a headache. Maybe not the OG guys at Hethel, but the ones funding and backing the new "Lotus" (china) probably do. In a way, the fact that Emira had a terrible launch (supply chain, staff, delays etc.) and now QC issues doubled with the fact that there are used ones selling below MSRP in the UK probably makes them wonder if it was even worth it. Is it truly adding legacy or tarnishing future Lotus products? Perhaps Emira is even more damaging at this point than helping turn the corner away from it's moniker "Lot's of trouble usually serious".

Emira is special, to the very very few people that want a car like this. There really is not a business case for this sport car outside of keeping it's heritage alive long enough for it to morph into a pure EV brand. Emira is the last of the OG Lotus and while loved by the enthusiast, it is probably despised by the bean counters. They can not wait for the day it is shelved off. It is clear that the marketing $$ for Emira is as low as they could make it.

While I do believe the team at Hethel have passion about the Emira. They are true enthusiasts and the passion in terms of design and dynamics is clear. The support in the future is worrisome. As far as Lotus' electric future, I think it will be successful. I also think it will be treated very differently in the next few years as the EV's really start to push off and the Emira is gone. Just my opinion.

Geely wanted the name and heritage associated with it. Not its existing customer base. We are literally the furthest away from their target demographic. Lusting over gas powered, manual transmission, light weight sports cars. They want Tesla buyers not us. (even if some of us own Tesla's, which I know some of us do.... but the percentage of Tesla owners that would buy an Emira is probably .00005%)

 

[Pegasi]

Nobody is complaining about any of that, not seriously. What is unacceptable is for Lotus to be in a such a tough situation, with customers in major markets waiting years for cars that at this point may never arrive because regulatory homologation has not been completed, and yet flatly refuse to communicate with those customers directly in any meaningful way to help them understand the situation. Even the delay communications with US owners were handed off entirely to local dealers, who understandably had no real interest in being a pipeline for that kind of communication, nor do they have a financial incentive of any kind to participate in the tin-can-telephone routine with the factory and the buyer. Hell, the dealers are having to give 2+ years of stonewalling while they wait for any kind of financial upside from the whole mess - which they can't get until cars move through their showroom and start delivering.

What Lotus ideally should be doing, considering the tiny scale of their brand and the passionate direct engagement of their owner community, is having a regular (quarterly?) report-out with the deposit holders in key markets about where things stand with production and regulatory certification processes, what has already been addressed in their "known issues" backlog (without disclosing too much), and what the Lotus team hopes to achieve in the coming months in the pursuit of constant process and quality improvement. A newsletter would cover it nicely, but if they wanted to shoot for the moon and act like a 21st century company they could literally do it as a webinar with a PowerPoint, and the comments section closed. Humanize the thing by highlighting a few Lotus employees who did a great job lately, celebrated a major work milestone, or had a new baby, etc.

Unrealistic? Maybe. But only because the norms in the auto industry have been established by CYA lawyers and other control drones, rather than anyone who understands how brands and their customers exist symbiotically.

I think there is a good chance that if Lotus puts out more information it will just get picked apart even further if its anything but 700 NA FEs on a ship. My honest opinion is that this launch gradually got away from Lotus and Lotus cannot predict to a certain degree of accuracy anything at this point so they stay silent. At least part of me understands that is a good strategy.

I also wonder if they don't want other manufacturers to know too much. No fact to back this up, just trying to understand the vacuum.

 

[Porter]

I think there is a good chance that if Lotus puts out more information it will just get picked apart even further if its anything but 700 NA FEs on a ship. My honest opinion is that this launch gradually got away from Lotus and Lotus cannot predict to a certain degree of accuracy anything at this point so they stay silent. At least part of me understands that is a good strategy.

I also wonder if they don't want other manufacturers to know too much. No fact to back this up, just trying to understand the vacuum.

I think you're right about it getting away from them. The info disclosure competitive thing isn't a thing though - all the regulatory filings are public once they take effect, including a ton of granular detail.

 

[kitkat]

I'm sure their is someone who can make this point without it seeming ironic, BUT this one is funny.

I know you think you’re being cheeky, but I take issue with that. I think I bring a fairly balanced and realistic take on the Emira and Lotus in general. I like to think I spend quite a bit of time making informative posts on this forum to balance out any negativity or complaints we’ve all been frustrated with.

 

[NicolasB]

I know you think you’re being cheeky, but I take issue with that. I think I bring a fairly balanced and realistic take on the Emira and Lotus in general. I like to think I spend quite a bit of time making informative posts on this forum to balance out any negativity or complaints we’ve all been frustrated with.

He emphasized "but" instead of "this", so it lost its meaning anyway....

 

[Hell4Leather]

Yea, but car buyers are not loyal on the whole. Money today is better than the possibility of money in the future.

Exotic car buyers are. Lots of folks on here have owned a host of wonder machines. The dealer that sells the Emira to you gets to sell it again when you trade up in 2 years,

 

[Hell4Leather]

They should send them to dealerships out here. They'll be snaped up, quickly. I'd like to test drive one with the i6.

Get on a plane or buy it online and ship it.

 

[benjh1028]

Get on a plane or buy it online and ship it.

I never limit my search for a vehicle to the local radius. You can save significant money buying elsewhere. If you’re patient with shipping times, the cost for east coast to west coast delivery is about $1500.

Last year I bought a pontoon boat in Minnesota near the factory, and even after shipping to Georgia saved almost $20k compared to dealerships within a 200-mile radius of home.

 

[Maurice R]

The big question:-
Has anyone in NA heard if production has started ?
It’s now close to mid July and last I heard production for NA was supposed to start.
I have not spoken to my dealership yet but will do so next week

 

[4MIR3]

The big question:-
Has anyone in NA heard if production has started ?
It’s now close to mid July and last I heard production for NA was supposed to start.
I have not spoken to my dealership yet but will do so next week

A couple people on FB have seen USA spec cars at the factory... not sure if they are test cars or actual production?

 

[Nova]

A couple people on FB have seen USA spec cars at the factory... not sure if they are test cars or actual production?

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