USA/Canada Delivery Thread

[981KMAN]

There is definitely movement now on the US "FE 2.0" allocations. Based on some of the rumblings here, I reached out to my dealer today (Lotus Charlotte) to see if they had received their allocations. He said that they just did and I was very happy to learn that I made the 2.0 cut! I gave him my build code and my order will be submitted in August, with an estimated January 2024 build month. I asked about CARB emissions certification progress and he wasn't sure, but said that he believed the "issues had been addressed". He still believes that they will be receiving their first FE Emiras sometime in October, including their demo vehicle. Of course we all know how the journey has been to this point, so all of this is subject to change, but I'm pretty psyched right now.

Glad to see the info on NA Build and Delivery dates, yet I am confused on why CARB (California Air Resource Board) certification would have any hold-up on cars destined for sales in the 36 Non-CARB compliant states, such as North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, etc....?? Federal EPA Certification, yes that's needed, yet not CARB certification.... or am I missing something here??

 

[FlyNavy01]

Seems they're pushing really hard for I4's, possibly to the point of more I4 allocations than orders at some dealers which is disappointing. Maybe the margins are better on those or the manufacturing is easier? The whole reason I'm interested in the Emira is for the manual transmission mid-engine design. No desire to spend $100K+ for a 4-cylinder turbo automatic personally.

My dealer (Bellevue) emailed me on the 14th of July and said, "they will be starting to build the 4 cylinder dual clutch automatic Emira for the US in this coming January. Do you want a six cylinder or a 4 cylinder Emira? We expect first deliveries of the six cylinder Emiras in a couple of months."

Grateful for the info, but admittedly initially a bit frustrated they apparently have over 200 pre-orders and never differentiated between the 2 drivetrains on their order list until now. The saga continues...

 

[nahanni]

My guess as to why we will see a tight deadline on these V2 V6 F/E orders and subsequently i4 F/E orders is they will be wanting to put the base configurator live for UK customers. I imagine that the UK V6 F/E order book is going to close Aug 1st and the base configurator to go live in September in the UK. They will probably want all V6 F/E's (V1 and V2) to be specced and 2nd deposits placed before this happens.

What the pricing will be is interesting - I think in the UK the Emira hype being over and the economy (high rates) is putting a little bit of downward pressure on pricing. So releasing the base V6 will add a bit more excitement and of course the new colour range to order from. The next 2 months will be interesting as from the looks of it they will have completed the Chinese i4's in the next couple weeks.

It will take them approx. 3 months to complete all North American V6 orders and I will assume that will lead right into i4 F/E's for UK/EUR/ROW. Makes sense to see base Emira production start Q2/3 of 2024 and for that the configurator would need to go live sooner rather than later. So far it looks like the V6 is outselling the i4 by a wide margin and because of that I think the i4 F/E run will not be as long as they first anticipated.

Alpine is entering the US market in 2027. Some Emira fans might be able to purchase an Alpine sooner. Need a sense of humor here! I have noticed your posts are always informative.

 

[Lotustoronto]

Seems they're pushing really hard for I4's, possibly to the point of more I4 allocations than orders at some dealers which is disappointing. Maybe the margins are better on those or the manufacturing is easier? The whole reason I'm interested in the Emira is for the manual transmission mid-engine design. No desire to spend $100K+ for a 4-cylinder turbo automatic personally.

My dealer (Bellevue) emailed me on the 14th of July and said, "they will be starting to build the 4 cylinder dual clutch automatic Emira for the US in this coming January. Do you want a six cylinder or a 4 cylinder Emira? We expect first deliveries of the six cylinder Emiras in a couple of months."

Grateful for the info, but admittedly initially a bit frustrated they apparently have over 200 pre-orders and never differentiated between the 2 drivetrains on their order list until now. The saga continues...

The i4 engine has bespoke parts sourced only for lotus built by AMG. I am certain that in order to have AMG build bespoke engine parts into their i4 engine for Lotus, they would have had to guarantee a certain amount of orders. Also, was told that they expected the take rate for i4’s to be higher than V6, especially in the US market. I’m not sure why they thought this…

 

[eriegz]

"We expect first deliveries of the six cylinder Emiras in a couple of months."

Is there a single person in this entire 109-page thread that sincerely believes that the first Emiras will be delivered in just a couple of months from now?

 

[T6061]

I checked in with my dealer (EuroCar in Orange County, CA) and they received 17 FE 2.0 allocations and I am 21st on the list. They said if 4 (or more) of the 17 opt for the I4 I might sneak in...not getting my hopes up. Original FE 1.0 allocation was 12 cars with 11 customer builds already submitted and the 12th ordered as their demo. No additional info on timing of deliveries other than FE 1.0 likely Dec/Jan and FE 2.0 2nd or 3rd quarter. I doubt they have any more details than anyone else...

 

[DaaS]

Saw this on FB earlier…Interesting note regarding FE V6 builds…

I don’t understand. Is this V6 FE production schedule (Sep to Dec 2023) only for Lotus of Jacksonville?

 

[trackday14]

I don’t understand. Is this V6 FE production schedule (Sep to Dec 2023) only for Lotus of Jacksonville?

I think it is for every US FE V6…It is in line with other rumors we have heard.

 

[Concept24]

The i4 engine has bespoke parts sourced only for lotus built by AMG. I am certain that in order to have AMG build bespoke engine parts into their i4 engine for Lotus, they would have had to guarantee a certain amount of orders. Also, was told that they expected the take rate for i4’s to be higher than V6, especially in the US market. I’m not sure why they thought this…

Perhaps Europeans consider the AMG brand as superior to Toyota. I'm sure the majority of German buyers do.
Here in the US, however, Toyota/Lexus stands for solid reliability. Just look at resale values.

 

[Concept24]

I checked in with my dealer (EuroCar in Orange County, CA) and they received 17 FE 2.0 allocations and I am 21st on the list. They said if 4 (or more) of the 17 opt for the I4 I might sneak in...not getting my hopes up. Original FE 1.0 allocation was 12 cars with 11 customer builds already submitted and the 12th ordered as their demo. No additional info on timing of deliveries other than FE 1.0 likely Dec/Jan and FE 2.0 2nd or 3rd quarter. I doubt they have any more details than anyone else...

Nikki (who is no longer with Eurocar) did mention to me that there would be a better chance of getting an Emira earlier if the i4 were designated upon the deposit transaction. I will anxiously monitor the reliability issues, which for certain will rear their ugly heads, posted by the early US adapters. Whether I pull my deposit will depend upon those and the total cost.

Aluminum alloy man, I wish you the best of luck. It looks like you are many miles closer to Eurocar than I am.

 

[T6061]

Nikki (who is no longer with Eurocar) did mention to me that there would be a better chance of getting an Emira earlier if the i4 were designated upon the deposit transaction. I will anxiously monitor the reliability issues, which for certain will rear their ugly heads, posted by the early US adapters. Whether I pull my deposit will depend upon those and the total cost.

Aluminum alloy man, I wish you the best of luck. It looks like you are many miles closer to Eurocar than I am.

I did spec V6 Manual when I placed my deposit...I don't remember if they required us to actually specify way back then. I'm wondering if any of the 17 FE 2.0 that wish to hold out for the I4 would still be at the front of the I4 line based on the original deposit date order? Or would someone who initially got in line for the I4 be ahead of those who switched later...?

Thanks for the well wishes. "The oxen are slow but the Earth is patient."

 

[Concept24]

I did spec V6 Manual when I placed my deposit...I don't remember if they required us to actually specify way back then. I'm wondering if any of the 17 FE 2.0 that wish to hold out for the I4 would still be at the front of the I4 line based on the original deposit date order? Or would someone who initially got in line for the I4 be ahead of those who switched later...?

Thanks for the well wishes. "The oxen are slow but the Earth is patient."

I signed up in December 2022 and was asked to specify the engine (i4 or V6) and transmission (if V6). I think that can be changed. Perhaps if an FE V6 person who wishes to switch may not be ahead of all the i4 designators, but it looks like that person may be ahead of some FE V6 designators who entered the "race" at the same time. (If that makes sense.)

 

[T6061]

I signed up in December 2022 and was asked to specify the engine (i4 or V6) and transmission (if V6). I think that can be changed. Perhaps if an FE V6 person who wishes to switch may not be ahead of all the i4 designators, but it looks like that person may be ahead of some FE V6 designators who entered the "race" at the same time. (If that makes sense.)

Makes sense to me...

 

[EZcheezy]

I put down a deposit/build order/signed papers last week (7/15/2023) at Dallas TX and they said 14 months.
sounds a bit too good to be true after being so late to the party

 

[GetawayDriving]

Saw this on FB earlier…Interesting note regarding FE V6 builds…

The buried lede here is Q1 2024 delivery for most.

It took Evora 3 months to make it from the production line to the US showroom. Assuming the same here, a September build date means a December delivery. Meaning most of these cars are arriving in 2024.

 

[DPB]

Glad to see the info on NA Build and Delivery dates, yet I am confused on why CARB (California Air Resource Board) certification would have any hold-up on cars destined for sales in the 36 Non-CARB compliant states, such as North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, etc....?? Federal EPA Certification, yes that's needed, yet not CARB certification.... or am I missing something here??

I would take my comment with a grain of salt. I had asked if he had heard anything about the US approval status and he referred to CARB, but I think was just generally referring to emissions approval. I have heard that sometimes CA may used as the benchmark, since passing there means passing everyhere. At any rate, it sounded like there is a sense that things are progressing well, but we'll only know for sure when we see cars showing up at dealerships.

 

[Porter]

Glad to see the info on NA Build and Delivery dates, yet I am confused on why CARB (California Air Resource Board) certification would have any hold-up on cars destined for sales in the 36 Non-CARB compliant states, such as North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, etc....?? Federal EPA Certification, yes that's needed, yet not CARB certification.... or am I missing something here??

Because it's very, very difficult to sell and service vehicles in the US that are not 50-state emissions legal. Federal certification applies for all 50 states but California applies their own overlay requirements. Those requirements are statutorily identical but are applied differently because CARB doesn't have the same exemptions for small volume manufacturers in the same way that the Federal certification process does.

Imagine owning an Emira and then needing to move to California for a major work promotion, and you can't register your Emira in the state. It would become chaos.

 

[Concept24]

Because it's very, very difficult to sell and service vehicles in the US that are not 50-state emissions legal. Federal certification applies for all 50 states but California applies their own overlay requirements. Those requirements are statutorily identical but are applied differently because CARB doesn't have the same exemptions for small volume manufacturers in the same way that the Federal certification process does.

Imagine owning an Emira and then needing to move to California for a major work promotion, and you can't register your Emira in the state. It would become chaos.

When I had my new 2001 Corvette shipped to me (in CA) from an Alabama dealership, I already knew what was required: I would have to get the car smog-checked and then bring it to the local DMV and have a DMV employee walk out to my car and inspect a critical sticker under the hood. The sticker stated that the car complied with all 50 states emissions standards INCLUDING CALIFORNIA'S.
Apparently, before GM started adding the sticker, the process may have been a bit more involved. Today, I believe all vehicles sold legally in the US comply for 50-state use.

 

[JSUNLAND]

My dealer in Dallas just texted saying that all they know is that they are getting the first 36 thru Sept to Nov. No info about 2.0.

 

[Eagle7]

My dealer in Dallas just texted saying that all they know is that they are getting the first 36 thru Sept to Nov. No info about 2.0.

Since the ordering was done in 3 separate months, March, April and May of last year, it looks like they're going to ship that way (3 separate shipments). Your dealer seems to think he's getting cars in September through November, but from what Lotus has posted, engine builds begin in September, not cars arriving. I believe it takes a month just for the ship to get to the U.S. I'm expecting at least 90 days from build to arrival in the U.S., so September builds would begin arriving in December, October arriving in January, and November arriving in February.