USA/Canada Delivery Thread

[eriegz]

Ok, guys! Did the Factory Tour this morning! Here’s what information I came out with:

(Photos were not allowed inside the production areas…sorry)

1. I asked if the U.S. cars had started being manufactured yet.
They are very tight-lipped about divulging any info, but after pressing him pretty hard, it appeared that if they have, it had just started recently. The parking lot/holding area for completed Emiras had a couple of hundred Emiras parked in there. I did not see ANY Emiras with the amber strip along the outside of the headlights, designating a U.S. car. Nor did I see any “rear bumperettes”. There were quite a few cars made with left-hand drive, but do not know if they were bound for the U.S.. Some cars had front license plate brackets with a front license plate holder attached. Other cars did not…and no holes were pre-drilled in the front bumpers on those cars.

I asked about U.S. certification approvals. Again, he would act as if they don’t make him aware of such information, but again, after pressing him, it appears that they do not yet have everything approved…..it seems like California guidelines are holding things up for now…..but if U.S. cars are being made now, they must be pretty sure of getting final approvals shortly.
I told him that most of us in the U.S. have been told that U.S. cars would start being delivered by the end of December. He seemed to agree with that assessment, and that coincides with his latest information.

2. Both the 6 cylinder Toyota and the 4 cylinder AMG engined cars are being produced simultaneously on the production line…..55% 6 cylinder and 45% 4 cylinder cars….and are being produced in that proportion according to customer orders.
No dealer “showroom” cars are being produced…..only customer-ordered cars…except for demo cars.

3. They are producing approximately 40 cars per day, Monday thru Thursday. There are 2 shifts being worked on the production line. If you were to order a car today, he said there was a 2 year wait.

4. Quality control seems to be worked out better than the horror stories we’ve been hearing on the Facebook sites from earlier orders. At least, that is how it appeared to me.

5. The new colored cars are being produced along side the original 6 colors of the original “first-edition” cars.
Of the new colors, the vivid red is more “Ferrari-ish” than the Magma red, and looks great. The new darker blue (can’t remember if they have 2 new blues or not, but it is striking. The new silver really shows off the lines of the car, and I liked it also.
He told me that of the original 6 colors, the order of preference is:
Seneca Blue
Hethel Yellow
Dark Verdant
Nimbus Gray
Magma Red
Shadow Gray

I ordered Nimbus with the upper and lower black pack, and diamond- cut wheels……and I am very happy with my choice after seeing my spec.

Overall, I would recommend going on the tour if you get a chance. You learn a lot about the design of the car, etc.

I’m sure I have left out a lot. If you have questions, I’ll try and answer!

Curious, @VL3X any more word from your source given the above data point about there appearing to be no NA cars being built at the moment?

 

[VL3X]

Curious, @VL3X any more word from your source given the above data point about there appearing to be no NA cars being built at the moment?

Sounds like it was a one off for a dealer or demo or something... They're back to i4s for China. Sorry for getting everyone excited, but I promised to report any confirmed updates relating to North American builds. I still doubt we'll see any customer deliveries this year.

 

[4MIR3]

Sounds like it was a one off for a dealer or demo or something... They're back to i4s for China. Sorry for getting everyone excited, but I promised to report any confirmed updates relating to North American builds. I still doubt we'll see any customer deliveries this year.

That factory tour didn't confirm anything... Just stated "IF" it started, which it has not it seems.

 

[benjh1028]

Whoever is doing the next factory tour I have a gift: https://verniershop.com/products/sm...LnJ9E3NbVKqECiSU4hcJTh8umz7k_PqQaAn41EALw_wcB

 

[DerTheDer]

New update! There is no update. Story of my life, come on Lotus.

 

[Porter]

Whoever is doing the next factory tour I have a gift: https://verniershop.com/products/small-wifi-security-camera-night-vision-ip-security-surveillance-cam?currency=USD&variant=40548764254278&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQjw06-oBhC6ARIsAGuzdw3oh9sZPewxa-dYsTmb6WJLnJ9E3NbVKqECiSU4hcJTh8umz7k_PqQaAn41EALw_wcB

Masquerades as a shirt button! Just tuck the barrel into your navel and secure in place with rubber cement.

 

[KCMO68_510]

Sounds like it was a one off for a dealer or demo or something... They're back to i4s for China. Sorry for getting everyone excited, but I promised to report any confirmed updates relating to North American builds. I still doubt we'll see any customer deliveries this year.

And hope dies again...

 

[eriegz]

Sounds like it was a one off for a dealer or demo or something... They're back to i4s for China. Sorry for getting everyone excited, but I promised to report any confirmed updates relating to North American builds. I still doubt we'll see any customer deliveries this year.

 

[DMc]

I'm not sure if this affects FE production/allocations but Los Gatos got 22 V6 FEs.. so far Lotus only converted 11 deposits to actual orders leaving 11 V6 FEs still left to be allocated. The time line is only a rough estimate. Looks like 1st month deposit holders from NA won't even get their cars until next Fall at the earliest.

I can't understand how your market segment, customer Orders in, deposits down, is left hanging on the hook so long. Some delays with materials, the congested shipping routes, weird container ship fires, a raging war here or there... Matters are a little more fraught than even that. That's just the stuff going on before the NA market and it's local headwinds.

I ordered my FE V6 in Melbourne, Oz July last year. Lucky enough to step up at the right time, fill a vacated local allocation slot, slap down a cash deposit and a trade-in 2016 series 3 Exige S Roadster with low mileage. My Order's agreed price stuck even when the Emira unit price was raised - I wasn't stiffed.

Ownership handover of a Magma Red FE V6 manual in around 7 days (at time of this post).

 

[EspritGuy]

I can't understand how your market segment, customer Orders in, deposits down, is left hanging on the hook so long. Some delays with materials, the congested shipping routes, weird container ship fires, a raging war here or there... Matters are a little more fraught than even that. That's just the stuff going on before the NA market and it's local headwinds.

I ordered my FE V6 in Melbourne, Oz July last year. Lucky enough to step up at the right time, fill a vacated local allocation slot, slap down a cash deposit and a trade-in 2016 series 3 Exige S Roadster with low mileage. My Order's agreed price stuck even when the Emira unit price was raised - I wasn't stiffed.

Ownership handover of a Magma Red FE V6 manual in around 7 days (at time of this post).

Yes, a true mystery.
It doesn't equate. Like having Christmas in July.

 

[John777]

Just got my call that my allocation is ready and I have to submit soon for a Feb/March build. About 98% sure I’ll move forward but a bit hesitant based on the numerous problems which you wouldn’t expect of a car that’s $130k CAD now. I have a Huracan and few other random sports cars but the Emira was a riot to drive when I was behind the wheel this summer which made me want to move forward.

Should we be confident the FE V2s will be an improved version of the FE V1? When I test drive the car in July the CEL was on the whole time and the dealer said they couldn’t clear the fault.

If I’m not in a rush to get into a FE, will the V6 S/C still be available down the line in manual? Ideally that would be the direction I’d like to go after I can see that the kinks have been working out and the quality is where it should be in what will be a $150k car out the door.

When did you place deposit?

 

[Porter]

I can't understand how your market segment, customer Orders in, deposits down, is left hanging on the hook so long.

That's a mystery that many of us have been struggling with for the last year.

It would be one thing if the company had enough fundamental respect for its customers to communicate with them, but they choose not to.

I get how galling it must be for a UK auto executive to be forced to sell through a local dealer "middleman" distribution model, and believe me, consumers in the US don't like it either. But the refusal by Lotus to communicate with US deposit holders at all except through the conduit of mostly low-information dealership employees has resulted in an utterly broken customer experience.

It should be used as a case study in business schools for what not to do if you want to avoid damaging your brand. Because before all this, I would definitely have considered buying additional Lotus vehicles! I'll be buying a premium luxury electric vehicle in the next few years, but I sure as hell won't consider Lotus for it now, not after experiencing the sharp end of their deliberate disregard for over 2 years and counting.

I mean I even asked their US marketing head Camille Landry in person, face to face, to please check and see if I had been left off of some kind of email mailing list, and I followed up with a message to her and never received a response at all.

I just don't understand how this company thinks that what it's doing in the US is sufficient or fit for purpose. Showing up at the Quail doesn't count, this isn't the UK where 90% of your customer base can just "pop in" to an event in another part of the country on a whim. And they don't even notify depositors when they do plan to show up places, they seem to intentionally keep it a secret... so in some ways it's worse than if they weren't doing any marketing at all.

 

[Nova]

I just don't understand how this company thinks that what it's doing in the US is sufficient or fit for purpose. Showing up at the Quail doesn't count, this isn't the UK where 90% of your customer base can just "pop in" to an event in another part of the country on a whim. And they don't even notify depositors when they do plan to show up places, they seem to intentionally keep it a secret... so in some ways it's worse than if they weren't doing any marketing at all.

Exactly. I was quite surprised to read about some of the events around the country that I had never heard of ahead of time. I understand it's not as easy for US customers to go across the country as one can in the UK, but it would have been cheap and easy to make an announcement using a mailing list to give some sense that the brand is doing something to keep customers engaged.

 

[Lotustoronto]

I think Lotus at this point is intentionally advising no communication with the North American market. For whatever reason, they are fully aware that they have botched the Emira launch for this part of the world. I think there is a bit of embarrassment, not only to its customer base but to the dealers as well. Some have invested a ton of capital into new dealerships without any cars to sell for almost 2 years. I am surprised a dealer group isn't suing Lotus HQ for losses at this point.

This may all change in the coming years and could be just "growing pains". Realistically, they don't have anything to communicate that won't make them look incompetent.

The next communication from dealers will be a further 2-3 month production delay and first US cars to be delivered sometime in Feb/March 2024.

I also think that they will be dedicating a whole lot of production time to US/CAN builds in 2024. A lot more allocations than they originally had stated will be heading our way between now and Dec.

 

[benjh1028]

Masquerades as a shirt button! Just tuck the barrel into your navel and secure in place with rubber cement.

I think Lotus at this point is intentionally advising no communication with the North American market. For whatever reason, they are fully aware that they have botched the Emira launch for this part of the world. I think there is a bit of embarrassment, not only to its customer base but to the dealers as well.

100% agree. I’ve just never seen their strategy of “look the other way” not simply make things worse. They might be surprised of how forgiving the Lotus faithful are if they just communicated what the hell is going on.

 

[dgrace]

One mystery to me is how all of the press reviews routinely overlook the completely botched launch. Sure the car drives nicely - but you can't actually get one. And it's now (checks watch) 18 months late and counting. For us July 2021 depositors, we've literally now gone 2 model years up from the promised delivery. It's like a bad Kickstarter project.

 

[VL3X]

One mystery to me is how all of the press reviews routinely overlook the completely botched launch. Sure the car drives nicely - but you can't actually get one. And it's now (checks watch) 18 months late and counting. For us July 2021 depositors, we've literally now gone 2 model years up from the promised delivery. It's like a bad Kickstarter project.

Throttle House mentioned it and even cancelled their order.

 

[Maurice R]

Took a sleeping tablet last night. The stress of the Emira was getting.
Had a dream that lotus started producing cars for NA and were sending emails out. They were also sending a video showing the first one on production line.
Woke up this morning went to check my email. Shit nothing.

 

[VL3X]

Took a sleeping tablet last night. The stress of the Emira was getting.
Had a dream that lotus started producing cars for NA and were sending emails out. They were also sending a video showing the first one on production line.
Woke up this morning went to check my email. Shit nothing.

The next email you're gonna get is one in December saying there are delays and to expect deliveries in Spring 2024. But don't worry! Lotus is sending a fleet of Emira to US dealers for an exclusive driving event for those who've been waiting ever so patiently (which will be 10 minutes through traffic and back through a neighborhood full of speed bumps).

 

[BurninRubber]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I decided to pass on the allocation for now. I think I’d like to wait to see what the later cars are like and have another vehicle on the way so figure I will enjoy that for a while when the time comes.

Best of luck with everyone waiting, I have no doubts it is a blast to drive and visually striking.

Cheers