USA/Canada Delivery Thread

[Cwolf]

Transparency builds trust. Somewhat a fundamental business concept.

Yep, that was my message back to the Head of Sales. Just keep people posted even if it is bad news or no news. Be proactive in communication. Pretty basic concept as you said and I told him the same thing.

 

[Eagle7]

It may not be Hethel. How much transparency are the Chinese known for? There seems to be plenty of openness at the factory on the tours. Anyone who has taken the tour has nothing but good to say about it. Yet strangely, outside of the facility at Hethel there's little to no communication whatsoever. Even the dealers and dealer network is treated this way. Writing to anyone at Hethel may be the wrong people to write to. It might be better to write to the appropriate people at Geely, whomever they are.

 

[benjh1028]

It may not be Hethel. How much transparency are the Chinese known for? There seems to be plenty of openness at the factory on the tours. Anyone who has taken the tour has nothing but good to say about it. Yet strangely, outside of the facility at Hethel there's little to no communication whatsoever. Even the dealers and dealer network is treated this way. Writing to anyone at Hethel may be the wrong people to write to. It might be better to write to the appropriate people at Geely, whomever they are.

The Hethel factory may not be the direct cause of the delays, but since they are the people that I transacted with they are absolutely responsible for keeping me informed.

 

[Silver Storm]

It may not be Hethel. How much transparency are the Chinese known for? There seems to be plenty of openness at the factory on the tours. Anyone who has taken the tour has nothing but good to say about it. Yet strangely, outside of the facility at Hethel there's little to no communication whatsoever. Even the dealers and dealer network is treated this way. Writing to anyone at Hethel may be the wrong people to write to. It might be better to write to the appropriate people at Geely, whomever they are.

As a new member here and new to Lotus, I think we need to ask how transparent Lotus was with previous models like Elise, Exige, and Evora. Is Lotus less transparent now when compared to previous model release? If Lotus is less transparent now, then perhaps it might be Geely muzzling Lotus from speaking out.

 

[KAR120C]

As a new member here and new to Lotus, I think we need to ask how transparent Lotus was with previous models like Elise, Exige, and Evora. Is Lotus less transparent now when compared to previous model release? If Lotus is less transparent now, then perhaps it might be Geely muzzling Lotus from speaking out.

Communication (at least in the US) has not been a strength for Lotus going back at least to the intro of the Elise in 2005. Some people may remember the radio silence before the Evora 400 finally came out a year late. Maybe it feels worse now because the number of people waiting is larger.

 

[Silver Storm]

Communication (at least in the US) has not been a strength for Lotus going back at least to the intro of the Elise in 2005. Some people may remember the radio silence before the Evora 400 finally came out a year late. Maybe it feels worse now because the number of people waiting is larger.

Interesting, didn’t know that. So if Lotus is doing exactly what they’ve done since the Elise, then the transparency issue with the Emira is Lotus work culture and nothing more. They simply do not want to be more transparent. The only reason why there’s more fuss now over Emira transparency is because there’s a lot more interest in the car than there ever was when compared to previous Lotus models.

 

[KAR120C]

Interesting, didn’t know that. So if Lotus is doing exactly what they’ve done since the Elise, then the transparency issue with the Emira is Lotus work culture and nothing more. They simply do not want to be more transparent. The only reason why there’s more fuss now over Emira transparency is because there’s a lot more interest in the car than there ever was when compared to previous Lotus models.

Lotus is definitely doing more on the marketing side to hype the new vehicles. I guess it has worked since the number of deposits are huge. I read something in one of the threads that Jim Carter said an announcement was coming this week. Maybe the communication log jam is going to open soon!

 

[99Problems]

Communication (at least in the US) has not been a strength for Lotus going back at least to the intro of the Elise in 2005. Some people may remember the radio silence before the Evora 400 finally came out a year late. Maybe it feels worse now because the number of people waiting is larger.

Yup. I dropped out of my Evora 400 pre-order at the time, as I didn't have the stomach or patience for the total lack of updates or comms. Lotus is definitely doing more on the marketing side for the Emira this time around, but the US updates from HQ to Lotus US to Dealer seems to be about what it was for the 400. This time around I'm not in as big a rush for the car, and I have fewer other options i'm interested in trying vs. last time around. But this is pretty much deja vu from the Evora 400 launch in the US, which is a little confounding given how company communication with customers has changed since that time.

 

[KAR120C]

Yup. I dropped out of my Evora 400 pre-order at the time, as I didn't have the stomach or patience for the total lack of updates or comms. Lotus is definitely doing more on the marketing side for the Emira this time around, but the US updates from HQ to Lotus US to Dealer seems to be about what it was for the 400. This time around I'm not in as big a rush for the car, and I have fewer other options i'm interested in trying vs. last time around. But this is pretty much deja vu from the Evora 400 launch in the US, which is a little confounding given how company communication with customers has changed since that time.

Same here. Not my first Lotus rodeo so I knew what it might be like. Plus I'm enjoying my current car, so I'll just hang in there.

 

[Captain.Kirk]

Head of U.S. sales said there should be a factory update early next week. We'll see.

Great. My email is now set on high alert, spam filters off. Let me have it Lotus!

 

[kitkat]

Hi is it early next week yet?

 

[DerTheDer]

Chipotle sent me a email.

 

[Captain.Kirk]

Hi is it early next week yet?

I’m sorry to inform you, but you’re just “too soon”! Besides in Lotus talk, early in the week is like Friday...maybe!

 

[Hell4Leather]

I’d like to test drive the V6 Automatic. Not sure if this is the correct thread but I did see that Lotus was bringing more cars to North America for another tour.

 

[Max]

I’d like to test drive the V6 Automatic. Not sure if this is the correct thread but I did see that Lotus was bringing more cars to North America for another tour.

I think they should be bringing in cars to SELL. When your order book is full, you don't bother with promotion

 

[Hell4Leather]

I think they should be bringing in cars to SELL. When your order book is full, you don't bother with promotion

Pretty sure they are demo cars that the dealers will sell later but my question still stands; will I be able to test drive a V6 Automatic?

 

[dgrace]

Pretty sure they are demo cars that the dealers will sell later but my question still stands; will I be able to test drive a V6 Automatic?

You probably should reach out to your dealer, nobody here will know how the demo cars get distributed.

 

[trackday14]

Pretty sure they are demo cars that the dealers will sell later but my question still stands; will I be able to test drive a V6 Automatic?

Those of us with confirmed FE allocations cannot even get an answer on how long to expect for production delays…I doubt any U.S. dealer will be able to answer your question, they are all in the same boat as us FE customers.

 

[Yeyo2021]

Those of us with confirmed FE allocations cannot even get an answer on how long to expect for production delays…I doubt any U.S. dealer will be able to answer your question, they are all in the same boat as us FE customers.

Yup... 16 months of wait and counting. FE depositor.... Nothing... I hearing about some tranny problem on the other emira chat about this guy drove 200 miles and it already broke.

 

[DerTheDer]

I received an email from the Head of Lotus USA sales. I dont want to out myself by posting it here.

Basically it states they are aware their communication could be better, and they are drafting an email to send to the dealer networks and it will be releases "soon".