USA/Canada Delivery Thread

[Porter]

No starting issue. But anyone else pushing the clutch pedal near to the floor to shift?

Mine engages close to the floor but I don't have to mash it to the bulkhead or anything. Normal full clutch stroke.

 

[robrmon]

I feel for all the guys still waiting on getting the car shipped; I've been driving my car every day, and I'm just short of 500 miles. I can't even imagine how stir crazy I would be watching everyone else get their cars delivered.

Here's to hoping you get your cars before the end of the month!

For those of you with your cars though - is the starter a bit touchy? Seems like every other time I go to drive, the car doesn't want to start until I get out, lock the car wait a few seconds, and then unlock and try again. Anyone else experiencing that?

Your message prompted me to send an irritated email to my dealer. Where the f is my car??!

 

[robrmon]

I’ve been tracking the vessels. There will be cars on the first three. I’m guessing 50-100 per boat.

Star: left Liverpool on the 6th, arrived in Baltimore on the 19th, just left Baltimore.
Sky: left Liverpool on the 13th, arrives in NY today, before heading I expect to Baltimore.
Sea: left Liverpool on the 19th, on way to Halifax, before NY and then Baltimore.

Sun: in continental Europe
Sail: on way back to Europe

 

[LuckysDad]

Your message prompted me to send an irritated email to my dealer. Where the f is my car??!

I did that yesterday and got this response:

"No, it has not boarded a vessel yet. They held them at the factory; the vehicles were not sitting somewhere random. They have vessels incoming as we speak and it’s a matter of time before your Emira is on its way."

So apparently mine is not on the any of the next three vessels!

"They held them at the factory" part is interesting because when I was informed the build was completed and given a VIN on 1/18 I was told the car was sitting at port awaiting shipment.

I also find it hard to believe that three weeks since CARB approval and supposedly no one at Lotus has a schedule of what cars are going on which boat and when.

#FireMattWindle

 

[eriegz]

Given that there is no differentiation between “FE1” or ”FE2” cars other than price, and that cars are (as I understand it) not being shipped in any particular order, there is no way of us knowing what numbers on the “list” these cars are going to. Except for the demonstrator, they might all be “FE2“ cars for all I know.

Actually, how is anyone on this forum able to know whether their order qualifies as an FE1.0, and thus hold their dealer to the lower pricing once it arrives?

This whole time I've been assuming that my car would be an FE1.0, but now after reading what others are saying, given how uncommunicative & unhelpful my dealer has been throughout this process, jacking my car up to FE2.0 pricing at the last minute seems like exactly the kind of thing they'd do at this point.

 

[CHEESE]

I did that yesterday and got this response:

"No, it has not boarded a vessel yet. They held them at the factory; the vehicles were not sitting somewhere random. They have vessels incoming as we speak and it’s a matter of time before your Emira is on its way."

So apparently mine is not on the any of the next three vessels!

"They held them at the factory" part is interesting because when I was informed the build was completed and given a VIN on 1/18 I was told the car was sitting at port awaiting shipment.

I also find it hard to believe that three weeks since CARB approval and supposedly no one at Lotus has a schedule of what cars are going on which boat and when.

#FireMattWindle

My theory is that the CARB cars got stored away and then stacked behind newer builds, so they have to ship out the newer builds before they can even get to the CARB cars...

 

[Porter]

Actually, how is anyone on this forum able to know whether their order qualifies as an FE1.0, and thus hold their dealer to the lower pricing once it arrives?

This whole time I've been assuming that my car would be an FE1.0, but now after reading what others are saying, given how uncommunicative & unhelpful my dealer has been throughout this process, jacking my car up to FE2.0 pricing at the last minute seems like exactly the kind of thing they'd do at this point.

What was your original deposit date? And when did you lock in your factory order?

 

[Zardoz]

My theory is that the CARB cars got stored away and then stacked behind newer builds, so they have to ship out the newer builds before they can even get to the CARB cars...

Reminds me of high school economics. So its LIFO, not FIFO. I was told by my dealer to expect my car by end or March. This is not going to happen. If I knew it was on a boat, I would at least have a reasonable delivery timeline in my head. At this point, the wait is excruciating. Going outside to yell at the clouds now.

 

[DF_Toronto]

My car wasn’t in the first 6 that delivered to Gentry yesterday. Mine will presumably be on one of the next trucks (they only hold six cars) that should deliver within the next week or so. The blue one is indeed the demonstrator.

Given that there is no differentiation between “FE1” or ”FE2” cars other than price, and that cars are (as I understand it) not being shipped in any particular order, there is no way of us knowing what numbers on the “list” these cars are going to. Except for the demonstrator, they might all be “FE2“ cars for all I know. Mine is an “FE2“ car, yet it seems it will be in the first 15 cars delivered to Gentry even though I was (in July of 2021) number 33 on the “list”.

I hear you! I contacted Lotus on July 6, 21 asking to put a deposit and then got a call from Gentry 10 days or so later and Greg was heading home for the weekend so I said I could come right in and instead we just booked first thing on the Monday…I think you got the last Feb build slot and I got the first March one…yet my car could have shown up in the first 6 the way things are going . I’m just hoping to get mine with PPF/Ceramic done and have it on the road by June 1.

I did seem to think as far as Canada goes that all the FE1s were on that boat 2 weeks ago since all 60 VINs were in order and lower number…if I’m correct that the VINs equates to the order of production at the factory…

When you went by this week did they have any update on insurance or other packages like PPF, car cover etc since you’ll be taking delivery any day? They mentioned they are exploring providers, I still haven’t heard back from Aviva & Hagerty who didn’t have the car in their system yet a week or two ago.

 

[DF_Toronto]

Actually, how is anyone on this forum able to know whether their order qualifies as an FE1.0, and thus hold their dealer to the lower pricing once it arrives?

This whole time I've been assuming that my car would be an FE1.0, but now after reading what others are saying, given how uncommunicative & unhelpful my dealer has been throughout this process, jacking my car up to FE2.0 pricing at the last minute seems like exactly the kind of thing they'd do at this point.

Doesn’t your order submission have all of that recorded?

I have a printout of mine, specifically says FE 2, my original deposit date and customer ID number etc with my options and MSRP.

 

[kitkat]

Doesn’t your order submission have all of that recorded?

I have a printout of mine, specifically says FE 2, my original deposit date and customer ID number etc with my options and MSRP.

Yup, same.

 

[ameeriklane]

My theory is that the CARB cars got stored away and then stacked behind newer builds, so they have to ship out the newer builds before they can even get to the CARB cars...

This could be the case. I was at the factory in mid-January and there were Emiras all over the place. They had them double-parked next to service roads; parked on the track; and basically trying to fill every available space with cars. The factory produces one every 17 minutes and they have to put them somewhere.

It was even a bit complicated driving in to the factory to park - didn't want to hit an Emira on the way in!

 

[Six Speed Stephen]

When should we expect the next ship to arrive in Baltimore with VIN’s?

 

[Porter]

The factory produces one every 17 minutes and they have to put them somewhere.

This explains why so many of the bolts and fasteners on US-delivered cars are loose or halfway falling out.

I'm going to have to go through almost every bolt on the bottom of mine and put Loctite 243 on the threads so that I can hope to retain a complete car for more than the first 6 months.

 

[Porter]

When should we expect the next ship to arrive in Baltimore with VIN’s?

Likely next week.

 

[robrmon]

Likely next week.

Well, I think one vessel just arrived the day before yesterday, so I’m eagerly waiting the details of what was on that ship.

 

[silent cilantro]

This explains why so many of the bolts and fasteners on US-delivered cars are loose or halfway falling out.

View attachment 39330

I'm going to have to go through almost every bolt on the bottom of mine and put Loctite 243 on the threads so that I can hope to retain a complete car for more than the first 6 months.

Bottom picture is mine. The bolt missing was a m6x12, notice also the trunk emergency release cable was dangling. Both fixed now

 

[Rupes]

This could be the case. I was at the factory in mid-January and there were Emiras all over the place. They had them double-parked next to service roads; parked on the track; and basically trying to fill every available space with cars. The factory produces one every 17 minutes and they have to put them somewhere.

It was even a bit complicated driving in to the factory to park - didn't want to hit an Emira on the way in!

Does anyone know - from start to finish - how long it takes them to manufacture an Emira? I'm not sure if this car would qualify as being "hand built" but it feels like a fairly labor intensive process.

 

[eriegz]

What was your original deposit date? And when did you lock in your factory order?

• Deposit: July 13th, 2021
• Order: April 10th, 2022

Doesn’t your order submission have all of that recorded?

I have a printout of mine, specifically says FE 2, my original deposit date and customer ID number etc with my options and MSRP.

Are you referring to these emails sent from Lotus USA to dealerships? (see below, not mine, was posted by somebody else) I asked my dealer last year if they could share it with me and they were cagey & declined, saying it's an internal document and that it's up to each dealership to decide whether or not to share it with customers.

 

[Zardoz]

This explains why so many of the bolts and fasteners on US-delivered cars are loose or halfway falling out.

View attachment 39330

I'm going to have to go through almost every bolt on the bottom of mine and put Loctite 243 on the threads so that I can hope to retain a complete car for more than the first 6 months.

When my car finally arrives at the dealer, would it be out of turn to ask them to put it on a lift so I can inspect the bottom based upon what I am seeing in these photos?