USA/Canada Delivery Thread

[Cachaco131]

A base 911 T (which pretty much comes with all the options I would want anyway) is less $$ than the Emira 2.0 F/E up here in the great white north.

992 911 T = 132K CAD
Emira 2.0 F/E = 145K CAD

Which would you choose? (sorry to keep banging on about this, but it's a tough pill to swallow at the moment)

I have been thinking about getting both. But the T as a true daily. My concern is highway miles, I don't want too much nvh. My F80 is horrible on that front.

Now, the Fe is well equipped. The T you need to add 15-20k (USD) in options.

 

[Concept24]

That was a form letter we all got. Depends really on your spot in line.

That's what the Sales Manager said, also. I guess when I saw my name as the recipient of the email, I thought it was personal. However, I do appreciate their sending me (and many others) an update. Hopefully the stock market will bounce back at some point.

 

[4MIR3]

This was taken from an email provided by Gator, posted on LotusTalk

To those who've already placed your order for a First Edition V6 Emira
I'll rip off the bad news band-aid first.. There is a further delay to your delivery date. This is not because of production issues but a delay caused by emissions/safety certifications for U.S. market cars. As previously communicated, FE V6 production will begin in May & vehicles will start to arrive stateside at the end of July; however, they will not be released to dealers until all certifications are completed. This has been quoted between weeks 42-50 of this year (mid-October thru December). After that point, cars will be released from port proportionate to the previously mentioned timelines.

May? I thought production was to start in April? Stretching the truth even more.

 

[Nova]

Were it not for the comments here, I would've never thought about the dangers of cars sitting at port. Is this truly what Lotus plans to do, and are the dangers real? If so, I need to know what Lotus' plan is for how they'll protect the cars during this period, otherwise I'm just going to convert my FE deposit into a bespoke edition instead.

I'm not as certain. Cars can sit at dealerships for months before being sold, often in outside lots. To be honest, modern automotive paints are pretty durable against the elements. I really doubt that cars parked for 3 months would result in paint issues unless it was parked right below a tree and all kinds of bird poop and fruit dropped on it and baked under the sun.

 

[Concept24]

I mean this in genuine honesty and not mocking anyone, just get a 911.

We’re all at a point in life where we can afford such things which means likely most of us have 30 years of life on average left if we’re lucky. Spending 3 years of your life waiting for a car is 10% of your life left.

Enjoy whatever you can get now.

Lots of people believe the same thing and start collecting SSI at age 62, but much depends upon your healthy living (or lack thereof) and savings over those years. A healthy 62 year-old with sufficient savings would be very foolish to collect SSI at 62.
I figure that my best years during retirement will be up to about 80, so I've got plenty of time to enjoy driving sportscars. Besides, Turo makes it really easy to enjoy many, one day at a time.

 

[GatorMotorsport]

Much appreciated @GatorMotorsport . I can't say I'm thrilled with the idea of cars sitting at the port for months before delivery.

Evora GT were housed in a gigantic warehouse at the port before coming to us. We expect the same scenario for incoming Emira.

 

[action_turtle]

Apparently they want to build the US cars on the original schedule in April, May, and June, then bring them to the US and park them in port until regulatory release in October / November.

I guess the idea is that the cars will be ready just in case the regulatory stuff gets fixed sooner?

I personally think the strategy is fine as long as they do the actual work to protect the cars from port conditions, the way that other auto manufacturers do. And not high-end marques either, I'm talking inexpensive Japanese and Korean cars get better fundamental shipping protection than Lotus has shown so far. They sure as hell didn't do the right work when they parked UK cars on an airfield for months and let the brakes seize. So how can we trust them to do the right thing with delivery and storage in foreign ports? They've already proven themselves logistically incompetent, and I think they should disclose their protection strategy to their US dealers before bringing inventory into the country and potentially damaging it. It will be the US dealers that have to deal with the fallout.


I'm going to inquire about this through my dealer, and also will likely call the head of Lotus sales for North America. If they aren't thinking it through already, maybe by kicking the hornet's nest a little I can get somebody to have a conversation somewhere.

They seem to be making cars and just assuming it will pass regs. I would understand if it was a cheap product, but they are asking for the best part of £100,000 for each car... They are doing the same in the UK. Building Autos and getting them ready to give out to customers, but it's still not gotten type approval. They must have some sort of pre-approval in place. I wish they were more open in what they are doing, it sounds like a circus at Lotus HQ

 

[Porter]

Evora GT were housed in a gigantic warehouse at the port before coming to us. We expect the same scenario for incoming Emira.

Evora GT was very low volume though. I've seen enormous lots full of cars parked at port for long periods in Baltimore, visible from the highway. Are you fully confident that Lotus will be using indoor storage for the Emira? And if not, that they will be doing the right things to protect the paint against the chaotic nature of a port storage scenario? I'm thinking of full panel protective sheets, like other brands do, to protect from acid rain damage on the horizontal and upper surfaces.

See the photos in this article about the Port of Baltimore, it shows Mitsubishi and Subaru protecting their cars in this way. Higher end cars that are shipped into ports around the world (BMW, Mercedes, Audi, etc) use more vehicle coverage, with sheets on each upper surface panel, as below:

Lotus did not do these things when storing Emiras for long periods at BCA Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire, where the UK PDI process occurs. They ended up with what appears to be a large number of cars with corrosion-seized brakes because they didn't apply any protective measures against weather, and Lotus dealers in the UK and EU are having the godawful customer interaction experience of needing to replace pads and discs on brand new cars under warranty. Why should we assume the same logistics people at Hethel will be competent at protecting the cars appropriately when exporting?

@GatorMotorsport If you could challenge Jim & co a bit about this it would be really helpful to those of us who have become skeptical about their ability to deliver undamaged inventory.

 

[DaaS]

Evora GT were housed in a gigantic warehouse at the port before coming to us. We expect the same scenario for incoming Emira.

Thank you for that information. I am now waiting for someone to start complaining about...

• OMG... a gigantic warehouse?!? What if a gigantic rant eats all the little wiring?
• Is the warehouse temperature controlled? You know mold will start growing everywhere.
• The batteries will die... they will all die. Is someone going to charge the battery every 2 weeks? Which battery tender will they use? Is it made in China? What if it catches fire? Can I sue them?
• Are they going to over inflate all the tires to prevent flat spots? But what if it pops and damages another Emira?

 

[Porter]

Thank you for that information. I am now waiting for someone to start complaining about...

• OMG... a gigantic warehouse?!? What if a gigantic rant eats all the little wiring?
• Is the warehouse temperature controlled? You know mold will start growing everywhere.
• The batteries will die... they will all die. Is someone going to charge the battery every 2 weeks? Which battery tender will they use? Is it made in China? What if it catches fire? Can I sue them?
• Are they going to over inflate all the tires to prevent flat spots? But what if it pops and damages another Emira?

Come on, this is not idle chatter. I was the service director at a Subaru dealership in 2003/2004 when Subaru had to hold a bunch of inventory in port for a long period (I think 4 months?) waiting for regulatory approval for the 2004 Forester XT. Our one dealership ended up having to send about 10 or 15 customer cars for a complete repaint that year due to acid rain pitting, at massive expense to Subaru, and the customers were never ultimately happy with it. All the darker paint colors were heavily affected, I guess because surface temp is a contributor to the chemical action.

Subaru adjusted their ocean transport protection measures after that and began applying stick-on protective sheeting to all export cars, and seem to have mostly avoided the issue since then.

No one should assume that Lotus has all this figured out. They're a low volume manufacturer being thrown into larger volume logistics, and they don't have a great deal of experience with this. If a brand the size of Subaru can be nailed by it, Lotus certainly can as well, and they don't have the finances or scale to fix this sort of thing after the fact without destroying their total profitability.

 

[DaaS]

Come on, this is not idle chatter. I was the service director at a Subaru dealership in 2003/2004 when Subaru had to hold a bunch of inventory in port for a long period (I think 4 months?) waiting for regulatory approval for the 2004 Forester XT. Our one dealership ended up having to send about 10 or 15 customer cars for a complete repaint that year due to acid rain pitting, at massive expense to Subaru, and the customers were never ultimately happy with it. All the darker paint colors were heavily affected, I guess because surface temp is a contributor to the chemical action.

Subaru adjusted their ocean transport protection measures after that and began applying stick-on protective sheeting to all export cars, and seem to have mostly avoided the issue since then.

No one should assume that Lotus has all this figured out. They're a low volume manufacturer being thrown into larger volume logistics, and they don't have a great deal of experience with this. If a brand the size of Subaru can be nailed by it, Lotus certainly can as well, and they don't have the finances or scale to fix this sort of thing after the fact without destroying their total profitability.

Fair and my comment was not directed at you. We are all automotive enthusiasts (I think) and it's never enough for us. Like everyone else, I also want delivery just few days after the cars arrives at the port.

For what it's worth, my last car did spend about 2 months at a port in Florida (during late summer months) and it was fine. It was parked outside in the sun. The exterior was not covered at all because the manufacturer was not expecting shortage of one little part that caused delay to nearly 50 cars. I know this because someone at the port took a picture and posted it.

 

[Lotustoronto]

4-5 months at port sucks for any car, I am sure in this specific case Lotus is doing everything it can to get paid. Not sure how US dealers pay for the Emira, is it once they arrive in the country? Either way it is not ideal and I would voice concern about it being prepped properly for that long of storage.

 

[Porter]

For those that aren't familiar with what acid rain damage is, imagine water spots on the surface that can't be buffed or polished out. It's chemical etching that goes all the way through the clear coat, and in severe cases goes all the way into the color layer.

Here's a mild case, so you can see what I'm talking about... imagine this is your new car's finish, and no amount of professional paint correction can improve it:

It's most common (and damaging) on new paint that hasn't fully cured, and the effect is exacerbated by sun exposure and heat. In other words, exactly the conditions that would be common in outdoor port storage in Baltimore from July to October.

I live 45 minutes west of the Port of Baltimore, and we had periods in August and early September of last year that hovered just under 100F (38C) for a full week at a time. And our climate is not exactly dry.

 

[Lotustoronto]

For those that aren't familiar with what acid rain damage is, imagine water spots on the surface that can't be buffed or polished out. It's chemical etching that goes all the way through the clear coat, and in severe cases goes all the way into the color layer.

Here's a mild case, so you can see what I'm talking about... imagine this is your new car's finish, and no amount of professional paint correction can fix it:

View attachment 23768

It's most common (and damaging) on new paint that hasn't fully cured, and the effect is exacerbated by sun exposure and heat. In other words, exactly the conditions that would be common in outdoor port storage in Baltimore from July to October. I live 45 minutes west of the Port of Baltimore, and we had periods in August and early September of last year that hovered just under 100F (38C) for a full week at a time.

hmmmm 45 Min from the port..... How much would it take to pay you to wrap up our cars while they are in storage?

Not lying if I lived that close to the Port I would be doing some investigating when my car arrived haha.

 

[GatorMotorsport]

Evora GT were housed in a gigantic warehouse at the port before coming to us. We expect the same scenario for incoming Emira.

Here are some old pictures of Evora GT stored indoors at the port. We never saw any 'environmental' damage on these cars. Plus, your dealer should perform a pre-delivery inspection (PDI) and correct any noted flaws before you take ownership (both cosmetic & mechanical). The car should be perfect when you take delivery; make your dealer aware if it isn't!

 

[Porter]

Here are some old pictures of Evora GT stored indoors at the port. We never saw any 'environmental' damage on these cars. Plus, your dealer should perform a pre-delivery inspection (PDI) and correct any noted flaws before you take ownership (both cosmetic & mechanical). The car should be perfect when you take delivery; make your dealer aware if it isn't!

View attachment 23772View attachment 23773View attachment 23774

Looks great! If you could confirm with Lotus regarding indoor port storage on the Emira for us, that would be awesome. And trust me, that's for your own sake, too! Being the dealer involved when new vehicle paint damage becomes a problem is NO FUN.

Think of it... if the volume of cars at the time had necessitated outdoor storage, those Evoras in your photos would not have fared well. There's not a bit of weather protection on those cars.

 

[Porter]

I'm not as certain. Cars can sit at dealerships for months before being sold, often in outside lots. To be honest, modern automotive paints are pretty durable against the elements. I really doubt that cars parked for 3 months would result in paint issues unless it was parked right below a tree and all kinds of bird poop and fruit dropped on it and baked under the sun.

Dealers in major metro areas where acid rain is common typically either have partially indoor storage that keeps the cars dry (a parking deck) or have a clean-off routine that's followed religiously. The common practice I saw for clean-off in Atlanta was a truck with a water tank on the back full of filtered or deionized water, which they'd drive around the lot with a guy standing on the back to spray off all the cars on the morning following a rain. Just getting the surface wet again with clean water usually took enough of the residue away to prevent etching in the heat.

 

[Porter]

hmmmm 45 Min from the port..... How much would it take to pay you to wrap up our cars while they are in storage?

Not lying if I lived that close to the Port I would be doing some investigating when my car arrived haha.

I 100% plan on it. If I go over there and find a bunch of Emiras sitting out in the sun in a giant lot without any paint protection sheeting applied, I'm going to be on the phone to Lotus USA within minutes. The protective film isn't expensive, it comes on giant rolls and can be applied in port if necessary. It's like a huge opaque white cling film.

 

[Nova]

Dealers in major metro areas where acid rain is common typically either have partially indoor storage that keeps the cars dry (a parking deck) or have a clean-off routine that's followed religiously. The common practice I saw for clean-off in Atlanta was a truck with a water tank on the back full of filtered or deionized water, which they'd drive around the lot with a guy standing on the back to spray off all the cars on the morning following a rain. Just getting the surface wet again with clean water usually took enough of the residue away to prevent etching in the heat.

I was not aware of this. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

 

[idleuser]

lmfao.. Gator coming in with receipts.