christophermalex
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So today I walked in to Galpin Lotus in their new Beverly Hills location! Sounds like a grand opening party announcement coming shortly but yes the doors are open to go in and see their current stock of 8-9 Emira V6's in a number of color configurations! They also had a matte clear PPF on a Seneca model that has me strongly considering the option.
Here are 3 interesting topics I discussed with the sales team there. Please note that I assume all of these topics relate primarily to NA cars, but with Lotus who really knows?!?! :
1. The Emiras they have in-stock for sale were actually overstock that they ordered using members of their sales team for the build slots. Turns out that this was a genius move given they have had 90%+ retention on depositors taking their cars when they hit the dealership (counter to my guess that the showroom stock may have been orphans). This should ease the minds of those worried that orphans are piling up and the car is going to depreciate like crazy. Yes theyre not capturing over MSRP on auction sites but honestly if you bought an Emira to flip it then that's the gamble you decided to take
2. The Emira will NOT have a 2025 model year.... not sure how this works out but essentially the story goes that since Lotus is focused on getting out ALL FE orders (2024MY) prior to building base models that means the Emira will skip a model year with ALL FE's being 2024, even during 2025 production and delivery of i4's, and then they will go to 2026MY for base V6 models
3. The Emira i4 may turn out to be a ONE YEAR RUN meaning that the i4 FE 2024MY may be the only version we ever see. That's right, this one didn't make much sense to me, but I have no clue what could spark this kind of decision... maybe cost of the AMG engines/transmissions vs the Camry? maybe the fact that those costs turned the i4 FE's into a major loser for them financially since they couldn't justify further price increases? Either way this is huge if true for those of us that are waiting on what could now be a much more limited production car than expected. This also would make sense as to why Lotus opened the NA i4's to 400bhp as there would not be the mythical "Emira S" coming down the line opening the AMG engine up to its full potential.
Here are 3 interesting topics I discussed with the sales team there. Please note that I assume all of these topics relate primarily to NA cars, but with Lotus who really knows?!?! :
1. The Emiras they have in-stock for sale were actually overstock that they ordered using members of their sales team for the build slots. Turns out that this was a genius move given they have had 90%+ retention on depositors taking their cars when they hit the dealership (counter to my guess that the showroom stock may have been orphans). This should ease the minds of those worried that orphans are piling up and the car is going to depreciate like crazy. Yes theyre not capturing over MSRP on auction sites but honestly if you bought an Emira to flip it then that's the gamble you decided to take
2. The Emira will NOT have a 2025 model year.... not sure how this works out but essentially the story goes that since Lotus is focused on getting out ALL FE orders (2024MY) prior to building base models that means the Emira will skip a model year with ALL FE's being 2024, even during 2025 production and delivery of i4's, and then they will go to 2026MY for base V6 models
3. The Emira i4 may turn out to be a ONE YEAR RUN meaning that the i4 FE 2024MY may be the only version we ever see. That's right, this one didn't make much sense to me, but I have no clue what could spark this kind of decision... maybe cost of the AMG engines/transmissions vs the Camry? maybe the fact that those costs turned the i4 FE's into a major loser for them financially since they couldn't justify further price increases? Either way this is huge if true for those of us that are waiting on what could now be a much more limited production car than expected. This also would make sense as to why Lotus opened the NA i4's to 400bhp as there would not be the mythical "Emira S" coming down the line opening the AMG engine up to its full potential.
