USA/Canada Delivery Thread

[MIGZ]

I’ve made it to the old thorn barn, tomorrow I’ll be going to mass in Norwich and then exploring the town a little.

Will be at the factory Monday morning. I have high hope and remain optimistic production is in full swing and the reason they havnt communicated is because folks on here are never satisfied.

If they started great and im Ok with them getting cars built and shipped and stored if needed.

Others will bitch because they don’t want cars to sit if certifications have not been approved.

In any event I’ll share what I get.

 

[VL3X]

the reason they havnt communicated is because folks on here are never satisfied.

 

[Lowtush]

I feel bad for my dealership. Lotus Cape Fear built a brand new showroom for their Lotus franchise, undoubtedly with visions of selling Emiras in their purview. Thankfully for them, they're also a BMW motorcycle store, so that and a smattering of used cars is keeping the doors open.

But damn, imagine putting up all the dough for a franchise, and the facilities, with no product to sell and no information to plan on or share with your customers.

I've stopped reaching out to their GM (who's a very nice guy) to save him the embarrassment of having to say that he's got nothing to say. I figure when he has any info from Lotus, he'll reach out. What a poor situation to be in.

 

[DerTheDer]

I feel bad for my dealership. Lotus Cape Fear built a brand new showroom for their Lotus franchise, undoubtedly with visions of selling Emiras in their purview. Thankfully for them, they're also a BMW motorcycle store, so that and a smattering of used cars is keeping the doors open.

But damn, imagine putting up all the dough for a franchise, and the facilities, with no product to sell and no information to plan on or share with your customers.

I've stopped reaching out to their GM (who's a very nice guy) to save him the embarrassment of having to say that he's got nothing to say. I figure when he has any info from Lotus, he'll reach out. What a poor situation to be in.

Lotus made all their franchises follow a new model, which is like black and yellow.....with no emiras in sight.

 

[squish]

I believe there is some truth to this. I work in a different industry, but one with a bigger public fan base to cater to. And sometimes it’s better to say nothing at all, and just stay the course to focus on doing what you can to get things done. No matter what you say you are going to make someone unhappy and potentially create more damage to deal with.

Lateness will generally be forgiven as long as your customers are happy with the end result. The fact that so many of you are still active in these forums, haven’t cancelled your order and given up on the car entirely is a testament to this.

 

[VL3X]

I believe there is some truth to this. I work in a different industry, but one with a bigger public fan base to cater to. And sometimes it’s better to say nothing at all, and just stay the course to focus on doing what you can to get things done. No matter what you say you are going to make someone unhappy and potentially create more damage to deal with.

Lateness will generally be forgiven as long as your customers are happy with the end result. The fact that so many of you are still active in these forums, haven’t cancelled your order and given up on the car entirely is a testament to this.

Eh, I cancelled. I was never wanting or expecting someone from Lotus to come and answer our constant questions or argue their reasoning for certain decisions. I just wanted to some reasonable communication and integrity from Lotus. Not only did I get nearly zero order updates in 2 years of them holding my deposit money, but there were numerous promises made that were broken with zero remorse. Major things like numerous delivery dates being missed and pushed ~6 months later with little to zero notice to small things like promising to publish photos of the 6 original FE colors on actual cars and never doing it. I won't even get into the fact that early customers with orders in for over 2 years have received zero gratitude gifts or any sort of apologies for the delays and lack of communication. Instead early North American FE customers got their purchase value diluted with the FE 2.0 announcement, while still being forced to stick with the original 6 colors even though no NA cars have even been built yet (except that one I mentioned a few pages ago).

Lotus employs some true enthusiasts who build really exciting cars and they won some major races (~50 years ago), but they suck at running a modern car company. I'm sure it's not easy to market, manufacture, and sell cars, but you know what is easy? Corporate communication, customer retention, and semi frequent email drip campaigns (without grammatical errors). High school kids can figure that shit out, but for some reason Lotus doesn't seem to think it's important enough to focus on.

Anyway, I'll end my little diatribe and admit I'm a glutton for punishment because what did I do? I bought the Emira's predecessor. But at least I've been enjoying the hell out of it these last few months and no longer take the poor comms personally or worry about first model year warranty headaches.

TL;DR: Lotus is lucky the Emira is so sexy.

 

[squish]

Eh, I cancelled. I was never wanting or expecting someone from Lotus to come and answer our constant questions or argue their reasoning for certain decisions. I just wanted to some reasonable communication and integrity from Lotus. Not only did I get nearly zero order updates in 2 years of them holding my deposit money, but there were numerous promises made that were broken with zero remorse. Major things like numerous delivery dates being missed and pushed ~6 months later with little to zero notice to small things like promising to publish photos of the 6 original FE colors on actual cars and never doing it. I won't even get into the fact that early customers with orders in for over 2 years have received zero gratitude gifts or any sort of apologies for the delays and lack of communication. Instead early North American FE customers got their purchase value diluted with the FE 2.0 announcement, while still being forced to stick with the original 6 colors even though no NA cars have even been built yet (expect that one I mentioned a few pages ago).

Lotus employs some true enthusiasts who build really exciting cars and they won some major races (~50 years ago), but they suck at running a modern car company. I'm sure it's not easy to market, manufacture, and sell cars, but you know what is easy? Corporate communication, customer retention, and semi frequent email drip campaigns (without grammatical errors). High school kids can figure that shit out, but for some reason Lotus doesn't seem to think it's important enough to focus on.

Anyway, I'll end my little diatribe and admit I'm a glutton for punishment because what did I do? I bought the Emira's predecessor. But at least I've been enjoying the hell out of it these last few months and no longer take the poor comms personally or worry about first model year warranty headaches.

TL;DR: Lotus is lucky the Emira is so sexy.

I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying. I’ve been a part of this shitshow all along, and I think their customer service approach overall has been terrible. But at this stage if I were them I would keep my mouth shut too and focus on just trying to deliver under whatever constraints I am under.

I’ve stuck it out because I don’t really care one way or another. I’ve had plenty of imperfect sports cars in my life, and this looks to be another one that I’ll have some fun with. Whenever it gets here it gets here. I’m in no hurry.

 

[Hell4Leather]

Yeah, I'd assume it would have to be something sanctioned by Gator. I guess I didn't think about the additional complexities with Lotus.

I really can't see why it it would matter but maybe I'm just being naive.

Likely Lotus won’t allow confirmed factory orders to transfer. Before that is just dealers choice as it were

 

[Nova]

I’ve made it to the old thorn barn, tomorrow I’ll be going to mass in Norwich and then exploring the town a little.

Will be at the factory Monday morning. I have high hope and remain optimistic production is in full swing and the reason they havnt communicated is because folks on here are never satisfied.

If they started great and im Ok with them getting cars built and shipped and stored if needed.

Others will bitch because they don’t want cars to sit if certifications have not been approved.

In any event I’ll share what I get.

Who is your alarm man, the surveillance system tech, the locksmith, and the explosives expert?

 

[Nova]

I believe there is some truth to this. I work in a different industry, but one with a bigger public fan base to cater to. And sometimes it’s better to say nothing at all, and just stay the course to focus on doing what you can to get things done. No matter what you say you are going to make someone unhappy and potentially create more damage to deal with.

Lateness will generally be forgiven as long as your customers are happy with the end result. The fact that so many of you are still active in these forums, haven’t cancelled your order and given up on the car entirely is a testament to this.

Exactly! If Lotus has no good concrete news to share, their current silence is exactly how I would handle it as well. Just as lawyers don't ask questions they don't already know the answer to, nothing good comes from brands sharing information unless it is already a certainty.

I have first hand experience going the other way. It lead to nothing but animosity, worse customer satisfaction (than staying silent), and premature death of products.

 

[KAR120C]

Exactly! If Lotus has no good concrete news to share, their current silence is exactly how I would handle it as well. Just as lawyers don't ask questions they don't already know the answer to, nothing good comes from brands sharing information unless it is already a certainty.

I have first hand experience going the other way. It lead to nothing but animosity, worse customer satisfaction (than staying silent), and premature death of products.

I don’t know which is best or worst.

I do know it feels like I’m at a restaurant where all the other tables that came in after me are getting served and I’m still waiting. I’d appreciate the server coming out and just letting me know the chef burned my steak and apologize for the inconvenience. It’s just courtesy.

 

[eriegz]

I believe @JClem is the first forum member to provide first-hand confirmation of seeing North American Emiras at the factory over in this post!

I did see 2 Emiras that were obviously for the North American market in the factory but unfortunately didn’t get round to ask Scott if there was any update on delivery time.

 

[981KMAN]

What's wrong with Lotus telling its potential customers the truth? Their silence makes for all sorts of speculation and false rumors that does more damage to the brand than simply telling the truth about the situation.

Folks here are not satisfied because Lotus has failed to deliver on every update they have made, and never tell us why. They just keep pushing the dates out farther and farther.

I for one will be canceling my deposit once I lock in an allocation for a Porsche 911S, which I expect will happen in the near future (to use Lotus speak)......

 

[MIGZ]

Well in my efforts to stay optimistic good day spent in Norwich. I’m staying at the Old Thorn Barn and the owner did a great job with a proper English breakfast and the room was comfortable.

After breakfast I headed into town for Mass very nice gothic style cathedral.

Then ran around town sight seeing cool town, good food and cold beer.

But the icing on the cake was as we pulled out of town we got behind a left hand drive emira in the new silver color.

Rode behind it the entire way back to the old thorn barn and then the taxi was up for following it back into the lotus compound.

Tomorrow will be tour time.

Attached are a few pics -

 

[ttvetdoc]

Well in my efforts to stay optimistic good day spent in Norwich. I’m staying at the Old Thorn Barn and the owner did a great job with a proper English breakfast and the room was comfortable.

After breakfast I headed into town for Mass very nice gothic style cathedral.

Then ran around town sight seeing cool town, good food and cold beer.

But the icing on the cake was as we pulled out of town we got behind a left hand drive emira in the new silver color.

Rode behind it the entire way back to the old thorn barn and then the taxi was up for following it back into the lotus compound.

Tomorrow will be tour time.

Attached are a few pics -

I'm really excited to hear how your visit goes. I know the previous person who visited 3 weeks ago wasn't able to get confirmation from the reps there, and maybe it will be the same for you. However if they truly have started production now, maybe they will be more open with you. Obviously we're all so hungry for any information on US production at this stage! I'm a FE 2.0 with a 'scheduled' build month of December, with expected delivery in March. Good luck and have fun tomorrow!

 

[vdr]

Is that the Osmium Silver? Kindly advise if you see any other 2.0 colors…,

Enjoy!

 

[MIGZ]

I'm really excited to hear how your visit goes. I know the previous person who visited 3 weeks ago wasn't able to get confirmation from the reps there, and maybe it will be the same for you. However if they truly have started production now, maybe they will be more open with you. Obviously we're all so hungry for any information on US production at this stage! I'm a FE 2.0 with a 'scheduled' build month of December, with expected delivery in March. Good luck and have fun tomorrow!

I’m on a mission , to get a pic of the amber headlight which I think is going to happen.

 

[virtualmacho]

I’m on a mission , to get a pic of the amber headlight which I think is going to happen.

Just a thought... if you're stopped from taking pictures you might consider;

• asking the tour guide to take it for you, ensuring that nothing that shouldn't be photographed is in the picture
• asking a manager on duty to take it for you
• taking a close-up picture of the headlight module only
• taking a picture of the headlight modules in a parts bin

At least we'll know what the orange bit looks like.

 

[kitkat]

Just go in there with a spy camera thanks.

 

[eriegz]

Just go in there with a spy camera thanks.

I don't understand how or why no one has done this yet.