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USA & Canada pricing
- Thread starter JAY
- Start date
Was really looking forward to this but I think Lotus just lost my purchase. I was willing to pay more than the C8 corvette to get the more exotic feel of the Emira. However, I can’t justify that much more for a slower car and the fact that if I had any problems with the Lotus I would have to transport it two states away to get to the closest Lotus dealership.
Although dime a dozen, the C8 outperforms and has Chevy dealerships around every corner (7 within 25 miles).
I completely agree. I am a Vette-man and Fairlady Z dude myself, and it is hard to justify. The looks are great, but all else...well I'm having a hard time defending the purchase now. Of course, I've wanted a Lotus since the V8 TT Esprits came out. Sorry to say, I wanted to be woo-hooed with the Emira, but the pricing isn't there for alternatives in the US. I was hoping to be woo-hooed for the US dealership tour, and thus I will stuck it out a little while longer. Depressing, but a ride in the Vette will cure me.
After sleeping on it last night, I think I'm "out" too. At nearly $100k w/black pack, the Cayman GT4 at $106k (as I'd spec it) is the better choice for me. Known reliability, 5 vs 500 miles to the nearest dealer, known depreciation, likely higher quality interior (despite Lotus' improvements). To me, the FE Emira needed to be $85k. I can't justify the added $15k because it looks great.
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kratedisease
Emira Fanatic
I was totally surprised by the pricing. So it looks like this......I calculated all the cost of options on the First Edition to determine how much a stipper V6 would be around. And my best calculation is around $11k to $12K in options are on the First Edition. That would make the base price of the V6 around $82k. I was willing to pay up to $86K for a First Edition FULLY loaded.
And..... LOTUS wants $75k for a Emira with a Weiner mobile 360hp 4 cylinder engine ? With questionable reliability, and for many the closest dealer 300 miles away ? There needs to be mandatory drug testing at the LOTUS. Korean and Japanese manufacturers smartly know that if you want to take sales away from a know established targeted competitor, you need to price way below what the established competitor sells at, .... NOT EQUAL TO or HIGHER. When the Japans targeted Mercedes and BMW with Lexus and Infinity, their cars were much lower priced with more content. When Hyundai started to target the Japanese dominated mid priced SUV market, they sold better styled SUV's with MORE content for 20% LESS than Toyota and Nissan. Thats how you eat away and steal your competitors customers.
Again, I really think there needs to be mandatory drug testing for those in the marketing Dept at LOTUS. This pricing seem to be a result of some one on Oxycodone.
Fair market Value for V6 First Edition = $86k
Fair market for base V6 is = $75k
Fair market value for LOADED I4 First Edition = $75k
Fair market value for base I4 = $65k
At the above price point NO ONE would cancel their deposit order, and there would be a line out the door and a 3 year waiting list.
This is taking into account the competition ( Porsche or Corvette, even new Nissan Z)
And..... LOTUS wants $75k for a Emira with a Weiner mobile 360hp 4 cylinder engine ? With questionable reliability, and for many the closest dealer 300 miles away ? There needs to be mandatory drug testing at the LOTUS. Korean and Japanese manufacturers smartly know that if you want to take sales away from a know established targeted competitor, you need to price way below what the established competitor sells at, .... NOT EQUAL TO or HIGHER. When the Japans targeted Mercedes and BMW with Lexus and Infinity, their cars were much lower priced with more content. When Hyundai started to target the Japanese dominated mid priced SUV market, they sold better styled SUV's with MORE content for 20% LESS than Toyota and Nissan. Thats how you eat away and steal your competitors customers.
Again, I really think there needs to be mandatory drug testing for those in the marketing Dept at LOTUS. This pricing seem to be a result of some one on Oxycodone.
Fair market Value for V6 First Edition = $86k
Fair market for base V6 is = $75k
Fair market value for LOADED I4 First Edition = $75k
Fair market value for base I4 = $65k
At the above price point NO ONE would cancel their deposit order, and there would be a line out the door and a 3 year waiting list.
This is taking into account the competition ( Porsche or Corvette, even new Nissan Z)
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kratedisease
Emira Fanatic
UK pricing is MUCH better value taking into account your VAT tax includes pricing.
Converted to USD from the UK price subtracting the 20% VAT tax, our First Edition SHOULD cost $84 USD FULLY LOADED before taxes IF EQUAL TO what the pricing is in UK. .
we are being priced in USA at $94k USD BEFORE taxes.
Would you still buy the EMIRA if the UK price for First Edition V6 is 84k GBP ? VAT included ?
kratedisease
Emira Fanatic
But it's the same price as a lesser specced Cayman GTS?
But its priced way way higher (20%) than a similar spec C8 Corvette.
45 Lotus dealer in USA vs....... 4,500 GM dealers in USA....... and.... 190 Porsche dealers in USA.
who can drive 300-500 miles for a car that has a leaky radiator or a slow window motor ?
donskibeat
Emira Fanatic
The US prices were never going to be directly comparable to UK prices, there are additional costs to get the cars shipped to the country, plus I suspect lots of other hidden costs involved, and cars aside even when buying anything online (e.g. tech) you can never compare like for like with UK/US pricing, some things work in our (UK) favour, some in US favour, often depends on where product is produced, where company is based etc.
And as for comparing with Corvette then that situation is better for US than it is UK, we have no dealers in UK, and only one (that I know of) company that imports them to UK, so we would have similar issue in UK of long trips to buy / service / repair etc.
And as for comparing with Corvette then that situation is better for US than it is UK, we have no dealers in UK, and only one (that I know of) company that imports them to UK, so we would have similar issue in UK of long trips to buy / service / repair etc.
US headline prices are quoted before local sales tax (as it varies state to state) and dealer charges. Taxes are usually 6-8%. Dealer charges are typically $2000 +/- 10% for this type of car. So total on the road cost for a V6 FE in the US is about $103k or £76k.
If you add these on for US then you also have to add the UK On The Road charges - first year vehicle duty, registration, delivery. For the V6 that adds about £2k. So total on the road cost for a V6 FE in the UK is £78k.
Slightly cheaper in the US but the sticker price appears lower.
kratedisease
Emira Fanatic
TRUE, and of course, ........but that is not the point.
The point is that EMIRA carries NO pricing VALUE compared to the offerings and competition in this market, USA. In fact it is priced WAY higher with way Less content, Less power, and way Less dealer network.
If you think $86k is a sensible price for a fully loaded V6 First Edition then you're misguided. That pitches it way too low compared to the Evora and the target competition Lotus are aiming at.
You don't win new sales simply by undercutting on price. If you're pitching into a particular part of the premium sportscar segment you need to consider pricing accordingly, as well as all the other factors a buyer in that target market is considering.
Lotus are taking a big gamble in tackling this segment but going in with a low price isn't the answer. They don't need to sell anywhere near the volumes that Porsche sells for the business case to stack up, so no point pricing the Emira to sell at high volumes. Higher than Evora volumes yes, as high as Cayman volumes no.
kratedisease
Emira Fanatic
You also don’t win any customers by charging more than the competitors with almost no dealer network.
TomE, with all due respect we can debate this till the end of time. I prefer not to. I respect your point of view and do NOT want to convince you to even understand my point of view.
No worries. I respect your decision to buy the EMIRA. Best wishes, you made a great choice. The car is awesome !!
I am only justifying on this forum that many others here in USA have concurred with my point of view. You do not have to agree. No offense taken.
I was just explaining MY OWN reason for cancelling my $2500 deposit yesterday at my local dealer.
My point is NOT to diminish your decision to buy. I am not tying to convince you that you made a bad decision. You made a great decision to buy the EMIRA.
I am only explaining MY Decison to cancel my deposit. So far from polls taken about 30% of depositors here in USA are cancelling. Not bad. Most are staying with their orders.
And my dealer accepted my cancellation but told me he got some new orders AFTER pricing was announced, so some are excited about the pricing.
I wish LOTUS the best going forward and hopefully I will be back to look at one of their electric sports car offerings in the future
Best wishes.
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Agree with you comments. Why compare the Emira to a Cayman GTS or GT4 or a C8
It is not. You either want an Emira or you don't The price works for you or it does not.
Bickering over price for a very unique car is ridiculous. That's my opinion for what it is worth.
I do understand, you think it should have been priced lower. I don't agree and clearly Lotus don't agree. That's fine. If it doesn't tick the right boxes then of course people will cancel. For some people the limited US dealer network is a big issue. If I had a 4+ hour drive to the dealer I'd be concerned too. But I'm sure the dealers that already exist in the US aren't in the middle of wilderness and have a decent catchment. Decent enough to have taken deposits against all their 2022 allocations and on into most of 2023.
After the Emira launch and before pricing was announced, Lotus had an assumption about conversion rates from deposits to orders. Typically in this segment it's 60-70% and Lotus were conservative and assumed the lower end. So far it's nearer the higher end on the V6 First Editions (accepting it's still refundable so not a true measure of order commitment quite yet).
Since UK pricing was announced there have been more new deposits placed per day than deposits cancelled, by a factor of 2:1. Too early to gauge the US reaction only 24 hours after prices announced, but your own experience indicates a similar situation.
I get that it doesn't work for you and I'm sorry your expectations on price were out of line with what Lotus announced. Hopefully you'll be back to look at a nice used example of an Emira to see if that feels like better value
kratedisease
Emira Fanatic
BINGO !! exactly our deal or reverse situation with the EMIRA pricing here
best wishes to all, and enjoy your AWESOME purchase of the new STUNNING EMIRA !!
No the point I was making is it costs significantly more. 65k pounds for a Mach 1 Mustang. About 39k pound equivalent in USA
Emira pricing in USA seems more than fair to me
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