Hi Tom,
I dont doubt for one second the validity of them having told you that and thanks for passing it on as always, but I have to doubt the validity of the actual info.... dont you?
"308 UK cars to be Delivered before Xmas."
If we assume about 50 demo cars? There are about 17 dealers in the UK, a couple are service only and hence I guess wont have demos, in which case 50 is a very very generous number as they have already said, where they were going to to get 2, they will now get 1 etc. The actual number may well be less than 20...never mind 50!
Then that leaves 250 more cars to be delivered to UK customers? (or 280 if dealers info correct)
Then immediately the info you yourself have been given recently by CS over the phone, that you
wont get your car delivered before Xmas, must now be
false. And in fact virtually all the UK January delivery people will get their cars before Xmas. SO all the current phone calls being made this last week are out of date and those January people will hence be getting updated phone calls saying it will indeed be a month earlier? I simply dont believe it, I wish it to be true, but I cant believe it.
This is naturally not to attack you in the slightest, its more aimed at the reliability of the info from Lotus.
As an example, when I was on the phone with Xxxxxx, who seems to be one of the better more knowledgeable ones at CS, regarding my cars December delivery...... He initially said,
300 UK cars to be made and delivered this year, reading off the system he had access to.... and he maintained that line for about 15 mins, until I questioned it based on a few common sense factors, and then he double checked and said, no...you're right, thats including LHD deliveries or at least EU, I cant quite recall and thats when the previous number of 300 dropped to whatever I said it was in my post at the time and that was no where near 300 or even 200 or 150 cars by xmas, including demos. So surely you see why I doubt the info. WE are 2 working days away from November and yes I am sure they have many cars part built etc, but even the logistics of getting 300 cars delivered in 7 weeks from where they are currently at, adding the continued EU and China cars etc.... I dont see it.
Not related, but I do believe that 1000 UK deposits were taken on the Eletre, but I also am sure some of these like myself will and have dropped out. I am not sure they will tripple these UK orders even when people see the car for a few main reasons. One, it is made in China and people will want to see the fit and actual finish over a bit of usage time before taking the plunge, IMO. Next the boot space is awful and i mean awfully terrible for a 5m car, I have more boot space in my current EV which is much easier to park, has 600Nm torque and goes faster than their base model for half the money, but its not a great brand historically. I wanted to want the Lotus EV so much and have also seen it in the flesh at Hethel, and while at the front its great, the back quarter is a let down for me, but beauty is in the eye of the.... On this forum it is not a big hit I would say, I'd say there is a very small % of even Lotus fans that think its a great looking car, but again I am sure they are not aiming at Lotus fans. They will have a huge market elsewhere, but in the UK, its home market, I dont think it will do that well... but I hope I am proven wrong.
The other two factors are the Polestar 3, which I think will take a great deal of their sales when they release the various versions. There will also be a Porsche competitor .... oh wait, there is already and its amazing
and goes faster for close to the same money....and its made in Germany. The final factor is that Lotus is not Lamborghini, it doesn't have their Kudos, and your super rich who buy the Lambo's are not going to want a car built in China IMO, not yet at least, not until its 100% proven. Also, for my money, the Lambo as a package looks way better. I love the eletre's interior, but will it last? And for a "normal" person like myself who has dogs and actual crap in the back of the car all the time, it wouldn't be practical, 4 seats, thats simply not enough for my wives and g/f's.
Anyway, thats my 3 pence worth
Wonder why they haven’t offered us auto box orders the chance to swap to a manual? I was on the fence as to what I wanted anyway, but “locked in” the auto.
