Vehicle delivered missing paint.

[BWAK]

Two days after Thanksgiving I received a surprised phone call telling me that my 1st Ed. Lotus Emira order from February had arrived unexpectedly earlier then planned! However when I arrived to the dealership to take my first look at it, our salesman informed us upon PDI that the underside of the front bumper was devoid of any paint and that they needed to get it resolved before they felt comfortable releasing the vehicle to me. Well, almost 2 months later I finally took delivery two days ago. The dealership said they had an awful time trying to convince Lotus they didn't paint the car and it took a lot of arguing and back and forth before Lotus admitted to the mishap. So Lotus approved the warranty claim and we had a very reputable body shop add paint to the bottom of the fender. However, after taking the car home and washing it the bumper looked like this. (See attached Photo)

I took the car back and showed them the photo and explained how the bumper was a different shade of blue. At the dealership in direct sunlight the difference was not as extreme, but our salesman agreed that it did not look right and would contact us once he got some additional opinions. Later that day he called. He said the body shop only added paint under the splitter where it was missing, but then clear coated the rest of the bumper to match the applied fixed. He said the color difference is from the factory and the only way to fix it would be to blend the bumper into the surrounding panels. He also talk to a PPF guy who echoed the same thought and said that even PPF wouldn't hide the color disparity and that the paint would need to be blended.

I have no reason to distrust what our salesman is saying, they have always been amazing and forthright. The dilemma I have currently is that I do not want my paint to be blended. I don't want the rest of the panels to be ruined to match an off colored bumper that accounts for a small part of the car. I will notice it and it will bug me to no ends. Second, the idea I need to send a brand new car through a body shop two days into ownership where it will come out looking as if it was in a accident seems ridiculous to me. Lastly, anyone with a discerning eye will know it had aftermarket paintwork done to it which will impact the resale value.

What are my options? Can I request a factory painted bumper to be delivered? If they cannot return the bumper to factory condition can I request a trade, a buyout? Or am I overreacting? Have others experienced mismatching panels from the facotry? I absolutely want to keep this car, because aside from the bumper I'm in absolute love with the Meridan Blue paint. It looks like a night sky with the blue and silver flake in it.

I look forward to the feedback.

 

[centerpunch]

There is no way anyone can look at that photo and know what you are talking about.

 

[ef_arime]

I happen to have a Meridian Blue as well. After an accident at the track, I had to get several areas painted. I too was worried about how it would look. I chose the shop—they’re the ones who people take their cars to after another shop has screwed up. He did an absolute phenomenal job. Wasn’t cheap, but it was well worth it. I’m in southern NH.

I agree that those pictures don’t do it justice, but I can already tell the paint is off. You need to control the lighting to get a good picture. I recommend using a bright white light up close in a dark room.

 

[Tomwa]

There is no way anyone can look at that photo and know what you are talking about.

Disagree. The front bumper in the photo has a different hue than the 'hood' panel.

#5e5f65 above the seam

#64667b below the seam

Same shadow across the two panels. Same reflection.

In RGB terms it's nealy +30 in all hue tones. In person it sounds more discernable

 

[Dino67]

It's going to be hard to get the bumper to match the rest of the car. Even assuming they can perfectly color match the paint, the bumper's metal flake will lay down differently than the OEM paint and will reflect the light differently. The factory also used a robot to paint the cars while a human using a spray gun will do the respray.

It's not unusual for the bumper to have a slight color difference. Bumpers are a different material and some manufacturers paint the bumpers separately from the rest of the car.

Maybe there are some other meridian blue owners who can photograph their bumpers to see if it is normal for there to be a slight shade difference.

 

[BWAK]

It's going to be hard to get the bumper to match the rest of the car. Even assuming they can perfectly color match the paint, the bumper's metal flake will lay down differently than the OEM paint and will reflect the light differently. The factory also used a robot to paint the cars while a human using a spray gun will do the respray.

It's not unusual for the bumper to have a slight color difference. Bumpers are a different material and some manufacturers paint the bumpers separately from the rest of the car.

Maybe there are some other meridian blue owners who can photograph their bumpers to see if it is normal for there to be a slight shade difference.

I'm wondering if they sprayed the front bumper. The flake laid flat and didn't have any depth to it like the rest of the car. The rear bumper is actually faintly darker then the rest of the paint, but not noticeable, where the front is a lot lighter. I would suspect the rear and front should display the same hue at the very least due to material similarities. Maybe I should take it to a different body shop and have them inspect it to see if its been repainted.

 

[Nick Sticks]

If all they did is put clear coat on the bumper to make that colour difference then you could just do the same for the front cover.
That's the biggest edge to edge panel line. The rest are short lines or odd angles that might not show up any colour differences too much.

 

[Beachbum]

Looking at the photo, the only difference I can see is that the bumper looks darker and that can easily be explained away by the lighting.
If the dealer has seen the car, then what was their reaction? If they agree its different, then in reality, they have agreed its wrong and therefore the warranty should cover getting the issue fixed.
I have a meridian blue Emira and the bumper is not a different colour, so if yours is, its definitely wrong

My previous experience with Lotus and paint finishes, is not great. An Elise I had, had issues, dealer agreed it needed to be fixed, but it took 6 weeks of arguing with Lotus HQ before they agreed to have it done under warranty and that was after me threatening to drive to Hethal and sit in their office until someone looked at it.

Given the underneath was not painted at all, I wonder if the bumper was not supposed to have been used e.g. Top was painted, seen to be defective, so bottom not done, but somehow it ended up back in the Production line and got used.

 

[Jinba ittai]

Maybe there are differences in peoples’ screens. The bumper appears very clearly lighter on my phone. I would expect better for what this car costs.

 

[Six Speed Stephen]

I’m also confused.

The hood looks darker and doesn’t match the bumper, but the fender and bumper look like they match.

 

[Dino67]

I'm wondering if they sprayed the front bumper. The flake laid flat and didn't have any depth to it like the rest of the car. The rear bumper is actually faintly darker then the rest of the paint, but not noticeable, where the front is a lot lighter. I would suspect the rear and front should display the same hue at the very least due to material similarities. Maybe I should take it to a different body shop and have them inspect it to see if its been repainted.

It's hard to tell if a bumper has been resprayed until you start sanding it down. Then you can see the paint layers. Without stripping the paint down, the body shop is only guessing if it was resprayed. Especially with a bumper. You can't use a paint depth gauge on a bumper.

You can feel around along the edge and underneath of the hood for any roughness or texture. If you feel roughness or texture, that is overspray. If you can take the hood off to feel around, that will give you more clues. You can do the same with the bottom of the car. Feel around in hidden areas that can't be masked off or buffed. Get a mechanic's inspection mirror and take a peek inside the bumper. Paint goes everywhere and you are feeling around and looking for overspray.

Even if you don't find overspray, that does not rule out the whole bumper wasn't resprayed. It is possible the body shop removed the bumper entirely, which is how you are supposed to do it, to respray it.

 

[Porter]

I'm wondering if something happened to the front bumper during transport, and it was replaced at port and painted off the car by a local paint shop. That would explain the wild difference in finish color and coverage. There's NO WAY a partially painted bumper went through the production line at Lotus and made it onto your car, it just doesn't pass the sniff test. These parts are all painted by robot on a car-mimic frame jig, it's not like the robot is going to forget to paint one of the surfaces.

I would open a case directly with Lotus USA, get someone to pull the record on that particular car, and get to the bottom of it. If it needs to be redone, it needs to be redone. You're paying $100k for a car, it should have a competent paint finish applied where the panels match.

FYI blending the panels isn't a bad thing, in fact it might improve on the factory finish in some ways if the right shop is doing it. Certainly the paint layer will be deeper and likely more durable than the factory robot-thin finish. But that bumper needs to be sanded down completely and redone from scratch.

 

[Porter]

Image from the Harry's Garage factory tour video, showing the factory panels on frame jigs coming out of the paint process. These are all painted by robot and get absolutely consistent paint coverage, then are individually inspected and approved for forwarding onto the production line for fitment. The idea of a whole surface of a panel coming out without paint is not believable.

There are multiple steps in the process where this would have been caught, including the assembly/mounting process on the main production line itself. They would have rejected the part when they took it off the rack to fit to the vehicle.

Here's the final paint confirmation and inspection bays, they look over every surface of the cars again before approving them. A bumper coming out partially unpainted is, again, not believable.

 

[Six Speed Stephen]

I think Porter nailed it. That's probably why Lotus corporate put up such a fuss.

 

[Dino67]

Maybe ask the dealer to send you pictures of the bumper? If there was a battle with corporate over warranty work, there has to be pictures the dealer sent to Lotus.

 

[Porter]

I wonder if the port handling subcontractor, or maybe even the trucking transport company, replaced a broken bumper themselves and tried to gloss over the issue?

Was there a delivery delay with the car after it arrived in port? What is the port arrival date of your VIN on @Nova 's port tracker compared to when it arrived at the dealer?

 

[Porter]

Two days after Thanksgiving I received a surprised phone call telling me that my 1st Ed. Lotus Emira order from February had arrived unexpectedly earlier then planned!

I just went back and saw this. Can you get confirmation from the dealer that the VIN on the unit you were delivered is a 100% match to the VIN that was on their original orders-in-progress spreadsheet they would have received monthly from Lotus, showing your individual order?

The reason I ask, is that I'm wondering whether a "same spec" car was in the pipeline and was diverted to you, rather than the car that was built on the production line explicitly attached to your order.

 

[BWAK]

I'm wondering if something happened to the front bumper during transport, and it was replaced at port and painted off the car by a local paint shop. That would explain the wild difference in finish color and coverage. There's NO WAY a partially painted bumper went through the production line at Lotus and made it onto your car, it just doesn't pass the sniff test. These parts are all painted by robot on a car-mimic frame jig, it's not like the robot is going to forget to paint one of the surfaces.

I would open a case directly with Lotus USA, get someone to pull the record on that particular car, and get to the bottom of it. If it needs to be redone, it needs to be redone. You're paying $100k for a car, it should have a competent paint finish applied where the panels match.

FYI blending the panels isn't a bad thing, in fact it might improve on the factory finish in some ways if the right shop is doing it. Certainly the paint layer will be deeper and likely more durable than the factory robot-thin finish. But that bumper needs to be sanded down completely and redone from scratch.

They said they would blend the bumper color into the hood and fenders, meaning they would sand the hood and fenders to blend the lighter color into the darker color. The body shop said the paint they were given was even lighter then the bumper when they added the color to the underside when my salesman pointed out the first time that it looked off. Hence why they want to blend into the hood and not into the bumper which I am totally against. If it was the other way around I'd say give it a shot since worst case scenario I can just get a new bumper since that's the part that is under the warranty claim.

I did see a cargo delivery list that had my vin along with 53 other Emiras with the container information. The delivery from port arrival to the dealership was only 3 days so it doesn't look like it was delayed on entry. There was damage to the canards underneath that was completely replaced during PDI as well. But no other shipping damage during inspection.

We were never given a VIN during our order. The dealership was bought out and everyone included the original salesman that took our order was let go. When the car arrived they didn't know who it belong to until they called Lotus and our last name was attached to the order. The spec is verbatim to what we submitted. It's possible it was a diverted order because weren't even sure it would be a first edition.

 

[bcstmr]

Two days after Thanksgiving I received a surprised phone call telling me that my 1st Ed. Lotus Emira order from February had arrived unexpectedly earlier then planned! However when I arrived to the dealership to take my first look at it, our salesman informed us upon PDI that the underside of the front bumper was devoid of any paint and that they needed to get it resolved before they felt comfortable releasing the vehicle to me. Well, almost 2 months later I finally took delivery two days ago. The dealership said they had an awful time trying to convince Lotus they didn't paint the car and it took a lot of arguing and back and forth before Lotus admitted to the mishap. So Lotus approved the warranty claim and we had a very reputable body shop add paint to the bottom of the fender. However, after taking the car home and washing it the bumper looked like this. (See attached Photo)

I took the car back and showed them the photo and explained how the bumper was a different shade of blue. At the dealership in direct sunlight the difference was not as extreme, but our salesman agreed that it did not look right and would contact us once he got some additional opinions. Later that day he called. He said the body shop only added paint under the splitter where it was missing, but then clear coated the rest of the bumper to match the applied fixed. He said the color difference is from the factory and the only way to fix it would be to blend the bumper into the surrounding panels. He also talk to a PPF guy who echoed the same thought and said that even PPF wouldn't hide the color disparity and that the paint would need to be blended.

I have no reason to distrust what our salesman is saying, they have always been amazing and forthright. The dilemma I have currently is that I do not want my paint to be blended. I don't want the rest of the panels to be ruined to match an off colored bumper that accounts for a small part of the car. I will notice it and it will bug me to no ends. Second, the idea I need to send a brand new car through a body shop two days into ownership where it will come out looking as if it was in a accident seems ridiculous to me. Lastly, anyone with a discerning eye will know it had aftermarket paintwork done to it which will impact the resale value.

What are my options? Can I request a factory painted bumper to be delivered? If they cannot return the bumper to factory condition can I request a trade, a buyout? Or am I overreacting? Have others experienced mismatching panels from the facotry? I absolutely want to keep this car, because aside from the bumper I'm in absolute love with the Meridan Blue paint. It looks like a night sky with the blue and silver flake in it.

I look forward to the feedback.

I am currently going through something similar. I took delivery on 12/20/24 and returned to the dealer 1/6/25 to have PPF and tint done. When the installer attempted to cover the rear with PPF, he noticed a spot that wasn't painted (about two inches wide) on one of the panels close to the rear passenger tire. It wasn't visible unless looking at it from the ground. Lotus admitted fault the next day and approved correction under warranty. So then my car was loaded on a flatbed for transport to a specialty paint correction facility. No idea when I'll get it back.

The issue (as described by my dealer contact) is that when the PPF is eventually removed, it will likely take surrounding areas of paint with it and create a much bigger problem. Since the affected area isn't visible from almost any angle, I'm less concerned with their proposed fix. Just hoping to have my car back before the weather warms up and I can actually drive.

 

[Orchardbike]

I am currently going through something similar. I took delivery on 12/20/24 and returned to the dealer 1/6/25 to have PPF and tint done. When the installer attempted to cover the rear with PPF, he noticed a spot that wasn't painted (about two inches wide) on one of the panels close to the rear passenger tire. It wasn't visible unless looking at it from the ground. Lotus admitted fault the next day and approved correction under warranty. So then my car was loaded on a flatbed for transport to a specialty paint correction facility. No idea when I'll get it back.

The issue (as described by my dealer contact) is that when the PPF is eventually removed, it will likely take surrounding areas of paint with it and create a much bigger problem. Since the affected area isn't visible from almost any angle, I'm less concerned with their proposed fix. Just hoping to have my car back before the weather warms up and I can actually drive.View attachment 57616

That looks to me like it’s been painted, but the paints come off, due to a contaminant on the surface prior to painting. I’d check how adhered the paint around that area is.