Verdant Green Emira now showing on Lotus Driving Academy website!

[R1272]

All good. Let's leave it. I feel zero animosity towards you, I don't know you. I'm just frustrated with the lack of valuable info from Hethel, and people trying to cover for Lotus's communication failures.

 

[Pegasi]

All good. Let's leave it. I feel zero animosity towards you, I don't know you. I'm just frustrated with the lack of valuable info from Hethel, and people trying to cover for Lotus's communication failures.

It's all good. My opinion is that Lotus doesn't have to communicate. When you have the product, communication is a waste of time. I know that sounds horrible but that's kind of the way it goes. That has been my opinion since last summer. Early adopters need to have a different mindset in this process.

What I don't particularly like is when people compare Lotus to BMW, Porsche, etc. It's very difficult to compare a low volume manufacturer to the big boys. There are so few low volume manufacturers that make cars under 100K USA so IMO it's so hard to compare.

 

[KusaKusa]

For people who've been on the tour and have seen Dark Verdant in person, are these driving academy photos accurate to the color saturation? From what people have said, the renders, and the configurator, I would think the actual color is blacker, more glossy, and has less green standing out than what's shown in the photo.

 

[Eagle7]

All good. Let's leave it. I feel zero animosity towards you, I don't know you. I'm just frustrated with the lack of valuable info from Hethel, and people trying to cover for Lotus's communication failures.

I can certainly understand the frustration, but I'm not sure Lotus is failing to communicate. Failure implies they know they should and haven't yet, or they don't realize they need to and aren't. The indicators and reports are that they're choosing not to communicate some things at this time, which is a different thing altogether. Not sure what the reasoning or philosophy is behind that because they aren't communicating that either.

Just the way it is right now, although it appears we're starting to see things loosening up somewhat as they get close to production.

 

[eclat2emira]

Stick with Touring. Trust me on this

Agree 100%

 

[TomE]

I can certainly understand the frustration, but I'm not sure Lotus is failing to communicate. Failure implies they know they should and haven't yet, or they don't realize they need to and aren't. The indicators and reports are that they're choosing not to communicate some things at this time, which is a different thing altogether. Not sure what the reasoning or philosophy is behind that because they aren't communicating that either.

Just the way it is right now, although it appears we're starting to see things loosening up somewhat as they get close to production.

Not communicating in line with customer expectations is a failure to communicate, regardless of whether Lotus know they should (they do) or have chosen not to (which they have).

Matt Windle has said it’s because they only want to communicate accurate information. So they’re waiting until they have that. The problem is, they won’t have that until the day they start making customer deliveries. Which is too late for many customers. They could have published info with caveats, but mostly didn’t. They’ve not managed customer expectations.

I really don’t see any evidence of it improving yet. For example, customers have been asking for photos of the 6 FE colours for over 8 months and instead we get leaked low quality or over-processed images. More today from the new Driving Academy website.

And RideHeightGate could have been so easily avoided.

 

[DrD]

Gollies, they've really fudged those pictures with their effects haven't they. Barely have any idea if the colours are anywhere near... I light room'd a couple of the pics, they look better to me, who knows if they're accurate though. Lotus, so close, yet so far....

Original for reference.

 

[DrD]

Likewise I think having played with the colours and saturation, the "other" DV car with tan interior may actually be the shadow grey car... Original for reference:

 

[DrD]

Gollies, they've really fudged those pictures with their effects haven't they. Barely have any idea if the colours are anywhere near... I light room'd a couple of the pics, they look better to me, who knows if they're accurate though. Lotus, so close, yet so far....

Original for reference.

View attachment 5664View attachment 5665

The more I'm staring at this... The more I'm thinking this may be shadow grey too now....

Guys... I don't think this is actually DV on either car.... FFS

 

[NicolasB]

The more I'm staring at this... The more I'm thinking this may be shadow grey too now....

Guys... I don't think this is actually DV on either car.... FFS

AHHHHHHH!!! You're killing me! Was really using this to make a decision, but you are probably correct. It seems more "green" than I was expecting, especially in that light.

 

[DrD]

AHHHHHHH!!! You're killing me! Was really using this to make a decision, but you are probably correct. It seems more "green" than I was expecting, especially in that light.

Haha I'm sorry. Well at least shadow grey looks good in all the different shops you've done!

 

[PaulP]

Eagle, you've been called out here many times before, maybe it's you?

PS - I love your renders. They all have the proper ride height.

Flash man, ever heard of Corey Benjamin.?

Eagle an Og

Don’t call out a legend

 

[digilotus]

#fortheshadow

 

[wallstbear]

I’m more inclined to trust the statements from the head of ride and handling at Lotus, but if you want to base it off measurements from a PR photo that’s fine

If you want to know the standard spec of the officially launched model, you'd (hopefully) trust the technical head at Lotus.

If you want to know the actual measurements of a physical object physically sitting on a race track without even knowing whether this is one of the many prototype variants, photos are more useful (and available).

 

[wallstbear]

It's all good. My opinion is that Lotus doesn't have to communicate. When you have the product, communication is a waste of time. I know that sounds horrible but that's kind of the way it goes. That has been my opinion since last summer. Early adopters need to have a different mindset in this process.

What I don't particularly like is when people compare Lotus to BMW, Porsche, etc. It's very difficult to compare a low volume manufacturer to the big boys. There are so few low volume manufacturers that make cars under 100K USA so IMO it's so hard to compare.

You are certainly right that a more boutique type manufacturer tends to be far less commercially adapt at communicating with customers. In fact there are stories about reclusive craftsman (like some legendary swordsmith) that will require the customer to go through hoops to be eligible to purchase. Some Japanese restaurants are like that too.

That being said, Lotus is trying to move towards more of a volume luxury car maker as evidenced by the design philosophy of the Emira. Rather than only appealing to super hardcore enthusiasts, they will need some bankers, lawyers and dentists to fill out their clientele. The new Chinese owner Geely, being a volume car maker (selling 1.4m units a year), clearly also want them to become a bit more mainstream brand.

Based on my limited observation, Lotus is still struggling to become as efficient at execution as their bigger competitors. That's why there is all this variations in ride height, wheel models, undrivable show cars, etc. I am not complaining though. They will need some time to adapt.

 

[912Matt]

For people who've been on the tour and have seen Dark Verdant in person, are these driving academy photos accurate to the color saturation? From what people have said, the renders, and the configurator, I would think the actual color is blacker, more glossy, and has less green standing out than what's shown in the photo.

Having seen DV cars in the factory on Monday, I was surprised how green the car looks in the photos that surfaced yesterday. Of course, I didn’t see in sunlight, but the factory is well lit, and it was only on the uppermost surfaces where you could tell if a car was DV or Shadow (or from the overspray on unfinished cars). I wouldn’t be surprised if DV is darker when you see it with your eyes, even outside, but I for one don’t think that’s a bad thing, as most of the colours looked stunning in the factory, and these cars are going to look epic out on the road

 

[frazzer]

Having seen DV cars in the factory on Monday, I was surprised how green the car looks in the photos that surfaced yesterday. Of course, I didn’t see in sunlight, but the factory is well lit, and it was only on the uppermost surfaces where you could tell if a car was DV or Shadow (or from the overspray on unfinished cars). I wouldn’t be surprised if DV is darker when you see it with your eyes, even outside, but I for one don’t think that’s a bad thing, as most of the colours looked stunning in the factory, and these cars are going to look epic out on the road

The photos are clearly edited, possibly some hdr effect applied (exaggerates contrast in reflections) and saturation boosted to show more colour. This is obvious if you look elsewhere in the image, overcast clouds don't have blue/green shadow. Mid tones might also be boosted to show more detail. Its not an accurate product shot after all, it's a marketing image.

 

[mjw930]

Having seen DV cars in the factory on Monday, I was surprised how green the car looks in the photos that surfaced yesterday. Of course, I didn’t see in sunlight, but the factory is well lit, and it was only on the uppermost surfaces where you could tell if a car was DV or Shadow (or from the overspray on unfinished cars). I wouldn’t be surprised if DV is darker when you see it with your eyes, even outside, but I for one don’t think that’s a bad thing, as most of the colours looked stunning in the factory, and these cars are going to look epic out on the road

I saw the colors on the 9th on my tour but the only DV were panels on the transport racks. Under what is probably 4000K - 5000K color temperature LED lights on the factory floor the DV and SG panels look almost identical when you see them at a sharp angle such as looking at a side panel down it’s length, they both looked black. As you reduce the angle from 90 to 0 the color shifts to Grey on the SG and Green on the DV. The SG shifts quicker, DV is generally darker overall.

IMHO the shot with the passenger approaching the car putting his helmet on is pretty darn close to what I saw in person.

 

[eclat2emira]

I saw the colors on the 9th on my tour but the only DV were panels on the transport racks. Under what is probably 4000K - 5000K color temperature LED lights on the factory floor the DV and SG panels look almost identical when you see them at a sharp angle such as looking at a side panel down it’s length, they both looked black. As you reduce the angle from 90 to 0 the color shifts to Grey on the SG and Green on the DV. The SG shifts quicker, DV is generally darker overall.

IMHO the shot with the passenger approaching the car putting his helmet on is pretty darn close to what I saw in person.

Good appraisal and agrees with my own perception after seeing that car on site.

Super appropriate he seems to be wearing a dark verdant suit, although it's got a Rupert the Bear vibe going on!

 

[EmiraMike]

Good appraisal and agrees with my own perception after seeing that car on site.

Super appropriate he seems to be wearing a dark verdant suit, although it's got a Rupert the Bear vibe going on!

I’m on my way to Paris for work so will report back if the Rupert the Bear/racing helmet combo is en vogue with the tres chic folks #ForTheTrendsetters