Emira UK Roadshow

[Evotion]

Well done. It didn't occur to me to even check. Well, I am pretty sure I touched the controls but maybe not firm enough. I could at least tell that there seemed to be a lot of legroom so taller persons should be okay,

I do concede that, in my overall and well documented excitement, that I am perhaps wearing rose-tinted glasses. I never let small things get me down and always look at the bigger picture. For me, the event met with expectations -read that as you wish to.  Jamie made every effort to speak to me on at least 5 occasions and I spoke with Scott and a couple of others.

 

I might not have been dazzled by disco lights, music by Hans Zimmer and a brief appearance by Shirley Bassey but it did the job. I saw the paint, I saw the interior options, I sat in the car and I spoke with others.

I do feel sorry that others felt that the event was missing something. 

Then again, I was at the boxing live to see a crap performance from AJ so it was a lovely pick-me-up.

[TomE]

5 hours ago, Beady said:

at the risk of controversy, the majority of early adopters and so those at the launch yesterday, and across the next month are largely likely to be lotus fans and so there is no need to impress them...they are already sold.

Upping the game needs to come in the next phase - convincing those to swap from other brands.

 

I don’t think that’s right.  At my B&C session today there was only one Lotus in the car park compared to 4 Porsches, 6 Range Rovers, 2 Jaguars. From chatting to and over-hearing those who were there I think current Lotus owners were just under half the attendees.

So yes they do need to get this right to convert people.  They don’t have to out-Porsche Porsche but they do need to create a Lotus Experience.

[TomE]

4 hours ago, Graham Ridgway said:

Not controversial, but I have a very different perspective in two ways!  They have an unprecedented 2700 strong expressions of interest in the UK who can get their deposit back and walk away.  There should be every focus on converting those people into committed buyers.  Being slack and amateur is a shocking waste of opportunity.  If you go back to Matt Windle's strategy video (probably there were a few) it is really compelling about the car, what it stands for and what the new Lotus is going to be.  Having humbly been in charge of a much more modest company than Lotus that wrote and sold software, we ran launches and events.  Customer events akin to last night's roadshow.  If me and my team had put on an event like last night I'd definitely be wanting to do a lot better.  It's ok, not a disaster, friendly forgiving audience.  Russell Carr's pitch in person was awesome of course, super compelling.  Matt Windle from his pitch super compelling.  Gavan Kershaw super compelling.  It's not beyond the wit of man to find ways of distilling those compelling narratives into an event surely?  We could have been blown away.  I'm not comparing with Porsche, never done the posh Porsche dealer experience having only owned old ones.  Perhaps I'm just in cloud cuckoo land!  I just want them to do so well and use this fantastic opportunity to its max.

I agree.  There is an opportunity to create something that is a Lotus experience and differentiated from others.  I love that I can talk to people like Matt, Russell and Gav to hear their passion  … and that I’ve known them for a decade.  I spoke to Scott for nearly an hour today, not just about Emira but our respective car collections and driving experiences.  I’ve been buying Lotus cars from him for nearly 20 years.

This is all part of what “for the drivers” and the Lotus community means to me. I think they’re missing a trick in going down an obvious “corporate car firm” route, stumbling a bit over that because it’s not very authentic and not doing something more Lotus instead. 

[TomE]

4 hours ago, freefall_junkie said:

A question for those who have been to the roadshow. I know the car is a non-runner but are you at least able to adjust the electric seats? I am very very picky about my driving position being spot on so for me this is important.

Also did anyone glean any more about the standard vs sport suspension? Keen to understand just how firm the latter is compared to the Evora 410.

Seats worked fine for me. I was pleased I had plenty of forward movement for my little legs and that I could get out without having to slide the seat back, which I do in the Evora.

I asked about suspension.  Both use Eibach springs and non-adjustable Bilstein dampers but different rates and setup between the two. Different bushes and ARB setup, different geometry settings.  Sport is apparently stiff, like the difference between S1 Evora (more like Touring) and the later 400/410.

The person I spoke to had been driving the mule cars for two years and reiterated the advice I’d heard from Gav - Touring will suit the majority of people who are driving fast M/A/B roads with mixed surfaces and the odd track day. 

[tailslides]

19 minutes ago, TomE said:

I don’t think that’s right.  At my B&C session today there was only one Lotus in the car park compared to 4 Porsches, 6 Range Rovers, 2 Jaguars. From chatting to and over-hearing those who were there I think current Lotus owners were just under half the attendees.

So yes they do need to get this right to convert people.  They don’t have to out-Porsche Porsche but they do need to create a Lotus Experience.

Coming from outside of Lotus, the promise of Emira is of a professional product, from design through promotion to production. 

I do hope they can fulfil that promise as for £80k there's a lot I can buy, but none look as beautiful or have as much character as Emira.

I will be greatly disappointed if for some reason the project doesn't deliver, I read the comments with interest but will make my decision on first hand experience, I certainly cannot commit to purchase until Lotus commits to providing a real car to evaluate, rather than the pilot or display model but am thankful we have a chance to examine the early concept on the roadshow.

[Evotion]

Yep. comes down to preference on feel. Scott talked about this too.

There is a trade-off, of course, as always, between feel and comfort in this order:

Sports + CUP 2 = Firm and great feel [track and for those who prefer this on the road]

Sports + Goodyear - Firm but more forgiving/compliant tyres across all conditions

Touring + Goodyear - Less feel but more comfort

 

Does that help me decide?  Nope 

[AZD]

I went to the showing in Surrey this evening, blown away by the car. First time I have seen in person, exterior and interior was fine for me. My main question was v6/i4.

It was confirmed to me that the AMG engine First edition cars will be 2023.

A very knowledgable staff member said if you want the V6 First Edition then you will be contacted (in order of deposits placed) and would need to order by the end of October/early November to secure the V6 First Edition. I was also told they won't put an exact number on it but there will be a limited run of the First Edition cars. Its baffling that the roadshow continues to November if this was the case?

Is this what you guys are aware of too? 

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by AZD

[TomE]

5 Nov is the deadline for paying the second £3k deposit if you want a V6 FE.  The roadshows finish before then (just!).  It's still reserving a place in the queue, rather than an order.  So although you are giving an intended configuration now there is some scope to tweak it later before it becomes a committed order, but this may alter your place in the queue.

[Nick in Sydney]

Thanks to lockdown madness, I also have a deposit down on the new Ineos Grenadier.  I think Lotus could really learn a thing or two from Ineos.  They are a brand new car company, with no past experience (or preconceptions) about how a car should be launched. 

So far they have released about ten videos for people on the expression of interest list which take them on the journey:  testing, design, interior, etc.  They have also held multiple development roadshows where they invited potential owners to come and kick the tyres and give feedback.  They have promised that a large fleet of test drive vehicles will be made available so deposit holders can try the vehicles (on road and off). 

In short, Ineos have tried very very hard to make potential owners feel part of an exciting new story, part of the process.  And the deposit process was flawless: all done centrally and online.

Finally, have a look at the Ineos configurator and compare it with Emira's.   There's really no excuse for the pathetic colour matching on the Lotus configurator or its 1990s functionality.

[Nick in Sydney]

1 hour ago, Nick in Sydney said:

In short, Ineos have tried very very hard to make potential owners feel part of an exciting new story, part of the process.  And the deposit process

Last night they did a live streaming event with the senior design/sales team from Ineos.  The event had over a thousand potential customers from all around the world participating and they could ask questions via live chat which the Ineos team then answered.  That's exactly the sort of event Lotus should be holding.

[freefall_junkie]

7 hours ago, TomE said:

Seats worked fine for me. I was pleased I had plenty of forward movement for my little legs and that I could get out without having to slide the seat back, which I do in the Evora.

I asked about suspension.  Both use Eibach springs and non-adjustable Bilstein dampers but different rates and setup between the two. Different bushes and ARB setup, different geometry settings.  Sport is apparently stiff, like the difference between S1 Evora (more like Touring) and the later 400/410.

The person I spoke to had been driving the mule cars for two years and reiterated the advice I’d heard from Gav - Touring will suit the majority of people who are driving fast M/A/B roads with mixed surfaces and the odd track day. 

Useful info, thanks. I'm keen to check for myself that I can get the seat good and low, and that it has as much legroom as an Evora.

On the suspension, if the sports set up is similar to the Evora 410 that is what I'll go for. Still a bit concerned it might be stiffer. 

[Evotion]

1 hour ago, freefall_junkie said:

On the suspension, if the sports set up is similar to the Evora 410 that is what I'll go for. Still a bit concerned it might be stiffer.

I was told, in that instance, to go with the Goodyear option. 

I was told Cup 2 tyres need more warming up and are less efficient in the wet.

I'd go all in myself

[freefall_junkie]

My S2 Exige came with semi slick Yoko A048s, which aren't even road legal any more, and I used to love the way you could really feel the increase in grip as they warmed up on a track day. However they generated loads of road noise and were pretty hairy in the wet. I am tending toward sports suspension and cup tyres for the Emira as long as it isn't too harsh for the road. I'll be asking lots of questions at the roadshow 🙂

[Evotion]

Well, we have been told that Sports and Cups will be firm.

Sounds like you enjoy that so fair enough.

I've gone with Sports and Goodyear as a compromise .

[Bibs]

@emstan, hopefully his helps you 👍

[DarrylV8]

Yes they look like the dims I was given earlier in the year and, why I’m confident we can get two large suitcases in.

Yes we are both short arses with short legs, looking forward to using the Emira on winter tyres 2023/2024 travelling to Southampton cruise 🚢 terminal for one of our rescheduled cruises 

[tailslides]

1 hour ago, Bibs said:

@emstan, hopefully his helps you 👍

That's great, we love the practicality of out Boxster front boot for touring and this behind the seat space will provide alternative storage, it does help being 5'8" and perhaps getting older has shrunk that dimension even more.

From these it looks like two cases and a couple of behind the seat bags we had made will fit comfortably. Hopefully some wine space too.

[simonb]

surprised matchy matchy luggage is not on the option list

[Bibs]

Watch this space @simonb 👍

[emstan]

1 hour ago, Bibs said:

@emstan, hopefully his helps you 👍

@Bibs, thanks, it's perfect! Looks like we should be fine then! 😍 

[richhickey]

6 hours ago, Bibs said:

@emstan, hopefully his helps you 👍

So that's only about an 8-9" deep shelf behind then? That's a significant loss of space vs the Evora. 🙁

[mg4lotus]

More space in the engine bay. For cooling? To fit the i4 and ancillary equipment?

Don't forget it is a whole new car apart from some nuts and bolts... oh, and the V6.

[TomE]

There's more space in the engine bay (thermal management), cabin (easier access) and boot.

[Bibs]

I headed down to Lotus Kent in Ashford today to have a look around! Thought it was really good, nice for people to be there in groups so everyone had a chance to spend some time with the car and talk to those who could answer their questions. Obvs had a drone with me too!

 

[exeterjeep]

8 minutes ago, Bibs said:

Lotus Kent in Ashford

Good looking showroom as well with some nice new signage.