Emira EU Roadshow

[Bibs]

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

RHD? That’s going to be a hard sell on the continent.

[JJ]

I'll be there to see it in person in a few hours... if it isn't cancelled. We had further lockdown restrictions announced yesterday that start... during the event.

[rudolphwolven]

*****

She has arrived in the Netherlands........can be seen today from 13 -17 hrs.......at v.d. Kooi-Houten

 

[rudolphwolven]

*****

I did attend the presentation today......a fantastic happening...........I assume that you will see more pictures etc. on their Facebook site from next Monday on.

Many, many....... many people over there..........a slightly excited atmosphere all over.......in the showroom and workshop over 50 Lotus'es........ the Emira and many other fantastic Lotus cars.

Drinks, food, workshops etc. ..........a fantastic achievement of Mr v.d. Kooi, the offcial Dutch Lotus importer.....

He is a good organiser and showman.
In spite of previous announcements the Emira FE6 was free to walk around, touch, opening of doors and rear hatch......... and taking place behind the steering wheel.

It must be said it is a nice car, better than the pictures; I think it will become a succes!.

Lotus Holland has approx. 20 pre-orders***, almost all AMG 4 types, since due to environmental regulations the V6 will be approx. € 30.000,- / GBP 26.000,- more expensive in taxes than the 4i........

***) This is a relatively high number of pre orders for The Netherlands where during 2010-2021 only approx. 20 new Evora's were sold. 

Edited November 13, 2021 by rudolphwolven

[JJ]

I thought he said 29 preorders for NL ? Maybe I misheard.

"In spite of previous announcements"... The e-mails from Lotus clearly stated you could sit in it?

Interesting tidbit: one of the dealers (I think the owner's son?) said tuning the V6 to 460HP should be doable without (significant) mods and beyond 500HP with, and the i4 should be able to ultimately go past 500HP as well. Though not advised until out of warranty... 😂 And way beyond my talents, anyway.

Girlfriend does not like the blue (oh no!). I myself am still concerned about luggage for flights and road-trips. The storage behind the seats is significantly less than I expected from the numbers, and the trunk is (apparently, can't see through the batteries) extremely shallow.

And I'm no closer to deciding between I4 and V6 😂 Or tour vs sport...

Edited November 13, 2021 by JJ

[rudolphwolven]

6 minutes ago, JJ said:

A)   I thought he said 29 preorders for NL ? Maybe I misheard.

B)   "In spite of previous announcements"... The e-mails from Lotus clearly stated you could sit in it?
 

*****

Thanks.........

Ref A)......... Mr. v.d. Kooi is a kind of born "showmaster".

The number of 20 came today from a (very reliable) source........and free from the "exaggeration" that (forgivably) the proud owner (of course) could handle .........who can check him?

Ref B).......The announcement of v.d. Kooi himself said the day before:

.......Om teleurstelling tijdens het evenement te voorkomen: het prototype zal deze middag (goed zichtbaar) achter een lint staan, er kan dus niet in de auto worden gezeten of gereden........

......To avoid disappointment during the event: the prototype will be (highly visible) behind a ribbon this afternoon, so it is not possible to sit or drive in the car........

https://www.facebook.com/events/561878871757874/

[JJ]

Ref B) If you came by during the afternoon it was behind a rope and untouchable, the evening event where we both went wasn't mentioned in that post. At least that's how I read it. Anyway, doesn't really matter now

[TomE]

13 hours ago, JJ said:

I thought he said 29 preorders for NL ? Maybe I misheard.

"In spite of previous announcements"... The e-mails from Lotus clearly stated you could sit in it?

Interesting tidbit: one of the dealers (I think the owner's son?) said tuning the V6 to 460HP should be doable without (significant) mods and beyond 500HP with, and the i4 should be able to ultimately go past 500HP as well. Though not advised until out of warranty... 😂 And way beyond my talents, anyway.

Girlfriend does not like the blue (oh no!). I myself am still concerned about luggage for flights and road-trips. The storage behind the seats is significantly less than I expected from the numbers, and the trunk is (apparently, can't see through the batteries) extremely shallow.

And I'm no closer to deciding between I4 and V6 😂 Or tour vs sport...

Storage behind the seats seemed reasonable to me.  With the seat adjusted for a 6 foot driver it was 20cm deep and for me at 5'9" it was 30cm, so room for a couple of cabin bags.  The trunk depth is similar to the Evora, if that helps.

[JJ]

My issue is, I want to use this as a daily. I don't have room for three cars (gf's + Emira + backup). Probably a third of my driving is to/from the airport and road-trips. For the latter we can take however many odd-sized bags and I don't really expect that to be a problem, but for flights, we do need to bring two large suitcases (soft-ish) and two small backpacks (which can probably fit wherever). 

Large flight suitcases are 65/80x50x25cm (25.5/31.5x20x10") if not overstuffed. Not even one will fit in the trunk it seems, so both have to go behind the seats. But I don't think they'll fit there either 🤷‍♂️ I can get different bags of course, but the volume needs to be similar.

Or maybe I just need to buy a mansion so I have room for more cars 😂 But the less I use the Emira, the less justification I have for getting it. Cars are meant to be used, not sit in garages.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Why not use gf’s car for the airport runs with proper suitcases? Probably better leaving that car there than your Emira anyway. Save the Emira for the road trips with soft bags,

[emstan]

The roadshow in Switzerland is scheduled for the 29th - I'll be there, but am quite concerned about the rear seats as well. 😕 

[Snorkel]

A few days ago I went to the Emira launch in Belgium. Cosy showroom, it was crowdy but not 'too' many people... Everybody got multiple times the chance to sit in the car, to check all the details, to talk to the people from Lotus and so on.

Some info I got -I didn't know this- that Geely also owns 10% of Mercedes-Benz and for that reason the collaboration between Lotus and AMG was not so surprising. The deal also stated that Lotus didn't only get the engines, but also a bunch of AMG engineers to work at the Lotus plant for the development of the mid engine architecture. 

The colour samples aren't very helpful to be honest. It's about time Lotus shows some other Emira's in different jackets. 

 

[simonb]

On 13/11/2021 at 22:06, JJ said:

Interesting tidbit: one of the dealers (I think the owner's son?) said tuning the V6 to 460HP should be doable without (significant) mods and beyond 500HP with, and the i4 should be able to ultimately go past 500HP as well. Though not advised until out of warranty... 😂 And way beyond my talents, anyway.

 

I think the issue with the V6 is more the gearbox bolted to it for that sort of power.  The (exige based) Radford Europa changes to a DSG I think for higher powered alternatives, but on a price point much higher than this car.  AMG tuners have some pretty racy options for the CLA45S already, so suspect that box will not be a limiting factor

[jerzybondov]

Just spotted pair of V6 Emira mules spotted heading out to Spain for track testing - Hethel too cold and slippy this time of year apparently. 

Amazing that the Lotus budget stretches to flexiplus on the eurotunnel crossing - Geely has clearly made a difference there!

One other observation - the bulkhead has been moved forward in the Emira but the V6 engine isn’t mounted any further forward - apparently it’s to create space for the i4 engine, which will be more mid mounted than the V6 it seems, which now has a load of empty space in front of the engine.

Edited November 21, 2021 by jerzybondov

[mg4lotus]

Space needed for the turbo and pipework?

[TomE]

I was told the increased engine bay size also helped with thermal management and therefore gave more scope for upgrading both engines before hitting temperature issues (which we know was a factor even on some stock Evoras).

[mg4lotus]

Looking at this skeleton drawing that was in the pictures thread the i4 (green colour) and v6 (tan colour) seem to be positioned in more or less the same space. The v6 has the supercharger sat on top.

The extra space created by the moved bulkhead is probably due to thermal management as mentioned by @TomE and in other threads.