Harry Metcalfe's Emira Update

[Bibs]

 

[Trevsked]

Not sure if Harry has ever bought a new Lotus?

 

Trevor.

[simonb]

Q2 23 for the i4

[jerzybondov]

Excellent film, and I thought Matt W was surprisingly honest too in terms of acknowledging some of the internal challenges too with getting the new lines up and running. 

Interesting seeing the nature of production though - far less mechanised than (say) the Ford F150 line which I've seen in action. And functionally, very little different in terms of practice than the DeLorean production line featuring the 'groundbreaking' Tellus carriers back in 1981. They made almost 9000 cars in about a year of production, which puts the Emira 7000 ambition into perspective. Although admittedly DeLorean build quality did leave something to be desired It is to be firmly hoped the Emira quality control is as good as the German alternatives if it's to not face a backlash once deliveries start in earnest!

[Woodman]

Interesting. Matt looked exhausted and frustrated. There is quite a lot of manual work and way off target. The timescale was over ambitious from launch -probably a bit naive in how much time would be needed to develop the production line, but at least they are building cars now.

I wonder when all those Chinese orders were placed……..

”cars being built in strict order” Hmm, ordered mine months before Harry and mine isnt on the line yet😂😂 I know there have been a lot of cancellations but the car does look great, just need to hear about my dealer demo - hoping they get there car this week.

 

[TomE]

As the global reveal was at Hethel, I assume China orders were placed after that.  Harry put his deposit down after the reveal (which he attended) and before Goodwood - the video of him choosing his configuration was later and he already had a deposit well before then.  So #333 could be correct for him.  Where are the cars for all the pre-reveal people though?  Clearly lots being done out of sequence for various reasons.

The comment about Brexit and doing EU type approval first and then UK as the reason for UK cars being delayed is strange.  In January the plan was to do UK approval first, as that was the largest single group of deposits.  Seems odd to do your home market almost last, but no great surprise the parent company's country is first.

Fingers crossed we start seeing UK demo cars and first customer deliveries before the end of October.

[Evotion]

Great video for sure. Some amazing close ups of the mechanicals.

 

Knowing my luck i will be #666 🤪

[simonb]

21 minutes ago, TomE said:

As the global reveal was at Hethel, I assume China orders were placed after that.  Harry put his deposit down after the reveal (which he attended) and before Goodwood - the video of him choosing his configuration was later and he already had a deposit well before then.  So #333 could be correct for him.  Where are the cars for all the pre-reveal people though?  Clearly lots being done out of sequence for various reasons.

The comment about Brexit and doing EU type approval first and then UK as the reason for UK cars being delayed is strange.  In January the plan was to do UK approval first, as that was the largest single group of deposits.  Seems odd to do your home market almost last, but no great surprise the parent company's country is first.

Fingers crossed we start seeing UK demo cars and first customer deliveries before the end of October.

harrys car looked very obviously out of line, with LHD cars before and after, and his one running down the line on a day they could film (and whilst dealers still were waiting) as the only RHD in that segment of the line

[EuropaSman]

Harry's Garage just posted in the last couple of hours:

Edit: Just seen Bibs' other post 😳. Oh well, better two posts than none at all 😄

[Suddabym]

Great vid. Fantastic to see the production line, to understand the challenges and for Matt to be so forthcoming. Really impressed. More cars sold between Goodwoods than the previous SIX years. Amazing. And that’s the issue - in a good way - too many orders. Plus global supply chain pressures, etc. 

Feel much better for Lotus now, having watched that. Scaling up has been hard, logistics a nightmare, inflation, pandemic, war, China lockdowns, Brexit, personnel, the literal works. Meanwhile, they’re training up the second shift and doing their damdest to catch up. Suspect that Matt was a tad too optimistic in his business plan, but lesson learned as they grown the business.

Oh, and the cars look mint.

[stephenwhyte]

😂

[stephenwhyte]

Brilliant video - fantastic insight! Thanks Harry and thanks to Matt!👏🏻👏🏻 It’s all coming together👍😎 

Interesting that Harry managed to get his suspension option changed, from that which he originally ordered!🤫

[Rambo]

1 hour ago, EuropaSman said:

Harry's Garage just posted in the last couple of hours:

Edit: Just seen Bibs' other post 😳. Oh well, better two posts than none at all 😄

Wow, fabulous video. I do like Harry. Down to earth, unfussed, tells it like it is etc..

[tailslides]

I was offered the chance to make changes before being locked in so he's not alone in that, although I am not a YouTube star 😉

[390ja]

I’m amazed at Matt’s honesty. No sales fluff, just an honest and frustrated.

I’m also a bit confused at all the Chinese cars having v6s, weren’t they supposed to having i4 only?!?

It also appears most of the speculated  uk delay reasons are wrong. Uk type approval is the problem, from the horse’s mouth.

[Matt W]

So if type approval is late, presumably post July 22, does that mean speed limiters will be in the released cars?

[RapidLotus]

1 hour ago, 390ja said:

I’m also a bit confused at all the Chinese cars having v6s, weren’t they supposed to having i4 only?!?

I agree, that is what I thought too, but I was corrected on my other forum.  I was told that both were available in China but the buyer has to pay a hefty government tax to get the V6.  

[TomE]

2 hours ago, 390ja said:

I’m amazed at Matt’s honesty. No sales fluff, just an honest and frustrated.

I’m also a bit confused at all the Chinese cars having v6s, weren’t they supposed to having i4 only?!?

It also appears most of the speculated  uk delay reasons are wrong. Uk type approval is the problem, from the horse’s mouth.

I was surprised at how open he was on camera, I wasn't expecting him to be so candid.  Hopefully this is a sign of more transparency in future, improving comms and Customer Care being more open about what's happening to individual orders.

Originally China was only getting the i4 but there was a change of plan and the V6 was included too.  I think that was to offer early Chinese depositors an alternative to offset the delays with their i4 - I know of a couple of Chinese depsistors who were given the chance to switch from i4 to V6.  I believe there are even fewer options for the Chinese V6 FE than the other regions, including fewer colours.  Tax will be a lot higher.

The type approval point seems odd, as back in January they were planning to do UK first and then EU.  I'm not aware of a requirement to have to achieve EU first before applying for UK, so I wonder if that was just a change of plan by Lotus?  It might be the case that approval in other countries is easier to obtain after EU approval.  It's a complicated process  globally and manufacturers try to do one set of testing and paperwork to feed into multiple submissions.

[390ja]

6 hours ago, TomE said:

I was surprised at how open he was on camera, I wasn't expecting him to be so candid.  

I felt if he wasn’t the MD, he might have got a bit of a bollocking after this aired! 

6 hours ago, TomE said:

I believe there are even fewer options for the Chinese V6 FE than the other regions, including fewer colours. 

Looks like the ford model T option list  from Harry’s observations. You can have any emira so long as it’s a yellow v6! 
 

7 hours ago, RapidLotus said:

I agree, that is what I thought too, but I was corrected on my other forum.  I was told that both were available in China but the buyer has to pay a hefty government tax to get the V6.

It seems a little strange that the only i4 engine in the whole video looked like it was placed there as a token gesture. He showed no i4s even fitted into subframes, let alone in a car. Surely they must be building a few of them by now, even if they are just for testing. 
He skirted past there really quite quickly, so I wonder if he saw more but wasn’t allowed to show it.

[simonb]

8 hours ago, RapidLotus said:

I agree, that is what I thought too, but I was corrected on my other forum.  I was told that both were available in China but the buyer has to pay a hefty government tax to get the V6.  

google converter puts 396970 Yuan as £49K, even pre tax that looks a "bit" cheaper

[Del Lardo]

Anyone else hear guy at the end when signing. Sounded like he said “I was about to draw a dick” 😂

[MJON]

Excellent video, always get the best with Harry. Launching a brand new car with a new factory, probably overly optimistic at launch but then with World events,  just a perfect storm. Full respect for Matt Windle for being so honest and telling it how it is. Plus his chosen spec is the same as mine, so he’s not at all bad. Trust now those that keep banging on about their late delivery and lack of information will calm down a bit 🤭

[JB]

On 17/10/2022 at 00:57, TomE said:

I was surprised at how open he was on camera, I wasn't expecting him to be so candid.  Hopefully this is a sign of more transparency in future, improving comms and Customer Care being more open about what's happening to individual orders.

Originally China was only getting the i4 but there was a change of plan and the V6 was included too.  I think that was to offer early Chinese depositors an alternative to offset the delays with their i4 - I know of a couple of Chinese depsistors who were given the chance to switch from i4 to V6.  I believe there are even fewer options for the Chinese V6 FE than the other regions, including fewer colours.  Tax will be a lot higher.

The type approval point seems odd, as back in January they were planning to do UK first and then EU.  I'm not aware of a requirement to have to achieve EU first before applying for UK, so I wonder if that was just a change of plan by Lotus?  It might be the case that approval in other countries is easier to obtain after EU approval.  It's a complicated process  globally and manufacturers try to do one set of testing and paperwork to feed into multiple submissions.

We were told of the Type Approval issue which is why our original demo cars are not coming (yet) and our showroom cars are now demo cars. Some dealers/agents are not getting the demo or showroom cars they originally thought. It appears this is to get cars out there sooner rather than later. As i understand it, there will only be 1 car (for now) per agent and that'll be a demo, not a showroom car.

Apparently Type Approval is a little slow with each car being checked, probably by an ministry chap with a clip board in no hurry at all.

[TomE]

I'd heard they were having to do IVA/SVA on each car individually, at least for the dealer demo cars.  Must be slow and time-consuming.

[JB]

Yes that is what I understood too.