Emira - clutching defeat from the jaws of victory

[Simon Bateman]

I think everyone agrees that Russell Carr and his team have done a fantastic job with the car, both inside and out, but for me, its becoming clearer by the day that the performance is just that bit down on even the Evora 400, let alone the 410.

Then we have the issue of specifications. It weighs 1405kg at its lightest. So what does the most popular V6 manual actually weigh?

What is the actual power figure.....400ps  406ps, 416ps. Clearly its mapped differently with a 6800 rev limit. What is the true power figure of the i4.....is it 365ps or really 400ps, as per the cars destined for China and now on the day when long term deposit holders are royally stuffed with the roughest of pineapples, the target 0-60 figure for the i4 has been reduced to 4.5 secs.

The whole thing seems a cagey exercise in making sure the two models fit the marketing and sales hierarchy narrative.

Then we have the much discussed price increase, which we all knew was coming, but most of us thought would be dealt with in a more fair and even-handed way. Many are today asking the million dollar question of 'when is an order not an order'.

The world has changed and many manufacturers don't consider a deposit as an order until a build slot is allocated, which is fine in itself, but not when the general comms and upscaling/production planning is too inept to deal with the volume of orders (sorry, I mean deposits!!).

My view is that Lotus have followed the industry in their handling of this, but without much to back it up, when they could have taken a much fairer and measured approach, particularly when dealing with the early i4 depositors that signed up in trust, without (in some cases) even seeing the car.

Finally you have the dealers. The same dealers being asked to raise their game to the level of Lotus 2.0, but at the same time, being removed from much of the buying process and also potentially losing out on the chance of obtaining PX vehicles that end up being sold to the Lotus partner BCA.

Much as I've really enjoyed my 400, it's probably fair to say that I've been half hearted about owning an Emira.  For me, it's not raised the game in areas that are important to me, dynamically or in outright performance terms by comparison to the Evora. Never say never and all that, but at this present time, I've lost trust in Lotus and I don't particularly like what I'm seeing.

Do Lotus really care? I suspect not. Despite cancellations, their order book (sorry, I mean, their list of depositers) is still very long, but I can't help think that things could have been a whole lot better.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

We all thought it was a bargain when it was announced, especially when compared to the contemporary Evora GT410 Sport RRP. Despite the price rise, I guess it still is, but no-one will think that now. In summary I think you’re spot on with the title of your thread.

[r3nault]

Given the economic hard landing that is becoming more likely by the day, plus the price rises on existing deposits and the fact that those deposits are refundable, I do wonder how quickly the two year waitlist might erode...

[Simon Bateman]

10 hours ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

We all thought it was a bargain when it was announced, especially when compared to the contemporary Evora GT410 Sport RRP. Despite the price rise, I guess it still is, but no-one will think that now. In summary I think you’re spot on with the title of your thread.

It certainly looks like a car worth the current price, but I'm not sure that the drivetrain is at the new price point 

It's more of an issue I think, of where we were price wise to where we are now and the fact that the i4 price was effectively unobtainable in actual terms.

[Simon Bateman]

6 hours ago, r3nault said:

Given the economic hard landing that is becoming more likely by the day, plus the price rises on existing deposits and the fact that those deposits are refundable, I do wonder how quickly the two year waitlist might erode...

There were certainly some people that had a bit of a punt on the car in the early months as well. How many of these that followed through or will follow through, remains to be seen. A V6 is now effectively the best part of 86k on the road and that does start to get you near to some other nice options, inc the second hand market. 

With all these things, every buyer has a max ceiling in terms of total spend which can be stretched a bit, but this is a big jump. It also begs the question for middle or later people placing deposits, of whether there will be another price increase to contend with before they see the car.

[TdM]

Seems convenient the price increase comes out just after Clarkson's review comes out calling it a bargain (though that's not to say it's not still a good price).

[Trevsked]

Simon, all above I agree with, points well made. I know Emira was aimed at a wider market but they’ve missed their mark by some margin, sadly. They seem to have destroyed the goodwill they once had, soul destroying for those that care.

Trevor.