How long till more Emiras than Evoras for sale.

[Techyd]

3 hours ago, MrBlueSky said:

This says to me that folks are not only not buying the Emira but they are not driving the ones they have bought for fear of devaluing

I doubt it is quite as succinct as that.  Cost of inflation, some job sectors experiencing job cuts and redundancies, the car itself proving unreliable / faulty.  It's a car purchased in a price bracket typically (but not exhaustively) to second / weekend car.  There was hype around it from launch, a huge waiting list and as such I do think a good portion of early buyers were there simply to flip it after a few months fun.

I'd wager the technical gremlins and Lotus customer service on resolving said gremlins play a much larger part than is visible, along with cancelled orders and, as you say, getting out while they can on a car that is depreciating.  There was nothing really, to suggest this new, higher volume car, wouldn't be subject to devaluation like any other normal car.  Falsely propped up by the brief Tesla EV phenomena where they were loosing very little money over the lease term (again propped up by supply / demand and a chip shortage).

It's the Evora that will stand the better test of time with regards its value - but that might itself may well be held back by parts availability (which I found poor a few years ago when I had my Evora).  Such a small market place for manufacturers to bother supporting, I do fear for its longevity on that basis alone.

[C8RKH]

1 hour ago, Techyd said:

Such a small market place for manufacturers to bother supporting, I do fear for its longevity on that basis alone.

Esprit and others are a small market but seem to be able to survive re parts with innovative suppliers developing and building solutions to the market.

The VX220/Opel Speedster market is small, but has a thriving vendor network supporting owners keeping the cars on the road, enhancing them, etc..

I can see the Evora falling into these companies hands. If we can keep 30,40 year old Lotus cars on the road, we can keep Evora's. After all, they are quite analogue, simple cars (no disrespect meant at all). The Exige and Elise will fall into this too, so quite  considerable market imvho.

The Emira on the other had is a much more complex, more digital car and that may be its downfall as it ages.

Other cars similar to the Evora, would be the DB9, the V8 Vantage (not the latest AMG based versions), etc. Again, a network of specialists has developed to not just service, but to innovate and develop and create new parts and solutions.

Hope this contribution makes sense.

[Techyd]

I hope so, but I think the Evora numbers are far fewer than Elises, Exiges and VX220s.  I hope companies such as Elise-Parts can expand to cater for the market as it would be a crying shame.  You're right - the Esprit and other Lotus classics does have good aftermarket support so maybe there is hope for the Evora yet.  I hope so.

[Bibs]

6,000 odd Evoras's over the course of production, 15% UK market means less than 1,000 were ever sold here, it's not a big market at all. 

[TdM]

But... The Esprit thing is a good point and if you look at cars like the Alfa SZ/RZ, very very small numbers but suppliers step up to produce custom parts. 

It tends to centralise around less and less specialists to keep enough volume going through so you might have to seek them out, but it's rare for an interesting car to lose community/specialist support

[C8RKH]

2 hours ago, Bibs said:

6,000 odd Evoras's over the course of production, 15% UK market means less than 1,000 were ever sold here, it's not a big market at all. 

Yup. But some parts were shared I'm sure, tail lights for example?

The point is, 1,000 Evoras, 2500 Exige, 10,000 Elise and that's not a bad Lotus niche.

Lotus only made 10,600 odd Esprits. How many left in the UK, 1,000? Only 791 current MoT'd Esprits, granted some will no longer need one, and some SORN.

Not like you to be the "downer" Bibs. You been drinking from my cup?

 

[jep]

You forget most car buyers are allergic to anything over 5 years old. Either it don't fit the status they aspire to or they think it will fall apart. 

Dealers and car companies thrive on this ignorance. As have I; the majority of my car purchases in my 40 years of motoring have been wagons over 5 years old, most considerably older.

Justin 

[ewand]

On 10/06/2024 at 19:58, C8RKH said:

Yup. But some parts were shared I'm sure, tail lights for example?

The point is, 1,000 Evoras, 2500 Exige, 10,000 Elise and that's not a bad Lotus niche.

Lotus only made 10,600 odd Esprits. How many left in the UK, 1,000? Only 791 current MoT'd Esprits, granted some will no longer need one, and some SORN.

Not like you to be the "downer" Bibs. You been drinking from my cup?

 

At least some of the mechanicals are fairly common - I recently put in a $200 AC compressor from a Toyota aftermarket supplier, in preference to a £2.5K OEM Lotus badged part...

For a lesson in rarity, look at the Europa S / SE of the mid 2000s. Only 48 or 49 SEs were built so if you need a specific part for one of them, good luck (though a benefit of low volume might be that many parts were off the shelf). Exception like body panels, headlight clusters etc could be their undoing.

[C8RKH]

42 minutes ago, ewand said:

I recently put in a $200 AC compressor from a Toyota aftermarket supplier, in preference to a £2.5K OEM Lotus badged part

There's a really good Lotus community, and sights like TLF, Seloc, LotusTalk (US focused) etc are great at helping us find alternatives. The air con unit you reference, for example, is IIRC from a US spec Toyota Rav4 and that originally, again, IIRC, was thanks to a contributor on LotusTalk who sussed that out.

The big issues as you say are headlights (though they can be taken apart and the LEDs etc fixed, the lenses are a particular issue - I hope everyone has theirs PPF'd?), then the other common failure points, are window regulators (don't think we have identified alternatives for these and they fail often, and are always seemingly on back order), the clutch/brake sensor thingy, and then the various mild steel brackets that seem to dissolve faster than an Alka Seltzer!

Bodywork we have good (albeit not OEM) options currently for all Evora variants.

Everything else, just seems to work imvho.

[TdM]

Brake sensor you can use a GM part (with a bit of modification). Steel brackets will be easy enough to get patterned and custom made. 

Window regulators and especially headlights more of an issue. You must be able to fudge something together for the regulator with a bit of ingenuity. Headlights though...

[Cdm2018]

On 24/06/2024 at 11:57, C8RKH said:

I recently put in a $200 AC compressor from a Toyota aftermarket supplier, in preference to a £2.5K OEM Lotus badged part

Can we get this part here in UK ? My compressor is defunct and if I can replace it with a much cheaper part fab ! 

[C8RKH]

I believe some have bought off the US ebay site and had it shipped, yes.

 

[Bibs]

So off topic but it's from the USA only Rav 4 V6.