Future of Lotus

[Bibs]

They've spent £100m on Hethel with huge plans to expand into the area next to the Hethel Engineering Centre which gives some solace that they are committed to the UK and sports car production.

[C8RKH]

We'll see. These are strange times.

[Nelly]

I am slightly worried by how well the Eletre may be selling.   Hendy in Eastleigh currently have 16 of them on the roadside which have been there since at least Christmas.  I assumed at that point they may be waiting collection by would suspect they are unsold.  Hope I am wrong, its a fab looking car.

 

[exeterjeep]

Think each dealer/retailer is expected to have a stock ready for 'instant' delivery (16 seems excessive though) , so if someone comes into the showroom then they can pick one up quickly if they do not care too much about the exact spec.  If you try going into a JLR dealer expect to wait sometime for a car in a spec you want and the Eletre is a better bet for a company car.

Hendy Exeter have a few, thought they were selling up to 3 a week. (may include Emira)

Will have to see how the monthly UK registration stats progress through the year. And eventually howmanyleft will pick up the stats of the cars in use etc.

There are a number of folks waiting to test drive the Emeya having paid a deposit.

 

[Kimbers]

I can't speak for Lotus but I know all the major manufacturers have lead times for ICE and Diesel Cars, often long lead times up to 8 months. Yet the same companies have huge stock levels of New EV cars. This includes Pre-reg which they have more and more been forced to do to hit EV targets.

[mdavies]

Now Special Offers from Silverstone:

"Lotus UK and Lotus Silverstone are excited to announce exclusive limited-time offers and incentives on the new Emira Turbo and Eletre R models. Make an appointment to visit our dealership between 14th and 16th March to take advantage of these special deals."

[ChrisJ]

I've had one of those from Silverstone, but addressed: "Dear Rob"

[mdavies]

Wrong name on mine too. Perhaps Lotus trying AI now.

[DarrylV8]

My invite sent 7.52pm 14th March from Silverstone was to me (Dear Darryl) to visit between 14th - 16th all very rushed!

At least the invite to Sue from B&C gave us a couple of days notice.

[oneshot]

Lotus Birmingham are doing it as well.

[C8RKH]

I got mine on Tuesday 12th for Friday 15 to Sunday 17 March.

0% APR nothing to pay for 2 years. Complimentary 3 years servicing on Emira Turbo.

On the Eletre it was either complimentary home charger plus 10,000 free public charging, or 20,000 miles free public charging on Eletre R only. Complimentary 5 year servicing on any Eletre.

[webfoot]

On 06/03/2024 at 11:45, exeterjeep said:

Think I read on here some months ago on another thread, not sure if this was for the first Eletre drives  or for Emira, but some people booked there but when they tried to attend there was no one there. Think I would trust the dealer map more than their booking system.

Well now the map has gone.  The replacement page doesn't currently seem to be working very well (a "work in progress" ?).  Oakmere are back on as a Showroom and a Service Centre, with the Northwich address.

 

https://www.lotuscars.com/en-GB/lotus-centres/search

[exeterjeep]

I noticed that yesterday, there seemed to be a new dealer I had not seen before (Lotus Berkshire - which google maps showed a pin for) plus the numbers were wrong and the option to get more dealers was not working. The map was useful as with a quick look you could see the icons change of go and new ones appear. 

Was in Lotus Exeter yesterday and it seems that they are closing at the end of the month, they are not sure exactly what is going on. But with the chance of no Lotus dealer in the SW then there is no way I would be buying a new Lotus with the nearest dealer being in Bristol or Southampton. Lotus need a presence in the SW if they want to increase the number of cars sold. 

Jaguar seem to be in a decline these days, (although trying to go more upmarket..) by the end of this year the nearest Jaguar dealer will be in Bristol, with some of the Jaguar dealers recently owned  by Carrs Helston garage group and taken over by Vertu,  already closed to sales.

[CocoPops]

Lotus Berkshire appears on google maps as being next door to "Jardine Select" in Bracknell...

Jardine Motors is a multi brand multi national dealer... so has deep pockets.

[exeterjeep]

13 minutes ago, CocoPops said:

Lotus Berkshire appears on google maps as being next door to "Jardine Select" in Bracknell...

Yes, that's what I thought had a look at Jardine's  web site they do not list Lotus as a manufacturer that they deal with ... yet???? Did seem there were 2 s/h Lotus somewhere.

Also can't remember a defunct dealer at that location. 

[CocoPops]

There's a reference here as well...

https://www.macoachworks.co.uk/dealer-partners/lotus-berkshire/

Slightly tenuous I agree...

 

[Bibs]

https://www.thelotusforums.com/latest-news/lotus-cars-news/lotus-introduces-lotus-chapman-bespoke/

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Didn’t they launch something like that a couple of years ago?

[Bibs]

Lotus Advanced Performance did a couple of years back, and I'm sure there was something similar around the Bahar era.

 

[C8RKH]

Launches first in China, then rolls out across the world.

Forgive me, but this is cynical exploitation of brand history of the highest order.

Lotus, a Chinese EV company for Chinese EV drivers exploiting a legacy of british automotive engineering excellence and innovation.

[Bibs]

Money talks. Not the first time and most certainly won't be the last.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

6 minutes ago, Bibs said:

Lotus Advanced Performance did a couple of years back, and I'm sure there was something similar around the Bahar era.

 

Yeah that was it. Just 2 years ago. I guess the tailor-made options approach to new Lotus cars didn’t really catch on.

https://www.lotuscars.com/en-GB/lap

[CocoPops]

And similar here, under JMG:

https://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2014/10/14/12246699/Handmade in Hethel 131014.pdf

[exeterjeep]

9 hours ago, CocoPops said:

There's a reference here as well...

https://www.macoachworks.co.uk/dealer-partners/lotus-berkshire/

Slightly tenuous I agree...

 

See there is now a more complete list, and mention of Lotus Coventry which is XL motors accident repair centre. So the entries that say service centres may just be the approved body shops?

[NedaSay]

That's the third of fourth relaunch of this atelier and only the second under Geely. Advanced Performance was supposed to do exactly what Chapman Bespoke is supposed to do, they were supposedly responsible for the Evija Fittipaldi, the Type 66, they Type 136 (electric bicycle) and the Lotus Emira Balmain team up, which was for a videogame (NFS Unbound).

The move is partially for the chinese market... And I think they should have gone one step further, the Lotus roundel should associate Lotus to Chapman on it instead of NYO on the Chinese market. It would have been an elegant solution to a problem that not even Geely could resolve.

Advanced performance was supposed to be the umbrella for everything, including motorsport, I guess their activity perimeter is now under review as there is no trace of L.A.P on the corporate website.