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The end is probably near for the V6 Emira but, as you noted with your FWIW, this is information from a dealer. If there's one thing we've consistently seen over the past 3 years, it's that information coming from Lotus dealers often turns out to be completely wrong. This forum usually has more...

Ditto. Mine has seen plenty of rain, lots of washes, so far no blisters. I think the most likely explanation is that the defect is in specific batches of panels that weren't correctly manufactured by Teijin. There are 'only' 59 owners in our survey that report blistering. When you consider...

Agree, but in Europe ADAS is now required on all new cars (not just new models). So I wonder whether that means the Emira V6 can't be sold in Europe any more? UK has not yet signed up to GSR2, the European regulation, so I think they're only requiring ADAS on new models like the i4. Likewise...

Has Lotus added ADAS to any V6 cars yet? I thought it was only in the i4 models.

This is exactly what the Lotus Tech CEO said they'd be doing on the investor earnings call. He said that their profit margin on Emira is not good, so they will be using offerings like limited editions to try and improve it.

Wish that Green had been available 3 years ago!

Their 2025 target is 28% - 30% of volume from China

Looks like there is damage to the doors. Probably every panel from the doors forward will need to be replaced. Key question is whether the front half of the aluminium chassis has been damaged.

Why not?

Well, no disrespect to your source, but on Sept 30th Lotus Technology had US$451M in cash sitting on their balance sheet. So they weren't wholesaling blocks of cars because they were about to run out of money. I suppose it's always possible that head office was putting the squeeze on Hethel...

Don't think this is quite right. Lotus has plenty of cash at the moment. The CEO said on their earnings call that they were discounting cars in Q4 in order to clear a backlog of older stock in the UK and so they could come into 2025 with no more discounting. He said this was particularly...

Agree, the interiors are excellent. It's subjective, but I'd say that Eletre looks ok but not great, and Emeya looks pretty awful. Plus, they are too big and too heavy. They are too expensive for the Lotus brand. Even compared to other EVs, they don't come close to achieving their stated...

The bigger problem is that the Eletre and Emeya just aren't desirable vehicles. Even at the pre-tariff price point, they haven't been selling.

Don't think it was that Lotus was unwilling to put the cars through their dealers. More that they needed to move a block of cars quickly and were willing to wholesale them to Auto100 at a discount to do this. There were at least two reasons for this: 1. In the earnings call, the Lotus CEO...

Lotus delivered 12,065 vehicles in 2024, representing a year-on-year increase of over 70% and boasting the top growth rate among leading luxury brands. China contributed approximately 25% of the total global deliveries in 2024. In 2025, the Company aims to increase global deliveries by 20% with...

Missing the small blisters in the door paint? :cool:

Exactly! The sophistication of this SMC has little in common with the product and process from 20 years ago. Interesting videos, thanks for posting them. Because Lotus seems unwilling to openly confirm what it is the root cause of blistering on the Emira, we are all guessing to some degree...

They might also have been used at the Lotus Driving Academy. Mileage would be a clue. I don't know about Lotus, but Porsche's Experience Centre cars are flogged for a few months, then Porsche replaces the discs and tyres, and sells them. At least they're very well maintained by the Experience...

Congratulations, I hope you love it!

Teijin supplies the doors, rear quarters and tailgate panels. This press release when they won the contract hasn't aged well: This treatment technology results in a more robust resin mix making molded parts more resistant to handling damage, preventing micro-cracks that cause paint pops, pits...

True, but you just described every modern vehicle. These days cars are mostly assembled using sub-contracted components, not manufactured in the traditional sense. Bosch makes the brakes, Bilstein the suspension, ZF the transmission, BBS the wheels, Recaro the seats, and so on.

What really pisses me off is that this has been going on for 3+ years and Lotus and has been totally silent on the issue. Crickets. They haven't acknowledged there is a serious problem, they haven't issued any public statement on the root causes, and they haven't come up with a solution for...

No, I don't think this is correct. Off-gassing is when recently manufactured fibre glass or newly applied car paint releases volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The Emira paint blisters are caused by moisture infiltrating the composite material of the body panels, particularly the doors. At...

Two?

It's a technical service bulletin (TSB) not a formal recall. Your dealer should install the membrane at the next service if the car didn't get one at the factory. Mine was done back in June.

During the latest earnings call, Lotus Technology said that during Q4 they would actively clear out their stock of vehicles, including via discounting to wholesalers, so that they can be "clean" and have no discounting in 2025 when they launch the TYP 134. This overhang of vehicles is mostly...

It's your choice of course, but in addition to the risk of an argument over warranty, for the sake of a couple of hundred bucks you risk missing out on software upgrades, recall work, etc. Every time I've taken my Emira to the dealer there has been some additional work like a recall.

Phew. I don't wash my car once a week. :D

Yes, totally agree. They're not only the world's longest serving Lotus dealer but also widely viewed as one of the best car dealers in the UK. To have your oldest dealer hand back their franchise in disgust is an absolutely damning indictment of Lotus. I do sometimes wonder how Matt Windle...

Just confirms once again that dealers are the single least reliable source of information on cars :D

This is largely about increasing the average profit per Emira sold. Lotus has admitted that their profit margin on Emira is low, so they plan to boost this via more customisation and limited runs. I suspect the price to get your hands on one of the 12 cars in each colour will make people weep.

I'd love to know which Federal law prohibits a dealer from patching a Z-rated tyre! However, you have three punctures and a gash, which seems to exceed Michelin's policy on patching tyres: Tire Manufacturer's Puncture Repair Recommendations Manufacturer/Brand Speed Rating Multiple Repair...

On the earnings call, Lotus said they are running a "destocking program" to get rid of inventory so they don't have discounted cars in the market when they launch the TYP 134 next year. I suspect that program involves selling blocks of cars to specialist dealers at very attractive wholesale prices.

Ouch sounds like you got a real lemon. It seems to be incredibly variable-- I've had my Emira for about 18 months and never had an issue (touch fiberglass). There seem to be some Emiras with tons of problems and others with no faults at all.

It's customary, but I don't think there's any requirement under the Companies Act. In private companies I've certainly come across shareholders who don't want the MD to be on the board or MDs who don't want to take on the perceived legal risk of being a director.

This is out of date. Geely owns 51% and effectively controls the business. Lotus Cars has a complex ownership structure given its messy history . . . Lotus Cars Limited (the operating company) is 100% owned by Group Lotus Limited, a UK holding company that also owns the Lotus trademark...

Quite possible. On the earnings call Lotus mentioned that they are currently discounting to clear inventory in Europe so they are "clean" for the launch of the TYP 134 next year. They don't want to be discounting new vehicles next year when they're launching a major product.