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A few observations from the earnings call: 1. They have a vehicle inventory problem in Europe (not China) and are taking a hit on margins in Q3/Q4 in order to clear this stock and be ready for the launch of the new TYP 134. They don't want to have old stock in the market at discounts when...

I think that's a USA only sticker

I've wondered about this too. I'm betting they've sold less than five of them to real customers!

This makes a lot of sense to me. It seems that Lotus has worked out that they went too early on pure EV! Maybe they'll put a hybrid engine in the TYP 134 Macan competitor and possibly in the TYP 135 as well? Below is the transcript of the conversation between Wall Street Journal and Lotus...

You're right, falafel91 mistakenly described the blister as being "on the trunk lid" but looking more closely it's on the rear panel. The rear panel/bumper is not made by Teijin.

It's the same supplier, though not a common area for issues compared to doors and rear quarter panels. Teijin is providing the doors, rear quarter panels, and the inner, outer and lower shells of the tailgate.

Can't see why ceramic coating would cause a bubble like that?

I wouldn't be surprised if Russell Carr leaves Lotus sometime soon. His design team at Hethel has been folded into Ben Payne's Coventry design group and it's clear that the TYP 135 (if it ever gets built) will be heavily influenced by Ben's Theory 1 concept car.

Isn't that exactly their current situation? While Lotus Technology has listed on the NASDAQ, Geely is still effectively in control. Geely is providing the loans and they share Geely components from Volvo, Lynk, etc. Also, I believe Geely actually own the China factory and are operating it on...

Lotus has been operating as two separate businesses: Lotus Cars in Hethel and Lotus Technology in China/Germany/Coventry. Lotus Technology doesn't even own Lotus Cars (they have an option to acquire it). Eletre and Emeya were conceived and designed by Lotus Technology with very little input...

After the IPO Etika was down to something like 28%. Since then, Geely has funded a bunch of convertible notes so Etika's fully diluted shareholding is probably less than 20%.

Sports cars are a tough game. Look at Aston Martin, they've been turning out great cars lately but are losing $1.8M a day. Lotus can't survive on just the Emira. In fact, the profit margins on Emira are lousy so they certainly aren't making enough money to ever develop and launch a new car...

Sorry to be negative but I fear Lotus is in serious trouble. Is Geely really going to keep pumping in $100M a year to prop them up? They went 100% EV at least five years too early and aimed too far upmarket with Eletre/Emeya. Globally, the luxury car market is in a slump. And the new EV...

I loved Verdant Green, but after seeing the swirls and micro scratches on an Emira at the dealer, I decided that it would be too hard to keep looking good and my OCD would drive me mad. Suspect PPF is your best option. I'd make sure it gets a good stage 1 polish before wrapping.

2,500 km round trip drive from Sydney to Brisbane. Emira was awesome and problem-free.

I wondered about this too. If the root cause is inadequate sealing on the unpainted side of the panels, then I suppose in theory you could remove them, spray the back with some kind of waterproofing, and reattach. It wouldn't be a cheap job.

Left which board? As CEO of Geely Holdings he is on many boards, for example: Lotus, Volvo, Aston Martin.

Problem solved:

If Geely is willing to keep propping up Lotus Tech until the TYP 134 (Macan competitor) arrives then the company might be sustainable. The 134 should sell reasonably well, esp in China. The smart strategy would be to also launch a hybrid version.

The real problem is that the Chinese EV tariffs have destroyed Lotus' business case in the US. At the tariff pricepoint they're going to sell f-all Eletres and Emeyas in America. That means the entire US franchise system has to be supported by ~1,500 Emira sales per year. Good luck with that.

Lotus delivered 7,543 vehicles in the first nine months of 2024. Yes, that's a big increase versus last year, but the quarterly deliveries aren't really "ramping up" in 2024. IMO, growth seems to have stalled. Lotus only delivered 2,670 vehicles in Q3, so I really can't see them achieving...

My parents live in Singleton, not far from you. For those West Sussex roads I'd go for the V6 manual every day and twice on Sundays. Unless you're going to spend lots of time on busy motorways or in London traffic then surely the clutch and knee won't be a big drama. Chichester can get a...

Totally agree, but there's no way it will ever happen because it would destroy Lotus financially. There would be over 2,000 pre-June 2023 cars they'd have to recall. Presumably to do it properly they'd need to remove, replace, paint and reinstall every Teijin panel on those cars . . ...

Looks like it. I haven't heard of blistering on the front panels or the hood/bonnet. Suggests there is a manufacturing/storage/handling issue at Teijin rather than a problem with the way Lotus paints them. Also raises doubts about whether a repaint actually solves the underlying problem.

Totally agree. I've found that modern 911s are pretty boring at legal speeds, particularly if they're PDK. Driving the Emira is always an occasion.

The panels are manufactured and coated with conductive primer in Portugal by Teijin Automotive Technologies, a Japanese company. The SMC raw material (sheet molded compound) is made in Teijin's factory in France before being shipped to Portugal. Teijin is providing the doors, rear quarter...

Has anyone with blisters had an "official" explanation from Lotus about the root cause of this problem? There are lots of strongly held views on this forum and the dealers give their own (often incorrect) opinions. But what is Lotus saying is the root cause? For example: 1. Moisture...

Everyone keeps saying this . . . except Lotus.

Every Emira has those small patches. It's like the way Porsche puts PPF on the wheel arches of a 911.

Exactly. Or put differently, only the SE will be available in the United States.

Love your confidence. My Emira has been stalling on cold start every time for the past two weeks. A few days ago (at the advice of a fellow owner) I pumped in a lower octane fuel than normal. The problem has gone. I don't think it's just a coincidence.

I genuinely believe the Emira is one of this era's most beautiful cars. I've had mine for almost 1.5 years and still look back every time I leave it in the garage or a car park. I often can't resist taking a photo too!

That looks terrible. Raises serious questions about their quality control processes. I'd find it hard to trust a shop after they released that work to a customer.

I think it was more of a marketing decision than driven by cost to Lotus. When I visited the factory they commented on how complex Nimbus is to formulate, so I would expect it to be the most expensive if the tiers were based on true cost.

Nothing official yet, but if you were a betting man you'd say that at some point there will be a remapped version of the AMG called the Emira S.

Love how they picked the two most popular FE paints, Magma and Seneca, called them Exclusive and charged a price premium! Now that's marketing.

It's just a concept car. It's intended to give clues about the future direction Lotus design might take and to show off emerging tech that might (possibly) make it into a production car. It's also about branding, trying to position Lotus as cutting edge. Lotus Technology has been transparent...

I agree with some of your points, but this statement is wrong. Emira has been more successful than Lotus ever dreamed. They were taken completely by surprise by the level of demand it generated. Remember, Lotus only sold just over 6,000 Evoras across 14 variants and 11 years of production...