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You've been ridiculously patient. I'd hire a lawyer, perhaps then Lotus will do something.

I thought it was this originally, because we know many panels sat outside when the factory was struggling to obtain parts. But it has been more than three years of manufacturing now, and Teijin Automotive are not idiots. If the problem was being caused by transport, they would wrap the doors...

We got shafted. I believe even the local distributor was caught by surprise when cars arrived without DAB or navigation.

Yes, suspect pretty significant selection bias. The poll says 32%, but reality across all cars sold will be much lower.

Unbelievable. And extraordinary that Matt Windle or another senior Lotus executive hasn't got personally involved and said, "we're going to sort this out for you."

Probably service bulletins (TSBs) rather than fully-fledged recalls. Emira seems to have four of them: The Emira had two formal safety recalls in the UK back in 2023. I suspect these pre-date any cars being exported to the USA.

Nope. Teijin only provided the doors, rear quarter panels, and the inner, outer and lower shells of the tailgate.

Depressing to get three years in, assume you're safe, and then have it show up.

When you wash an Emira, water builds up inside the closed doors, especially when parked on a slope. After I'm finished with the hose, I always open the doors and watch a waterfall come flooding out of the drain holes. Presumably, the same thing happens when cars sit out in the pouring rain—...

I'm not normally a "black car guy", but that looks awesome!

You want the panel replaced by Lotus under warranty, not just sanded back and repainted. If the composite is defective, then it will probably just happen again.

Costly, yes, but probably not never-ending. It seems likely that there are specific batches of panels produced by Teijin Automotive that have defective composite. So once you get rid of a defective set of doors (for example) there's no reason to assume the problem will return. There are many...

Hear! Hear! 🍻🍻

Yup. Maybe it's because Matt came up through the engineering ranks, but he just doesn't seem interested in customers. You'd like to think that the MD of a small sports car specialist like Lotus Cars would be hanging out with customers at drive days, attending Goodwood, chatting with...

Totally agree, but my point is that none of that is the reason why Lotus may close Hethel and relocate to the US. Yes, Lotus Cars under Windle has done a lousy job with Emira customer service, quality control, etc. No debate. But at the end of the day, the Emira has sold reasonably well. The...

Geely yes, Matt W not really. Matt, Lotus Cars, and the Emira are just a side show for Lotus Technology. Emira has sold pretty well and originally it was only supposed to be on sale for ~4 years before being replaced by the all-electric TYP135. The disaster is all about Geely's bad...

It's a Geely factory. Lotus just has a contract manufacturing arrangement with Geely . . . I'm sure they can reallocate the manufacturing capacity to another brand. My bet is that Hethel continues to make the Emira (at least for a few more years), but the EVs end up being built in a shared...

I think both things can be true. EVs were already struggling to sell in most markets because the infrastructure isn't ready, they're too expensive, resale values suck, and so on . . . but also, the introduction of US tariffs is negatively impacting car manufacturers, especially Chinese car...

Nope. That's not what the CEO said in the investor call earlier this week. This is the product pipeline he presented. You can see that the "new model" TYP 134 is set to debut later this year and go on sale in Q1 2026. He described it as a "world first hyper performance PHEV".

It almost looks like someone has taped off sections of the car for a respray, and then the tape has lifted paint off when it was removed!

Absolutely. They need a solution to the US tariff problem before they launch the TYP 134 later this year. They have to position that vehicle for success, or Lotus really will be finished.

This is the first time I've seen this type of paint issue on an Emira. From the photos, it could be paint damage rather than a manufacturing fault? I wonder if some apprentice at the dealership had a crack at it with a buffing wheel? You can really f*ck up the paint if you don't know what...

We tend to focus on the Emira (this is an Emira forum!). But Hethel and the Emira are really just a distraction in this situation. The Chinese leadership (effectively Geely) have burned over a billion dollars because of a combination of poor strategy and bad luck: 1. They bet that the world...

Nah. They said on the investor call that Lotus is in the early stages of examining some form of US production to be shared by multiple Geely brands. The US tariffs are a serious problem for all the Geely brands that currently manufacture in China and want to sell in America . . . Volvo...

Wow. This AI summary is bloody impressive. Which LLM did you use?

Look at this stunner!

Q1 was pretty dismal, as expected. Only 555 Emiras delivered and 1,274 total vehicles. Q2 will presumably be as bad or worse due to the suspension of US deliveries. At least they are mostly finished with de-stocking, so perhaps UK used Emira values will improve. On the investment call it...