Emira in Los Angeles!

[CanadianEmira]

The lack of communication and changes in spec are not unusual for a pre-production prototype where it always says "specifications and features subject to change without notice."

This is how I look at is as well. This is a brand new model car. They announced it far ahead of production. When other car companies do this, even well established ones, we don't have cars in every single colour travelling around to every single dealership so that every potential customer could see them all before making a deposit. No, we often get less information, at best pictures on the internet, and are asked to make a deposit to hold a spot from there. Tesla is a perfect example of this.

Honestly, I absolutely do understand the frustration with communications from Lotus. I think they could be doing a better job at keeping deposit holders apprised of their progress. But I don't understand the frustration over not having all the information perfectly available to everyone at this time. We're in a pre-production phase of a brand new model from a small, niche manufacturer. With that in mind, combined with the recognition that we are in the midst of a global pandemic with unprecedented supply-chain issues, I really can't fault Lotus too much.

 

[CanadianEmira]

There are five types of adopters for new products. If you put a deposit down on a FE you are an innovator or at worst you are an early adopter. Not trying to lecture anyone but there is always a risk to being an early consumer of any product. If you want something first there is risk. For me, bonded aluminum chassis not new, Toyota V6 not new, AMG I4 not new is good enough. I am actually savoring the wait for the car. Being on this forum, being a car enthusiast, and waiting for the Emira is very cool IMO.

Hell yes. This is the attitude. There's a bit of adventure in getting some brand new like this: some risk and unknowns. But that's kind of why we all like this car, right? It's not a Porsche. It's not a Corvette. It's something different, more rare, something that stands out in a crowd. This period of uncertainty is all part of that journey.

 

[TomE]

I agree with a lot of what's been said, both the frustration with communications and the explanations about why Lotus is facing a number of challenges.

It's great to have the opportunity to participate in this pre-production phase, see prototypes and hear more about the car. The number of people engaging with this is far higher than expected and much higher than previous Lotus launches: they had more deposits after two days of Goodwood than the entire previous year's production for all markets worldwide. Total deposits are 5-10 times what was expected.

It was a bold and interesting strategy to take a pre-production car on tour, to show it to lots of people well before production cars are available. That's enthused a lot of people, generated an order book way bigger than expected but also created expectations and questions that aren't being met. I think we do need to bear in mind it's unusual for such a large number of people to be involved at this phase for this type of car, and particularly for Lotus. I had deposit #12 on a launch Evora before it was in production and a few groups of us were invited to the factory to meet the team - the numbers for Emira would make that a huge logistical challenge now and the roadshows are a very good alternative and give more worldwide coverage.

The supply chain issues are very real and Lotus must be working very hard behind the scenes to get the components into the factory. Here's an article giving some perspective on what is affecting them:

Good Luck Trying to Fix the Supply Chain Crisis

The system of getting things from A to B is broken. Fixing it will involve rethinking how pretty much everything moves.

www.wired.co.uk

 

[Mike-engel]

I agree with a lot of what's been said, both the frustration with communications and the explanations about why Lotus is facing a number of challenges.

It's great to have the opportunity to participate in this pre-production phase, see prototypes and hear more about the car. The number of people engaging with this is far higher than expected and much higher than previous Lotus launches: they had more deposits after two days of Goodwood than the entire previous year's production for all markets worldwide. Total deposits are 5-10 times what was expected.

It was a bold and interesting strategy to take a pre-production car on tour, to show it to lots of people well before production cars are available. That's enthused a lot of people, generated an order book way bigger than expected but also created expectations and questions that aren't being met. I think we do need to bear in mind it's unusual for such a large number of people to be involved at this phase for this type of car, and particularly for Lotus. I had deposit #12 on a launch Evora before it was in production and a few groups of us were invited to the factory to meet the team - the numbers for Emira would make that a huge logistical challenge now and the roadshows are a very good alternative and give more worldwide coverage.

The supply chain issues are very real and Lotus must be working very hard behind the scenes to get the components into the factory. Here's an article giving some perspective on what is affecting them:

Good Luck Trying to Fix the Supply Chain Crisis

The system of getting things from A to B is broken. Fixing it will involve rethinking how pretty much everything moves.

www.wired.co.uk

@TomE, you are a really level headed man and perhaps could leverage those skills in the political realm too. Lord knows we have tremendous polarization there, and very few leaders representing the “silent majority” anymore. I was a middle kid, and generally occupy that space as well. In my job I have to reconcile a seemingly limitless number of diverse points of view and competing interests. No group of people will ever completely share the same priorities or agree on the path to fulfilling them. There is always a balance to be achieved and maintained. I’ve learned through the years, as I suspect many of us have, that when properly leveraged, the tensions between opposing forces maintaining that balance are not just good, but necessary to achieve the optimal outcome for everyone. I’ve also learned that my internal conflicts, when they happen, may reflect my own need for balance that helps keep me in my own emotional middle ground between opposing extremes of emotion. It’s possible for a person to hold two opposing views in their head at once, so criticism from some about being expressing negative opinions about elements of the experience and suggesting one just move on if they can’t handle things as they are is not only unhelpful but also just invites acceptance of a less than optimal status quo.

In this case, I’m super excited about this car, and super excited to see that lotus has hit the home run they needed to be a viable brand in the future. It’s awesome! Perhaps that’s why I’m equally frustrated and disappointed by my customer experience so far. Short of Tammy McKenzie, who has been very responsive when I’ve reached out, communication has been essentially non-existent. I am always the one reaching out to the company or my dealer, and often it’s to get additional information about just one more unmet expectation. I don’t criticize out of some fear of risk in being an early adopter….heck, at one point I was the proud owner of an Apple Newton for which I paid top dollar 🙂. It’s about feeling ignored. Unlike my UK friends, I can’t even get in to see the prototype of the car I’m so excited about. It’s not an option for me here in the US as near as I’ve been able to tell. One apparently can see the car at events held by specific dealers if their deposit was placed there. And my dealer is not on the tour list. I get it…it’s because individual dealers are taking care of their customers specifically. But where is Lotus in all of this? Addressing this problem or many of the others has nothing to do with being overwhelmed by deposits or supply chain issues. Communications can take place between Lotus reps and one person or thousands with equal facility. They need to find ways to be proactive rather than reactive. It’s not easy to maintain enthusiasm for the car when you feel ignored by those in control of the buyer experience. Then there’s the more practical unmet expectations. Limited color choices, no ADAS, production push backs without any communication from Lotus or my dealer, a paucity of information about the features, costs and timing/availability of the different iterations of the car so one can make informed decisions. And when information comes available it almost exclusively comes from this forum, unconfirmed by Lotus so one can’t know the official position of the company. I’m at a place in my life when I can finally splurge on a dream car, and right when that happens Emira comes along. It was almost prophetic. The roll out actually happened on my first child’s birthday for goodness sake. I wonder if Lotus understands and appreciates the significance of these milestones in the lives of their customers? They are not just fulfilling orders, they are fulfilling dreams. So far, for whatever the excuses might be, they don’t act like they care about their customer, and that hurts when there are so many emotions wrapped up in reaching this milestone.

 

[Tonyshepp]

@TomE, you are a really level headed man and perhaps could leverage those skills in the political realm too. Lord knows we have tremendous polarization there, and very few leaders representing the “silent majority” anymore. I was a middle kid, and generally occupy that space as well. In my job I have to reconcile a seemingly limitless number of diverse points of view and competing interests. No group of people will ever completely share the same priorities or agree on the path to fulfilling them. There is always a balance to be achieved and maintained. I’ve learned through the years, as I suspect many of us have, that when properly leveraged, the tensions between opposing forces maintaining that balance are not just good, but necessary to achieve the optimal outcome for everyone. I’ve also learned that my internal conflicts, when they happen, may reflect my own need for balance that helps keep me in my own emotional middle ground between opposing extremes of emotion. It’s possible for a person to hold two opposing views in their head at once, so criticism from some about being expressing negative opinions about elements of the experience and suggesting one just move on if they can’t handle things as they are is not only unhelpful but also just invites acceptance of a less than optimal status quo.

In this case, I’m super excited about this car, and super excited to see that lotus has hit the home run they needed to be a viable brand in the future. It’s awesome! Perhaps that’s why I’m equally frustrated and disappointed by my customer experience so far. Short of Tammy McKenzie, who has been very responsive when I’ve reached out, communication has been essentially non-existent. I am always the one reaching out to the company or my dealer, and often it’s to get additional information about just one more unmet expectation. I don’t criticize out of some fear of risk in being an early adopter….heck, at one point I was the proud owner of an Apple Newton for which I paid top dollar 🙂. It’s about feeling ignored. Unlike my UK friends, I can’t even get in to see the prototype of the car I’m so excited about. It’s not an option for me here in the US as near as I’ve been able to tell. One apparently can see the car at events held by specific dealers if their deposit was placed there. And my dealer is not on the tour list. I get it…it’s because individual dealers are taking care of their customers specifically. But where is Lotus in all of this? Addressing this problem or many of the others has nothing to do with being overwhelmed by deposits or supply chain issues. Communications can take place between Lotus reps and one person or thousands with equal facility. They need to find ways to be proactive rather than reactive. It’s not easy to maintain enthusiasm for the car when you feel ignored by those in control of the buyer experience. Then there’s the more practical unmet expectations. Limited color choices, no ADAS, production push backs without any communication from Lotus or my dealer, a paucity of information about the features, costs and timing/availability of the different iterations of the car so one can make informed decisions. And when information comes available it almost exclusively comes from this forum, unconfirmed by Lotus so one can’t know the official position of the company. I’m at a place in my life when I can finally splurge on a dream car, and right when that happens Emira comes along. It was almost prophetic. The roll out actually happened on my first child’s birthday for goodness sake. I wonder if Lotus understands and appreciates the significance of these milestones in the lives of their customers? They are not just fulfilling orders, they are fulfilling dreams. So far, for whatever the excuses might be, they don’t act like they care about their customer, and that hurts when there are so many emotions wrapped up in reaching this milestone.

Perhaps it’s a middle age dream 😜

 

[Eagle7]

Being a centrist myself, I've learned over the years that the only way to see both sides of an issue, is if you're standing in the middle between them. I get how emotional it can be for one side or the other. I understand the frustration of not getting what we want when we want. I also understand the frustration of trying to get things done, and having just one freaking thing after the other happen that makes it seem like I'm either cursed, or it's deliberate.

Hypothetical examples:

From the customer's side:
You've announced how your paint system can paint multiple colors at once. How hard is it to take a day, load the other 4 FE colors into the paint system, and paint body shells in them so we can see what they're going to look like? We've given plenty of feedback that the disks and planforms are not enough. You're asking us to commit to 6-figure purchases here; help us to do that!

Your seat supplier is going to supply you with thousands of seats. Can't they do just ONE seat each in the other two colors? Tan and Ice? They have to have at least done test samples that you had to look at and approve of.

SOMEBODY has to have forged wheels without a tire on it there. Can they PLEASE weigh the things and tell us what the front and rear wheels weigh? They don't have a scale there? Do they have one in shipping?

.....

From their side:
We've already announced ADAS is going to be included. You said you'd be able to supply those sensors, and now you're saying you can't?? Why? What's going on? When can you?

We had how many call-outs today because of why??

Where's the shipment that was supposed to arrive today? It's stuck where? How long before it gets unstuck? The person we need to talk to is on vacation right now? Who else can we talk to?


It would be good if Lotus had a communications ambassador who interacts with the public. Things can't be easy right now, but I agree they need some kind of communication methodology.

The one thing that's CLEARLY evident is Lotus was simply not prepared for the tidal wave of response that's happening now. I can either try and see things from their point of view, or take the customer's point of view of "you're a business and it's your job, get it done", or be patient and assume positive intent, and give them some time to get it together. They care, but if they're getting thousands of phone calls or emails, how many can they process in a day?. In the U.K. it looks like Lotus sells directly to the customer, not through a dealer, so they're having to handle every single deposit and inquiry themselves. Then there's the flood of inquiries coming in from all over the world.

Even though I'm a customer, I can feel for both sides. Sometimes it's difficult to stand in the middle, but that's life, and especially in the world we're living in at the moment. I know that doesn't make it any easier, but hopefully we'll get more information soon.