'First Edition' availability

[Quantas66]

I.e was it manual or auto

Manual

 

[Next Decade]

Thats not true I am afraid, I have direct contact with a dealer outside the UK in the EU and you could have ordered a V6 FE car until the second wednesday in April. Not to split hairs, more to the point that I dont think Lotus are 100% as organized as we or they would like ... yet. It also seems its against what the person who started the thread has indicated.....
The only reason I went for a FE car is its, quite simply, the first and quickest car to get your hands on. I could not care less if it has an FE badge on it, in fact I dont even like the badge and as all have said, it doesn't fit well. However, I would rather have the car mid year this year than potentially early to mid year next year, when values will already have dropped... as the quantities are already too high to keep pricing where we would like it....... we will see.
I have a bad feeling the 4 cyl may in the end be the most powerful car, with power possibly getting towards 500 lotus have said, where as the V6 I dont think will get there, BUT it has the manual and thats hard to beat.... although I will have to reserve that judgement until I have tried both.

Roll on July to try the car and actually see the colours in real lifeeeee

I was told I missed the FE by 10 with Gator earlier this year. Was called earlier this week about it and that I should be ready over the next month because I was now 2nd in line.

From what I understand is it’s a combination of people ahead of me being able to let others go and procrastinate FE vs Base. Was told that they might be getting more allocations. Kinda gives me anxiety lol

 

[emiraspain]

I was told I missed the FE by 10 with Gator earlier this year. Was called earlier this week about it and that I should be ready over the next month because I was now 2nd in line.

From what I understand is it’s a combination of people ahead of me being able to let others go and procrastinate FE vs Base. Was told that they might be getting more allocations. Kinda gives me anxiety lol

Yes I think as I said, there is no hard and fast and it even seems to be altering as we go. In reality I would prefer a base model at the lower cost and choose which bits I want to add, however I dont want to wait another year, which is a possibility.....

 

[Next Decade]

Yes I think as I said, there is no hard and fast and it even seems to be altering as we go. In reality I would prefer a base model at the lower cost and choose which bits I want to add, however I dont want to wait another year, which is a possibility.....

With inflation and other potential cost increases, I honestly don’t think you’re going to save that much. Unless you choose absolutely zero options. Even then, it still won’t be all that much.

Shipping costs are going to increase, which will be handed down to you. Manufacturing costs are definitely increasing due to the energy debacle. All signs point to the FE being a good deal… however, if we go into a global recession, that may change the narrative.

I’m still on the fence at this point, seems somewhat of an irresponsible purchase give the uncertainty the global economy is facing.

 

[Lotustoronto]

With inflation and other potential cost increases, I honestly don’t think you’re going to save that much. Unless you choose absolutely zero options. Even then, it still won’t be all that much.

Shipping costs are going to increase, which will be handed down to you. Manufacturing costs are definitely increasing due to the energy debacle. All signs point to the FE being a good deal… however, if we go into a global recession, that may change the narrative.

I’m still on the fence at this point, seems somewhat of an irresponsible purchase give the uncertainty the global economy is facing.

When did you place your original deposit? Based on TomE information, you would receive a F/E allocation anyway if you ordered before end of march. What did your dealer mean you missed your F/E spot by 10? This implies it's limited production and not time. Either way I would take the order. I would imagine this vehicle a year from now will have it's order book filled for the entire production run.

 

[ksegg]

First Editions can be ordered as long as the order is in by the end of March.

I ordered back in November. But my guy said I am still in line for a Base?

 

[EspritGuy]

I ordered back in November. But my guy said I am still in line for a Base?

Their FE allocations may have been assigned.

 

[Next Decade]

When did you place your original deposit? Based on TomE information, you would receive a F/E allocation anyway if you ordered before end of march. What did your dealer mean you missed your F/E spot by 10? This implies it's limited production and not time. Either way I would take the order. I would imagine this vehicle a year from now will have it's order book filled for the entire production run.

OG deposit July 12, 2021 - Gator Motorsports in the US.

They were speaking in regard to their allocation numbers vs my slot for the v6 with them. Said I was 10th in line (for a base) when all of their FEs were accounted for in January (?).

Late April I was told that there’s still a possibility for me to get an FE because my place in line was now at 2…and to be ready for the final deposit and build code.

I have no idea honestly. Was a bit of a shock considering my plan was now to wait and watch others first. It’s been about 3 weeks now so maybe I’ll be #1 for the base option or close.

 

[Lotustoronto]

OG deposit July 12, 2021 - Gator Motorsports in the US.

They were speaking in regard to their allocation numbers vs my slot for the v6 with them. Said I was 10th in line (for a base) when all of their FEs were accounted for in January (?).

Late April I was told that there’s still a possibility for me to get an FE because my place in line was now at 2…and to be ready for the final deposit and build code.

I have no idea honestly. Was a bit of a shock considering my plan was now to wait and watch others first. It’s been about 3 weeks now so maybe I’ll be #1 for the base option or close.

I do feel that many depositors will drop out of an order.

OG deposit July 12, 2021 - Gator Motorsports in the US.

They were speaking in regard to their allocation numbers vs my slot for the v6 with them. Said I was 10th in line (for a base) when all of their FEs were accounted for in January (?).

Late April I was told that there’s still a possibility for me to get an FE because my place in line was now at 2…and to be ready for the final deposit and build code.

I have no idea honestly. Was a bit of a shock considering my plan was now to wait and watch others first. It’s been about 3 weeks now so maybe I’ll be #1 for the base option or close.

I assume they meant 2022 FE deliveries were accounted for. Since you deposited before the march 22 cutoff (assuming this is correct) you would have always been able to get an FE just not a 2022 delivery. I would still go for the F/E - I get the feeling the base plus options will be around 8-10K for the same as an F/E spec. Only thing that would change my mind is if there is a better color option. I also wish that lotus uk had presented a little more clarity on what the F/E was - and held their worldwide dealer network to a uniform standard procedure. Like Tesla.

 

[EspritGuy]

I do feel that many depositors will drop out of an order.

I assume they meant 2022 FE deliveries were accounted for. Since you deposited before the march 22 cutoff (assuming this is correct) you would have always been able to get an FE just not a 2022 delivery. I would still go for the F/E - I get the feeling the base plus options will be around 8-10K for the same as an F/E spec. Only thing that would change my mind is if there is a better color option. I also wish that lotus uk had presented a little more clarity on what the F/E was - and held their worldwide dealer network to a uniform standard procedure. Like Tesla.

I've been under the impression that the only North American FE Emiras were the 700 units allocated among the respective dealers. Those seem to have been accounted for.
If you had an FE allocation there's a chance your build slot schedule pushes manufacturing into 2023.
In short, no more NA FE other than those.
I would love to be mistaken.
(award me an FE).

 

[jmn444]

I've been under the impression that the only North American FE Emiras were the 700 units allocated among the respective dealers. Those seem to have been accounted for.
If you had an FE allocation there's a chance your build slot schedule pushes manufacturing into 2023.
In short, no more NA FE other than those.
I would love to be mistaken.
(award me an FE).

I think the only variable is the I4 FE cars haven't yet been allocated.

 

[Eagle7]

The 700 FE's for North America were the V6 FE's, not the i4 FE's. The 700 are from the first year's production run. The i4 FE's will be from next year's production, but we don't know what the numbers are going to be yet. There's a good chance they'll make more of those than the V6 though, because the V6 FE was based on a first year production of about 5,000 cars, which is what they were expecting to produce running one shift. They've now said they're adding a second shift, so technically that means they can produce about 10,000 cars next year, assuming they can get all the parts needed. Some of that will include base models though, so they won't all be i4 FE's.

We don't know what their order book looks like at this point, or what the U.S. dealers have in their queue, but they've already said orders are booked out into 2024, and this is without the cars being on the streets and the general public finding out about them. Who knows what the numbers are going to be like once all that happens.

 

[Weyland]

Hi all, newbie here. Just jumping in to this thread - I phoned Lotus last week and was told that FE's are available for x time/x number of units (with x not being confirmed). The FE is still available to order (in the UK at least) and when the quota has been met, the option to reserve one will be removed from the website.

I reserved my v6 FE last week and paid the £4k deposit confirming my vehicle.

 

[emiraspain]

Hi all, newbie here. Just jumping in to this thread - I phoned Lotus last week and was told that FE's are available for x time/x number of units (with x not being confirmed). The FE is still available to order (in the UK at least) and when the quota has been met, the option to reserve one will be removed from the website.

I reserved my v6 FE last week and paid the £4k deposit confirming my vehicle.

Yes the UK keeps accepting FE orders..... we or at least I have no idea until what point, maybe until the Base edition's release. At the end of the day, I think they feel they make more profit "forcing" us into having every extra available, more or less, and charging about 15k over the base price for these extras, so while we are still willing to pay it, they will presumably keep going until orders really drop off and until they get into the swing of making them and see that can actually hit their target numbers with 1/2 shifts etc. At that point, no more FE's.
to put some perspective on Lotus's numbers, which seem to be looking great, if we think they are really starting from zero, especially in the US, as the Evora really never sold that well there, awfully in fact ..
Porsche 718 sales have varied between 3,500 to 5,200 a year in the US alone (according to one source), worldwide including their home market and the UK etc, you can assume they get to at least double if not tripple those numbers as the US is not a good market for the 718.
So if Lotus got anywhere near 10,000 sales a year and actually made them, I think they would be amazed and delighted at the same time, and so would I. However, I have my doubts, especially in the EU and china, with taxes killing sports car sales, even the AMG motor contaminates quite a bit and they don't have electric car sales to off set any of this and even if they did, it doesnt change the registration costs which are 10 to 20 times what we would pay in the UK or Germany.
Depending on profit margins, they may throttle how many they make in the end, or simply raise prices of course, thats the best throttler there is and after all, you have to make hey hay heigh while the sun shines.
It would be an absolutely amazing come back and all this from a car which gets beaten around the track by cars almost half the price, but twice as ugly..... Corola GR springs to mind

 

[SJR202]

Yes the UK keeps accepting FE orders..... we or at least I have no idea until what point, maybe until the Base edition's release. At the end of the day, I think they feel they make more profit "forcing" us into having every extra available, more or less, and charging about 15k over the base price for these extras, so while we are still willing to pay it, they will presumably keep going until orders really drop off and until they get into the swing of making them and see that can actually hit their target numbers with 1/2 shifts etc. At that point, no more FE's.
to put some perspective on Lotus's numbers, which seem to be looking great, if we think they are really starting from zero, especially in the US, as the Evora really never sold that well there, awfully in fact ..
Porsche 718 sales have varied between 3,500 to 5,200 a year in the US alone (according to one source), worldwide including their home market and the UK etc, you can assume they get to at least double if not tripple those numbers as the US is not a good market for the 718.
So if Lotus got anywhere near 10,000 sales a year and actually made them, I think they would be amazed and delighted at the same time, and so would I. However, I have my doubts, especially in the EU and china, with taxes killing sports car sales, even the AMG motor contaminates quite a bit and they don't have electric car sales to off set any of this and even if they did, it doesnt change the registration costs which are 10 to 20 times what we would pay in the UK or Germany.
Depending on profit margins, they may throttle how many they make in the end, or simply raise prices of course, thats the best throttler there is and after all, you have to make hey hay heigh while the sun shines.
It would be an absolutely amazing come back and all this from a car which gets beaten around the track by cars almost half the price, but twice as ugly..... Corola GR springs to mind

For Lotus as long as the spec of the car is the same (bar the colour choices) then prod costs are lower and e2e simplified making a quicker build time, lower overheads and ultimately a better margin for what is early days. Once the base + option variations come in then the 1 car per 17 mins ( I think the tour said) all stations need to be very slick with no snags.
With various local and global external factors my gut is they'll keep FE going as long as they can (known costs etc) and also people will start cancelling orders for various reasons.

 

[Jon_N]

Hi all, newbie here. Just jumping in to this thread - I phoned Lotus last week and was told that FE's are available for x time/x number of units (with x not being confirmed). The FE is still available to order (in the UK at least) and when the quota has been met, the option to reserve one will be removed from the website.

I reserved my v6 FE last week and paid the £4k deposit confirming my vehicle.

Thanks for the update - makes sense for them to keep production as simple as possible by maintaining the FE specs.

I’m still in two minds as to whether I’ll take the car, but will keep my deposit in the mix for now & get feedback from early adopters.

 

[mjw930]

Yes the UK keeps accepting FE orders..... we or at least I have no idea until what point, maybe until the Base edition's release. At the end of the day, I think they feel they make more profit "forcing" us into having every extra available, more or less, and charging about 15k over the base price for these extras, so while we are still willing to pay it, they will presumably keep going until orders really drop off and until they get into the swing of making them and see that can actually hit their target numbers with 1/2 shifts etc. At that point, no more FE's.
to put some perspective on Lotus's numbers, which seem to be looking great, if we think they are really starting from zero, especially in the US, as the Evora really never sold that well there, awfully in fact ..
Porsche 718 sales have varied between 3,500 to 5,200 a year in the US alone (according to one source), worldwide including their home market and the UK etc, you can assume they get to at least double if not tripple those numbers as the US is not a good market for the 718.
So if Lotus got anywhere near 10,000 sales a year and actually made them, I think they would be amazed and delighted at the same time, and so would I. However, I have my doubts, especially in the EU and china, with taxes killing sports car sales, even the AMG motor contaminates quite a bit and they don't have electric car sales to off set any of this and even if they did, it doesnt change the registration costs which are 10 to 20 times what we would pay in the UK or Germany.
Depending on profit margins, they may throttle how many they make in the end, or simply raise prices of course, thats the best throttler there is and after all, you have to make hey hay heigh while the sun shines.
It would be an absolutely amazing come back and all this from a car which gets beaten around the track by cars almost half the price, but twice as ugly..... Corola GR springs to mind

It makes me wonder why they don’t simply reallocate based on demand globally and fulfill all current reservations with FE’s? In North America, based on my sampling of 6 dealerships, they have taken ~3 times the reservations vs. the 700 FE allocation, or ~2100 deposits. Lock in all existing deposits as of today and they don’t have to worry about production deviations for what is the bulk of their projected 2023 model year.

 

[TomE]

I suspect there are model year and legislation timing factors at play in this.

Plus possibly if they can make more V6 FE margin in the UK they may be prioritising by country.

 

[mjw930]

One would think they had a target uptake model before they even announced and updated it when they saw remarkable interest but from the outside looking in it appears they overshot their mark in the home market else they wouldn’t still be taking FE reservations.

 

[jimbobc]

I asked could I moved to base after ordering i4 FE I.E. when base prices announced

Good afternoon James,



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If you switch to base edition you will join the current queue. Deposits are not yet open so the base edition queue will consists of existing deposit holders who have requested a switch. As such you will join this queue relevant to your deposit date. Once deposits do open however you will likely join the queue dependent on when you requested switching in the interest of fairness to new depositors.