'First Edition' availability

[Tonyshepp]

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

Good afternoon James,



Thank you for your email.



I tried to call but was unable to get through.



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.

So you join the queue depending on the date when you switched rather than your initial deposit date

 

[Weyland]

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

Good afternoon James,



Thank you for your email.



I tried to call but was unable to get through.



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.

I was initially going to wait and order base spec, but when I compared specs there would be at least a couple of things I'd want to add on - I think the base price may creep up due to inflation and other forces and with options it wouldn't be far off 1st ed price. As such I put a deposit on an FE last week.

Makes sense what they have said about moving deposits IMHO.

 

[emiraspain]

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.

thats an amazing interest, if it were true.... If I were you I would buy 2

 

[TomE]

So you join the queue depending on the date when you switched rather than your initial deposit date

I think what they mean is if you switch now while base deposits aren’t open then it’s based on original deposit date. But if you switch after deposits open then you go after people who placed a new base deposit before you decided to switch. That seems reasonable.

 

[Ltth_63]

To who it may concern, i ordered my FE a few weeks back at my swiss Lotus dealer.
It was one of the last allocations they had left for the swiss market.
FE V6 Orders will close afterwards. Afterwards you only can order Base V6.
Delivery will be approximately august/September 22

 

[Bilbao-Emira]

To who it may concern, i ordered my FE a few weeks back at my swiss Lotus dealer.
It was one of the last allocations they had left for the swiss market.
FE V6 Orders will close afterwards. Afterwards you only can order Base V6.
Delivery will be approximately august/September 22

Congrats!

You're lucky up there.
I ordered in Spain one year ago, and last build schedule info is September 22 here, expected delivery Sept/Oct which seems to me consistent with Continental Europe deliveries starting 1/2 months after UK, at least that was Lotus plan when they launched the car and throughout 2021. Things must have changed

Same info here about no more FE V6 after this year allocation, but who knows

 

[Ltth_63]

Congrats!

You're lucky up there.
I ordered in Spain one year ago, and last build schedule info is September 22 here, expected delivery Sept/Oct which seems to me consistent with Continental Europe deliveries starting 1/2 months after UK, at least that was Lotus plan when they launched the car and throughout 2021. Things must have changed

Same info here about no more FE V6 after this year allocation, but who knows

To be totally honest i dont think that delivery in august is realistic since my dealer gets the first demo car in July.
I guess the delivery date will be scheduled approximately at the start of Q4.
But we will see. 😊

 

[Weyland]

To who it may concern, i ordered my FE a few weeks back at my swiss Lotus dealer.
It was one of the last allocations they had left for the swiss market.
FE V6 Orders will close afterwards. Afterwards you only can order Base V6.
Delivery will be approximately august/September 22

Congrats on your order, but are you sure they don't mean Aug/Sept 2023?!

 

[Ltth_63]

Congrats on your order, but are you sure they don't mean Aug/Sept 2023?!

Thank you !!
delivery is confirmed to be in Q4 22 if not in august or September.At least thats what the dealer told me.

 

[Mike-engel]

Fair warning….my post turned into a rant.

So I’m confused. Are they still taking FE deposits just for UK buyers or is the FE possibility still open for all depositors? As some of you may know, I put my deposit in on July 25, 2021 and missed the FE allocation at my dealer (they were allocated 15 cars and I’m 31 on their list), which is all they will get from the 700 cars initially allocated to the US as FEs. I’ve not received a single unsolicited communication from Lotus (other than the occasional mass email, which typically have had no useful info) or my dealer in nearly a year now. And recently I hear that a new dealership in Charlotte opens with fresh allocations an a person placing their deposit there this month gets a FE slot. Great for him 😃, but honestly, for many of us who placed early deposits, this sucks. Can someone please clear up for me what is going on for US deposit holders?

This has been said countless times by countless forum members, but this situation is beyond frustrating. It takes one email from lotus corporate to their US dealers compelling them to communicate directly with each deposit holder their status or risk no further allocations. I know that is a risk, since the US is a big market and they need dealers. But the dealers need them too. Lotus have power and leverage they could use to make this better for their customers. I truly don’t mind waiting for the car I want, particularly given the difficulties in the world, but I do want to feel like I’m being treated fairly and respectfully while I wait. I don’t feel that way now, and this experience is likely to infect my comments to future buyers when they ask about my experience. This will be my first Lotus car. So, job done on designing a car that brings in loads of new buyers. But Lotus and their downstream operation are sabotaging their own success. I wish I had a way to communicate with their managing director personally. After congratulating him and his team for producing what appears to be a wonderful car, Id give him an earful. But since he certainly already knows about the frustration of many over here in the US, anything I might say would likely have no impact. They just don’t seem to care.

 

[TomE]

They appear to be taking deposits still for UK FEs, but not anywhere else. We believe the North America FE allocation is for 2022 only, and there will be no 2023 NA FEs - this has been said by dealers but as far as I'm aware has never been confirmed officially in a published Lotus statement.

If you want to express your concerns to people who might listen, I suggest contacting Lotus Cars USA or Tammy McKenzie at Hethel, who is the Emira Customer Relationship Manager for the US. As you know, attempts by me and various others to get Lotus HQ to improve comms and the customer experience have resulted in talk but no action.

 

[xen]

As I understand it allocations vary per region. A few weeks back you could still get a first edition in Dubai with delivery later this year.

Previous cars probably didn’t sell well stateside and that informed a lower allocation total for the region.

With regards communication, at this point I believe it’s intentional.

 

[Mike-engel]

They appear to be taking deposits still for UK FEs, but not anywhere else. We believe the North America FE allocation is for 2022 only, and there will be no 2023 NA FEs - this has been said by dealers but as far as I'm aware has never been confirmed officially in a published Lotus statement.

If you want to express your concerns to people who might listen, I suggest contacting Lotus Cars USA or Tammy McKenzie at Hethel, who is the Emira Customer Relationship Manager for the US. As you know, attempts by me and various others to get Lotus HQ to improve comms and the customer experience have resulted in talk but no action.

Thanks, Tom. Yes, I’ve communicated with Tammy through lotus cars USA in the past to get answers to questions, and she is very responsive and helpful. I actually thought she was in the US. My beef is that she is largely a dead end when it comes to information. I don’t see her as a conduit to the leadership. If she is, then that’s actually worse because it validates that much further that leadership doesn’t feel accountable to the customer. The car is going to have to be pretty incredible to overcome such dreadful communication. Honestly, Tom, if you can’t change their behavior, the rest of us have no hope. Thanks greatly for the reply.

 

[mjw930]

They appear to be taking deposits still for UK FEs, but not anywhere else. We believe the North America FE allocation is for 2022 only, and there will be no 2023 NA FEs - this has been said by dealers but as far as I'm aware has never been confirmed officially in a published Lotus statement.

So, how exactly does that work when in the US the FE configurator shows I4’s for delivery Winter 23/24? They are going to take someone’s official, binding order more than a year prior to production?

 

[TomE]

No, but they can take a non-refundable deposit now and there’s a 60-65 week lead time before production. Configuration has to be locked 6 months before build.

 

[Mike-engel]

As I understand it allocations vary per region. A few weeks back you could still get a first edition in Dubai with delivery later this year.

Previous cars probably didn’t sell well stateside and that informed a lower allocation total for the region.

With regards communication, at this point I believe it’s intentional.

Thanks xen. The FE thing I could learn to live with if the circumstances felt fair. It’s hard to swallow that someone could put a deposit down a few weeks ago at a dealership in the USA about 100 miles from where I put my deposit down a year ago and they get a FE but I don’t. That sticks in my craw. Fairness matters to me, and that seems unfair. Again, happy for the other guy, but pretty deflated for me and others.

The dent in my enthusiasm is one of the reasons I’ve been absent from the forum for a while. It had felt like I joined this great community with this magnificent car at the center of it all, and a cool group of folks unified by excitement about the car. But the way lotus has taken us for granted makes it hard to maintain that enthusiasm. At least for me. I want to be excited about this new relationship with lotus but they are giving me little reason to be. Excited by the car? Sure. But buying a particular car is about more than just the car itself. It’s about the community, with the manufacturer at the center of it all. Lotus is not acting like they want to occupy that center. They are acting like they are selling a commodity item….just like so many other car companies. Maybe that’s what happens when you transition from being a boutique manufacturer to a global one. You may sacrifice elements of your identity to compete with the big boys. For me that feels disappointing. There are lots of great cars out there. I am looking for something more. Whether lotus can deliver more than a car remains an unanswered question for me.

 

[TXEMIRA]

Thanks xen. The FE thing I could learn to live with if the circumstances felt fair. It’s hard to swallow that someone could put a deposit down a few weeks ago at a dealership in the USA about 100 miles from where I put my deposit down a year ago and they get a FE but I don’t. That sticks in my craw. Fairness matters to me, and that seems unfair. Again, happy for the other guy, but pretty deflated for me and others.

The dent in my enthusiasm is one of the reasons I’ve been absent from the forum for a while. It had felt like I joined this great community with this magnificent car at the center of it all, and a cool group of folks unified by excitement about the car. But the way lotus has taken us for granted makes it hard to maintain that enthusiasm. At least for me. I want to be excited about this new relationship with lotus but they are giving me little reason to be. Excited by the car? Sure. But buying a particular car is about more than just the car itself. It’s about the community, with the manufacturer at the center of it all. Lotus is not acting like they want to occupy that center. They are acting like they are selling a commodity item….just like so many other car companies. Maybe that’s what happens when you transition from being a boutique manufacturer to a global one. You may sacrifice elements of your identity to compete with the big boys. For me that feels disappointing. There are lots of great cars out there. I am looking for something more. Whether lotus can deliver more than a car remains an unanswered question for me.

I feel you on not knowing exactly how “the line” works. Been saying that now for almost a year.

#ForTheLine411

 

[mjw930]

No, but they can take a non-refundable deposit now and there’s a 60-65 week lead time before production. Configuration has to be locked 6 months before build.

Sure, they can try. What’s happening here in the states are people will have base model V6’s months before early depositors will have FE i4’s. It’s also unclear whether the 700 North American FE’s are V6 only but that’s my impression.

It’s just odd that they haven’t closed the books on FE’s globally.

 

[NicolasB]

Thanks xen. The FE thing I could learn to live with if the circumstances felt fair. It’s hard to swallow that someone could put a deposit down a few weeks ago at a dealership in the USA about 100 miles from where I put my deposit down a year ago and they get a FE but I don’t. That sticks in my craw. Fairness matters to me, and that seems unfair. Again, happy for the other guy, but pretty deflated for me and others.

The dent in my enthusiasm is one of the reasons I’ve been absent from the forum for a while. It had felt like I joined this great community with this magnificent car at the center of it all, and a cool group of folks unified by excitement about the car. But the way lotus has taken us for granted makes it hard to maintain that enthusiasm. At least for me. I want to be excited about this new relationship with lotus but they are giving me little reason to be. Excited by the car? Sure. But buying a particular car is about more than just the car itself. It’s about the community, with the manufacturer at the center of it all. Lotus is not acting like they want to occupy that center. They are acting like they are selling a commodity item….just like so many other car companies. Maybe that’s what happens when you transition from being a boutique manufacturer to a global one. You may sacrifice elements of your identity to compete with the big boys. For me that feels disappointing. There are lots of great cars out there. I am looking for something more. Whether lotus can deliver more than a car remains an unanswered question for me.

If you wanted dark verdant you can take my spot. Seems shitty what they did to you. It's in NY state.

 

[Mike-engel]

If you wanted dark verdant you can take my spot. Seems shitty what they did to you. It's in NY state.

That’s a very generous offer! But I’m either magma/tan or nimbus/red, either with silver forged wheels. If there’s one positive in all this it’s that I’ve not yet been forced to reconcile this duality. No communication also means no forced decision making 😜.