How many deposits = shady?

[~el~jefe~]

I know there is a deposits thread. It is also 14 pages long.

This is a concept question that could go there, but i think has merit to be asked individually. Also, no one searching for information will find this answer in a 14 page thread, and I think it is really important.

How many deposits should a dealer take before they should admit they are not giving a car to almost anyone on their list?

New Jersey Lotus people told me they have over 100 deposits, and some have dropped out. I asked them about the 2023 model, they said, No, we are talking about the 2022, the First Editions. I asked, "Um, you know those were taken up months ago, no one putting a deposit in november+ is seeing one of those right? you know that right? " well, they refused to acknowledge that and got medium huffy about it. I asked if these are going to the 2023, and I really am just wanting a 2023 one, not a 2024 one. I dont care about the FE 2022 ones, i know those are gone forever by now. He told me to put the deposit in and still claimed i have some random shot at a 2022 FE.

Eh. will he even get 110 cars in the next 4 years of this run of Emiras?

Also, claiming to have NO idea about how anything goes at all, not even a ballpark with a 25 car error i asked, I asked will you expect to get 10 cars or maybe 100 cars? Just no info. NOw i know there is little info from Lotus, I can see that in reading hundreds of entries on this forum. But, just taking every deposit possible into the 200's even at one dealership just seems a bit off.

no?

 

[Eagle7]

I don't believe the dealers have received their allocation numbers yet, but should by the end of the month. Also, this first production run of Emiras are for FE V6's ONLY, so if anybody has placed a deposit for anything other than that, those who have placed a deposit for an FE V6 will be in the top group on the list, regardless of when they placed their deposit. According to Lotus, they haven't placed a cap on how many FE's they're going to produce, but they have stated that the order cutoff is the end of March. They've said as long as you place your order for a FE V6 by the end of March, you'll get one.

I don't know how that's going to work for dealer allocations or delivery times, but we're supposed to find that out by the end of the month too.

 

[VL3X]

If it makes you feel any better, I'm an early deposit holder at NJ and haven't heard a word since... Except the MS Paint invite to their roadshow event (which I attended). Also doesn't help that Lyna quit. So here we are... I expect them to get 2-5 allocations a month with the first deliveries on November (best case scenario).

I'd honestly rather just take a March '23 delivery at this point, rather than paying ~$1k/mo car payment to have it sit in my garage all winter. Meanwhile base Editions begin production with all the cool colors and features we actually want.

 

[~el~jefe~]

If it makes you feel any better, I'm an early deposit holder at NJ and haven't heard a word since... Except the MS Paint invite to their roadshow event (which I attended). Also doesn't help that Lyna quit. So here we are... I expect them to get 2-5 allocations a month with the first deliveries on November (best case scenario).

I'd honestly rather just take a March '23 delivery at this point, rather than paying ~$1k/mo car payment to have it sit in my garage all winter. Meanwhile base Editions begin production with all the cool colors and features we actually want.

I am confused. Like a lot. 2-5 allocations per month puts people in 2025 for cars for the list they have. I am not buying a Van Gogh, I am buying a car to buzz around in and go on dates and weekend trips. I want to do that before I am old and crappy.

There is the Long island Lotus place, and this New Jersey place. I do not know of any other place with them. It seems that the statements of their being continued ordering through March 2022 for an FE v6 and that "we do not know allocations" to be completely and utterly incompatible statements. If i can order as many as I want until March 2022, the term Allocation should not exist or be relevant. I also do not know what to do about Long Island shop ordering vs New Jersey ordering. 65 on Long island and 110 in NJ. would NJ get 45 more cars due to "allocation"? I mean, it seems kind of arbitrary or just random. Maybe they each get 20 and 5. Then 150 people get nothing? confused what these replies mean that seem to be fully contradictory.

We can order and get FE's until March 2022 and then we won't get any maybe as that store has no more allocations. There are only TWO stores though lol. Wtf. Find some store in like... guam? i duno?

 

[TomE]

I don't believe the dealers have received their allocation numbers yet, but should by the end of the month. Also, this first production run of Emiras are for FE V6's ONLY, so if anybody has placed a deposit for anything other than that, those who have placed a deposit for an FE V6 will be in the top group on the list, regardless of when they placed their deposit. According to Lotus, they haven't placed a cap on how many FE's they're going to produce, but they have stated that the order cutoff is the end of March. They've said as long as you place your order for a FE V6 by the end of March, you'll get one.

I don't know how that's going to work for dealer allocations or delivery times, but we're supposed to find that out by the end of the month too.

This is exactly the position. No dealers in the US currently know what there 2022 allocations are or what their 2023 allocations might be. They also don't know timing or process. There was a briefing by Lotus to all US dealers last week and they will all be getting more info by end of Jan.

Bear in mind the Emira is not yet in production, is still going through testing and does not have final approvals in any jurisdiction yet. This means there are quite a lot of variables and a lot of juggling. The global production schedule gets revised every month in light of new info, so it's not yet possible to give each customer a target delivery date or each dealer much info on timing. That will become clearer as the approvals process is completed in each country over the next 2-3 months and then production can become more predictable.