Is Lotus going to honor its posted prices for base cars?

[Maverick1]

Here is a screenshot from the Lotus Canada website.
They list prices for the First Edition and Base Edition.
Will Lotus do the right thing and honor those posted prices?

 

[jmn444]

If it's like the USA, it will depend if your dealer agreed and put it in writing that the spot was for a msrp sale. It appears that MOST in the US did msrp, but there are some that for sure did not.

 

[Duncx]

Even for the UK, this is going to be a big 'ask' for Lotus. With 6-7% inflation, major supply problems across industry and a MUCH bigger demand than they were expecting, they will be doing very well indeed to keep entry prices pegged.
For export markets they also have currency exchange rates to consider, although any well run business should have strategies in place to buffer any problems in the short term.

I'm nervously waiting for the UK pricing for the i4 FE, if it comes in too rich for me then after all this waiting I will be out

 

[p.rob]

If it's like the USA, it will depend if your dealer agreed and put it in writing that the spot was for a msrp sale. It appears that MOST in the US did msrp, but there are some that for sure did not.

In canada selling new cars over MSRP is illegal

 

[jmn444]

In canada selling new cars over MSRP is illegal

well i guess that answers the question then! haha

 

[TomE]

What does the small print/T&Cs say on the Lotus Canada site?

And it does say “from” just before each price.

As Duncx said, Lotus have got quite a challenge ahead on pricing. Hopefully the extra order volume gives them some extra procurement leverage and scale economies. But will that be enough to offset inflation?

 

[Mike-engel]

Not sure if this applies to this thread, but when I placed my deposit here in the states, it wasn’t via a website with a T&C statement. It was via a phone call to my closest dealer, which was told to me by Lotus Cars USA, who I reached by using the contact Lotus button on the lotus cars website. I paid my deposit with a credit card via a phone call with the sales rep and he emailed me a pdf of the receipt and a paper form indicating my build code and my place in line. At that time there were no additional details about what I was agreeing to except that I was holding my place in line for eventually getting my FE car at the price that was eventually announced. Until just a few days ago I had no reason to believe anything different.

 

[TomE]

Not sure if this applies to this thread, but when I placed my deposit here in the states, it wasn’t via a website with a T&C statement. It was via a phone call to my closest dealer, which was told to me by Lotus Cars USA, who I reached by using the contact Lotus button on the lotus cars website. I paid my deposit with a credit card via a phone call with the sales rep and he emailed me a pdf of the receipt and a paper form indicating my build code and my place in line. At that time there were no additional details about what I was agreeing to except that I was holding my place in line for eventually getting my FE car at the price that was eventually announced. Until just a few days ago I had no reason to believe anything different.

I don't know the details of US consumer legislation. But if that's like the old UK setup when you went through a dealer, your deposit was simply an option to purchase at some point when more details are made available. It holds you a place in the line but usually doesn't guarantee you a price, delivery date or other terms.

I know some US folks had deposits with dealer commitments written in about no markups, so some people did have more specific info included in their deposit invoice.

If people had a deposit with mention of a V6 FE on the invoice but now volumes mean that can't be fulfilled, where does that leave you and the dealer? I assume there's some small print or T&Cs that cover the dealer with "best endeavours" or "if available" etc.

 

[Mike-engel]

I don't know the details of US consumer legislation. But if that's like the old UK setup when you went through a dealer, your deposit was simply an option to purchase at some point when more details are made available. It holds you a place in the line but usually doesn't guarantee you a price, delivery date or other terms.

I know some US folks had deposits with dealer commitments written in about no markups, so some people did have more specific info included in their deposit invoice.

If people had a deposit with mention of a V6 FE on the invoice but now volumes mean that can't be fulfilled, where does that leave you and the dealer? I assume there's some small print or T&Cs that cover the dealer with "best endeavours" or "if available" etc.

Is that true if my deposit has been registered with Lotus (not just the dealer)? Tammy McKenzie at Lotuscars USA was able to look into some database and see that my deposit has been registered with Lotus and was able to provide my confirmation code.

 

[TomE]

All that means is the dealer confirmed to Lotus Cars USA that you have placed a deposit with the dealer, and the dealer has provided some other info such as date of deposit and your name/address/email/phone plus any indication about spec preferences that you provided.