Lotus Emira...will Lotus be able to achieve it's production numbers or will the Emira be super rare

[RCL]

I read online that Lotus is targeting the production volume of 5,000 Emira cars annually. BUT with so many peoples orders getting pushed from q2 2022 into q4 2022 or even 2023 and the 2023 orders potentially into 2024...will Lotus be able to hit that 5,000 production number? When will they achieve it? Does anyone know the planned Emira production time frame, like 2022-2026 for example?

 

[ADC]

 

[jamesbxxx]

The way things are going with the world, maybe there will only the First Edition, followed by a Final Edition for the V6.

 

[Jonhklee]

Lotus is releasing cars at a very bad time for world economy….
The finance deals APR won’t stay at 5.9% by the time the cars are ready! And the £60k base price wont be able to stay there for long either

 

[TomE]

The original plan was 5,000 per year starting from May 2022, with about 3,500 cars in 2022. They currently have a 60-65 week order book and have added a second shift starting from July/August so will have capacity to do 10,000 per year after ramp up.

Start and ramp up depends on a few things. The current supply chain issue affects a number of key parts but is being unblocked. Parts of China are in lockdown but that is being worked around. The regional type approvals need to be obtained. Once those things are sorted, the expectation is they'll be running at full 10,000 capacity from later this year and certainly from Jan 2023.

There's obviously also the impact of rising inflation and interest rates on costs, pricing, financing and consumer confidence. That's a big unknown right now. But also there have been no production press reviews, no dealer demo cars and no customer cars out there to prompt further demand. Other manufacturers' lead times are also getting longer, so that might mean people looking at the Emira as an alternative if it's available sooner.

 

[4380r]

The original plan was 5,000 per year starting from May 2022, with about 3,500 cars in 2022. They currently have a 60-65 week order book and have added a second shift starting from July/August so will have capacity to do 10,000 per year after ramp up.

Start and ramp up depends on a few things. The current supply chain issue affects a number of key parts but is being unblocked. Parts of China are in lockdown but that is being worked around. The regional type approvals need to be obtained. Once those things are sorted, the expectation is they'll be running at full 10,000 capacity from later this year and certainly from Jan 2023.

There's obviously also the impact of rising inflation and interest rates on costs, pricing, financing and consumer confidence. That's a big unknown right now. But also there have been no production press reviews, no dealer demo cars and no customer cars out there to prompt further demand. Other manufacturers' lead times are also getting longer, so that might mean people looking at the Emira as an alternative if it's available sooner.

Doesn’t the Lotus factory, and much of UK manufacturing in general, historically shut down for a good portion of August?

 

[TomE]

No. They work on 50 weeks of production per year but it's usually 2 weeks in December over Christmas/New Year as shutdown. They work a 4.5 day week with 4 longer days of production and 0.5 day for other stuff like training and maintenance.

Are you thinking of France?

 

[4380r]

No. They work on 50 weeks of production per year but it's usually 2 weeks in December over Christmas/New Year as shutdown. They work a 4.5 day week with 4 longer days of production and 0.5 day for other stuff like training and maintenance.

Are you thinking of France?

Interesting, must be something new this year. I know that last summer they shut down for much, if not most of August.

This was posted by the production manager at Lotus last summer on another platform:

"So here we are
Its summer shutdown
I would just like to thank every single one of my production team for their efforts so far this year in what are exciting times for #lotus
The year has had its challenges as always but as always the whole team steps forward and works hard to deliver
The #emira launch team have done such a fantastic job launching our new and most exciting product taking us towards our Vision 80 target
Enjoy your holiday team and have a well earnt rest
And for everyone one else at #lotus who are taking a break thank you for your support and enjoy
Out of office on time to relax"

On Lotustalk there are threads from back in 2004, just before the federal Elises came ashore, lamenting that production will be slowed as the plant had its annual August shut down.

 

[TXEMIRA]

Interesting, must be something new this year. I know that last summer they shut down for much, if not most of August.

This was posted by the production manager at Lotus last summer on another platform:

"So here we are
Its summer shutdown
I would just like to thank every single one of my production team for their efforts so far this year in what are exciting times for #lotus
The year has had its challenges as always but as always the whole team steps forward and works hard to deliver
The #emira launch team have done such a fantastic job launching our new and most exciting product taking us towards our Vision 80 target
Enjoy your holiday team and have a well earnt rest
And for everyone one else at #lotus who are taking a break thank you for your support and enjoy
Out of office on time to relax"

On Lotustalk there are threads from back in 2004, just before the federal Elises came ashore, lamenting that production will be slowed as the plant had its annual August shut down.

Cunningham’s Law has found its way into this forum on a few occasions.

So what? Maybe now is different with a global car from the same brand that brought us Summer breaks…

Tangent: Extreme Spectrum Analysis - we all get our cars right now, today.

What’s the next problem we will find?

Oh leader of Taliban, all your enemies are dead, all remaining believe in what you believe and now you’re their leader, one quick question for you.

What will you do tomorrow exactly?
Fix roads in Pakistan? Enjoy beaches of Hawaii? Build a castle in Scotland?

Not going to try to figure out how the 21 virgins thing works but you get the point. If everyone got everything they ever wanted they’d still be bored.

So this is online forum future ‘eh? Bait a debate and everyone loses. Dang.

#ForTheTangent

 

[4380r]

Cunningham’s Law has found its way into this forum on a few occasions.

So what? Maybe now is different with a global car from the same brand that brought us Summer breaks…

Tangent: Extreme Spectrum Analysis - we all get our cars right now, today.

What’s the next problem we will find?

Oh leader of Taliban, all your enemies are dead, all remaining believe in what you believe and now you’re their leader, one quick question for you.

What will you do tomorrow exactly?
Fix roads in Pakistan? Enjoy beaches of Hawaii? Build a castle in Scotland?

Not going to try to figure out how the 21 virgins thing works but you get the point. If everyone got everything they ever wanted they’d still be bored.

So this is online forum future ‘eh? Bait a debate and everyone loses. Dang.

#ForTheTangent

Change your meds?

 

[TomE]

Interesting, must be something new this year. I know that last summer they shut down for much, if not most of August.

This was posted by the production manager at Lotus last summer on another platform:

"So here we are
Its summer shutdown
I would just like to thank every single one of my production team for their efforts so far this year in what are exciting times for #lotus
The year has had its challenges as always but as always the whole team steps forward and works hard to deliver
The #emira launch team have done such a fantastic job launching our new and most exciting product taking us towards our Vision 80 target
Enjoy your holiday team and have a well earnt rest
And for everyone one else at #lotus who are taking a break thank you for your support and enjoy
Out of office on time to relax"

On Lotustalk there are threads from back in 2004, just before the federal Elises came ashore, lamenting that production will be slowed as the plant had its annual August shut down.

I may have misunderstood then, or it might have been changed last year due to the end of Elise/Exige/Evora production and the conversion of facilities to the Emira facilities and will revert to summer shutdown this year.

But with Lotus trying to get Emiras out, I suspect they're encouraging people to take holiday now while they're delayed so they can run full time for the rest of the year.

 

[ADC]

I honestly didn't expect this thread to get so many serious takers (hence the magic 8-ball response) ... I do think they will hit their targets (with the financial might of Geely behind them), they just have several headwinds to deal with (some to be expected during ramp-up, some due to the world unexpectedly continuing to circle the drain this year).