Matt Windle leaves Lotus

I know this was covered as an update to the thread titled “Matt Windle Promoted,” but easy to miss there, and seems significant enough to deserve its own thread.

Exclusive: Lotus to name new Europe head following shock departure of boss after just few months in post | Autocar

Company's Chinese HQ takes a tighter rein as Europe boss Matt Windle steps down after four months

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[Orchardbike]

As for Matt, he was very helpful in trying to resolve all the problems I had with my Emira, you could say he went the extra mile. Many CEO's would not get personally involved or take much, if any, interest in dealing with individual customers.
J.E.

He refused to get personally involved with my issues. He ignored every attempt I made to contact him, whether that was post, email or direct mobile phone.

 

[Six Speed Stephen]

He refused to get personally involved with my issues. He ignored every attempt I made to contact him, whether that was post, email or direct mobile phone.

But he's not customer support.

I wouldn't expect the CEO/ managing director of any automotive company to personally get involved in anything customer related unless it exploded or something. Elon musk is an outlier in helping solve customer issues - which I think SHOULD be the norm, but it is so beyond the expectation of a purchase of a vehicle.

 

[Orchardbike]

But he's not customer support.

I wouldn't expect the CEO/ managing director of any automotive company to personally get involved in anything customer related unless it exploded or something. Elon musk is an outlier in helping solve customer issues - which I think SHOULD be the norm, but it is so beyond the expectation of a purchase of a vehicle.

No one at Lotus was interested. Culture comes from the top down, not the bottom up. I’ve worked for a number of companies where, if something was escalated to the MD, he’d be straight out of his office and make sure someone sorted it out. He’d then reply to complaint directly advising what’s going to happen and who would look after the issue. It’s called customer service.

 

[Six Speed Stephen]

No one at Lotus was interested. Culture comes from the top down, not the bottom up. I’ve worked for a number of companies where, if something was escalated to the MD, he’d be straight out of his office and make sure someone sorted it out. He’d then reply to complaint directly advising what’s going to happen and who would look after the issue. It’s called customer service.

You have the wrong expectations for automotive companies. It's laughable to assume the CEO or MD of any major automotive brand is required to run out of his office to solve your problems.

Customer service is handled by the customer service team.

"Amazon just lost my package, why isn't Bezos helping me?!?" C'mon dude.

 

[Orchardbike]

You have the wrong expectations for automotive companies. It's laughable to assume the CEO or MD of any major automotive brand is required to run out of his office to solve your problems.

Customer service is handled by the customer service team.

"Amazon just lost my package, why isn't Bezos helping me?!?" C'mon dude.

It’s called customer service. Where does the buck stop? At the top. His reporters did t do their job, so it’s his fault and his issue to sort out.

I think you’ll also find that Bezos has set things up so that customer service works. If it stopped working, he’d be a shit CEO if he wasn’t interested in fixing the problem. This is actually the essence of what Bezos has set up, Amazon are massively customer focused, that’s how they got to the size they are.

 

[Six Speed Stephen]

It’s called customer service. Where does the buck stop? At the top. His reporters did t do their job, so it’s his fault and his issue to sort out.

I think you’ll also find that Bezos has set things up so that customer service works. If it stopped working, he’d be a shit CEO if he wasn’t interested in fixing the problem. This is actually the essence of what Bezos has set up, Amazon are massively customer focused, that’s how they got to the size they are.

Exactly! But your high expectations for Amazon are being put on Lotus. You need to adjust your expectations because, regardless of the reason, not every company will provide a 10 star customer service experience.

You're obviously disgruntled from your experience, but realistically, your expectations for Lotus were probably too high to begin with.

I have 0 expectations from Lotus, so I've never been concerned with them disappointing me. I just do what I can do and move on.

 

[Orchardbike]

Exactly! But your high expectations for Amazon are being put on Lotus. You need to adjust your expectations because, regardless of the reason, not every company will provide a 10 star customer service experience.

You're obviously disgruntled from your experience, but realistically, your expectations for Lotus were probably too high to begin with.

I have 0 expectations from Lotus, so I've never been concerned with them disappointing me. I just do what I can do and move on.

My expectations were too high? You mean I should have expected to buy a car from them and then be without it for the next 9 months and be ghosted by everyone I tried to speak to at Lotus?

 

[Orchardbike]

Bezos: Make customer service and ease of doing business a priority - ends up with a multi-billion company

Windle: Ignore customers and their issues. Piss off their dealers and make it hard for the customers to deal with you - ends up with a small, struggling business with declining sales.

Simples.

 

[Six Speed Stephen]

My expectations were too high? You mean I should have expected to buy a car from them and then be without it for the next 9 months and be ghosted by everyone I tried to speak to at Lotus?

Your expectation was too high that Matt Windle was going to save the day

 

[Jinba ittai]

I’d agree expecting the CEO to get involved is not realistic. However Orchardbike’s list of problems is insane. Someone higher up should have stepped in and helped him. It is an extreme case.

 

[Orchardbike]

My expectation was too high that I thought Matt Windle cared about his customers.
My expectation was too high that I thought Matt Windle wanted to grow the business.

Good riddance.

 

[Six Speed Stephen]

I’d agree expecting the CEO to get involved is not realistic. However Orchardbike’s list of problems is insane. Someone higher up should have stepped in and helped him. It is an extreme case.

I agree someone should have helped him. I even think Matt should’ve helped him. I disagree that it’s expected that he would.

 

[seriously]

Yes, design is one thing they do very well. While Lotus can be challenging, I love this car. Would be a shame to lose the team that developed it.

I don’t know how much credit to give the lotus design team. I know on paper all those guys worked on the evora, evija and emira, but the evija and the emira are such a radical departure and such a huge step up in design maturity. I think others were involved (maybe via consulting contract) and these guys just got the credit for it.

I have always loved lotus for the racing heritage and engineering. Design was always an afterthought or “good enough” until the Evija and Emira. These are legitimately class leading cohesive stunning designs. Perhaps the original espirit is the only other stand out design wise.

 

[NJemira85]

This was a tough role for any exec. I met Matt at the Emira launch at Galpin Lotus. I wish him well in his future pursuits.

I think automotive manufacturing in England, for 'volume' sportscars, is coming to an end. They are simply rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic, IMHO. To most people's horror, Geely would be better off moving all production of 'affordable' sportscars to a region of the world that is growing. There are 600 million middle-class folks, with aspirational desires, in China and India. Affordable sportscars are a thing they want. If the Lotus brand is to continue, they need to move towards unsaturated markets that are still growing. Geely have production capacity in China that is vastly underutilized. And possibly in South Carolina?

Developed markets, like the US and Eurozone, are more and more constrained by regulatory requirements and consumer demands for quality/price. Profit margins are terrible as a result. Plus the flood of great sporstcars these last 20 yrs has met the demand and the future natural take rate will not be as healthy. We've enjoyed an unprecedented selection of great sportscars - it has NEVER been better.

I'm sure this won't be a popular opinion but it comes from an person with 40yrs of direct experience in this insanely competitive industry. I've been a direct participant with an insider's view of this industry's machinations. I would rather see Lotus survive than see it go the way of other storied brands(SAAB, Pontiac, etc.).

Some consolidation is in order for the auto industry and those that start now, will have a fighting chance to survive.

The US Volvo plant has entered the chat

 

[Last ICE]

This is so sad to me. I know there are people who think poorly of him, but none of us know what he had to go through to get the Emira from a drawing on paper, into the most successful production car Lotus has ever produced. I for one am very glad he did, and consider myself fortunate to own one of these beauties. I wish him the best in whatever he winds up doing.

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I really believe it’s destined to eventually become a classic.

 

[Jinba ittai]

I don’t know how much credit to give the lotus design team. I know on paper all those guys worked on the evora, evija and emira, but the evija and the emira are such a radical departure and such a huge step up in design maturity. I think others were involved (maybe via consulting contract) and these guys just got the credit for it.

I have always loved lotus for the racing heritage and engineering. Design was always an afterthought or “good enough” until the Evija and Emira. These are legitimately class leading cohesive stunning designs. Perhaps the original espirit is the only other stand out design wise.

Appreciating the design, but not attributing it Lotus was not a response I was expecting. Who are these world class consultants? Do you have some inside knowledge? If true (and I don’t agree it is) good on Lotus for recognizing talent and capitalizing.

 

[seriously]

Appreciating the design, but not attributing it Lotus was not a response I was expecting. Who are these world class consultants? Do you have some inside knowledge? If true (and I don’t agree it is) good on Lotus for recognizing talent and capitalizing.

It’s a total guess on my part. No inside information. It just feels like a different team did the work.

 

[Jinba ittai]

It’s a total guess on my part. No inside information. It just feels like a different team did the work.

Well I guess it’s a compliment to say this design is so much better it must be done by other people. I agree there is a step change in beauty. Although I also appreciate the extruded and bonded aluminum, suspension geometry know how, and Toyota power train integration that have long been Lotus staples.

 

[R1272]

I doubt Matt had much to do with this decision.

 

[Nick in Sydney]

I don’t know how much credit to give the lotus design team. I know on paper all those guys worked on the evora, evija and emira, but the evija and the emira are such a radical departure and such a huge step up in design maturity. I think others were involved (maybe via consulting contract) and these guys just got the credit for it.

Wrong, and it's insulting to the Lotus team to say this.

I have met most of the people who designed the Emira . . . at Lotus, in Hethel.

Jon Statham led the interior design team. Jennifer Andriamamonjy came up with "Espirit inspired" interior design theme. Harvey Rabenjamina did most of the seat and steering wheel design. Josh Router was the sole studio engineer on the interior.

Daniel Durrant led the exterior design team (he also did the exterior of the Evora 400, 410, 430 Cup). Obviously Russell Carr was closely involved in the exterior design too.

The really sad part is that I don't think a single one of them still works at Lotus! At least two of them, Harvey and Jennifer, have gone to Gordon Murray Automotive.