We don’t know whose fault the paint issue was for the Emira. But the fact they are having to pay dealers to retrofit doors with a revised design, because of a ‘design fault’ must have cost a small fortune. The external body shops dealers are contracting this work out to likely results in a conservative £1500. Add in the cost of new doors and the dealers time stripping and replacing the door mechanism, speakers etc and this endeavour is likely well north of £3k per car, for a pair of doors. It seems increasingly likely that all the doors for 22/23 and some 24 cars are affected the difference being whether they are garaged and used as sunny day cars or if they are parked outside and dailied.
Someone made a serious error here and it must be eating into the per unit profit margin. Given the depth of engineering talent- shouldn’t that door design with intrinsic fault, have been identified pre-production?
Who made the decision to let the press have pre production cars to test, resulting in less than stellar early reviews?
Why are proven systems like steering racks failing in these cars? The part at fault or the attention to detail of those assembling at the factory?
The Emira is the best looking car I’ve ever owned. The interior is high quality and I love the way it drives. As the car gets close to exiting warranty I need to consider what comes next. Failure to offer extended warranty on a £100k car suggests lack of confidence in your own product. It’s just not good enough. At Porsche prices there should be an extendable Porsche type warranty product backed by the marque. The pre warranty inspections would be work for the unhappy dealer network as well.
Why have so many things been allowed to go wrong? Who is actually culpable?
Will Geely hold the line or is Hethel getting closed? The uncertainty around that alone must put many off buying new.
If love to see a brand resurgence. As it stands the worlds oldest Lotus dealer doesn’t even sell new product anymore.
www.autocar.co.uk
