New Jayemm Emira video
- Thread starter MiamiBlue
- Start date
geoffbland
Emira Fan
Also linked here
Mostly agree, but as pointed out by Teshoo Lama in the link above there's a couple of things not quite right. Most of the points he makes I have heard echoed by nearly every other Lotus owner I have spoken too recently - and more importantly in some respects - non-Lotus owners that potentially could be a customer.
I just hope someone in management at Lotus or Geeley take some of what is mentioned in Jayemm's video to heart.
Mostly agree, but as pointed out by Teshoo Lama in the link above there's a couple of things not quite right. Most of the points he makes I have heard echoed by nearly every other Lotus owner I have spoken too recently - and more importantly in some respects - non-Lotus owners that potentially could be a customer.
I just hope someone in management at Lotus or Geeley take some of what is mentioned in Jayemm's video to heart.
I seriously doubt it. Many of us who were early orderers and lived the excruciating pain of the total lack of regular information, lies and delays far in excess of what was acceptable even with Covid; fed back in considerable detail verbally, in writing and finally though cancelling. Since the last phone call chasing my refund (they could not even get that right) I have had no contact with Lotus the company asking for more detail on my cancellation. Ironically I got a call from Lotus Hatfield 3 months later saying my car was ready for collection though by which time I had to break it to the dealer that I had cancelled and bought an alternative.
It made me very sad and I defended them vigorously on here for years until I finally realised I had fallen out of love with the idea of an Emira, any mention of it made me flinch internally so I had to let it go.
Nick in Sydney
Emira Fiend
I think it's a lousy video, though I agree with many of the things James says in it.
It's more of a self-indulgent and wide-ranging rant than an objective discussion of "where Lotus went so wrong".
He misses the most important point: that Lotus has burned over a billion dollars because they tried to go 100% EV about a decade too early. That's what matters, not whether or not you can buy t-shirts at the dealership.
It's more of a self-indulgent and wide-ranging rant than an objective discussion of "where Lotus went so wrong".
He misses the most important point: that Lotus has burned over a billion dollars because they tried to go 100% EV about a decade too early. That's what matters, not whether or not you can buy t-shirts at the dealership.
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It's what he does really, tries to give a general feel of how he feels, he loves a clickbait title as well. Without more internal knowledge, hard to give a detailed objective discussion and probably not as entertaining. These Youtubers are about entertaining for the clicks ultimately.
geoffbland
Emira Fan
I seriously doubt they will learn too - this is classic Lotus - something they have never improved on - I had a deposit down for a M250 if anyone remembers that? I was hoping a large, experienced company like Geeley would improve on this but it just seems to have got worse. Lotus seem to have one of the best and most loyal set of followers and customers of any car manufacturer - this should be a huge boon having these to advocate for the brand that the company should make the most of. Yet it seems they find this an annoyance at best and are alienating their followers instead - this is noticed by any potential customers and must be so bad for their business.
Geeley I am sure just bought the company to leverage the heritage - do they not realise that all the current owners are part of that heritage?
I agree with Jayemm's basic point - the Emira is such a great car it should be selling in droves - but the quality control issues and especially the way the company handles customers is just preventing this.
It may very well be true and yet not surprising that YouTube and, by extension James, thrive on sensationalism, but one thing is certain which is that throughout its existence, Lotus has provided so much ammunition to have it fired back at them. Their abysmal dealer/customer treatment, lack/difficulty of spare parts, sorting warrantee issues, pricing inconsistencies (to mention just a few) is abundant hard to ignore ammo for critics.
It’s pretty much an opinion rant with some valid points and some emotional schlock thrown in, which he more or less admits it is.
His passion for the brand and the car are apparent in how strongly he feels. It’s like having a friend you know is capable of greatness but just can’t ever get it together to fully realize their potential.
His passion for the brand and the car are apparent in how strongly he feels. It’s like having a friend you know is capable of greatness but just can’t ever get it together to fully realize their potential.
Lotustoronto
Emira Addict
Looks like he had a bit of an axe to grind again with Lotus. He's not wrong about Lotus and customer service / quality control, but at the same time this is growing pains of a new company identity. It's clear they are in survival mode and between COVID and Tarrifs it has been a tough go for a company reset and launch. Look at Jaguar - going through the same re-launch issues and IMO if it was not for Land Rover (and maybe Waymo) they would have been out of business long ago. I don't particularly care about the car being lowered and pictured more attractively online for marketing, I don't even car about it being an evolution of the Evora. Customer service and quality control would be the reason for them not succeeding. Self defeating and maybe that is the point of his video.
You can build and design a beautiful car and have not so great dealer support and CS - but you better make sure the car is flawless and doesn't break down. What you can't do is build a beautiful car that has bad QC and CS and a small dealer network. No one wants to buy a car that sits at a dealer getting fixed for half of the warranty period.
Lastly - some of Lotus' recent marketing campaigns have been hit and miss, they really need to do a bit of a re-think about who they are marketing too.
You can build and design a beautiful car and have not so great dealer support and CS - but you better make sure the car is flawless and doesn't break down. What you can't do is build a beautiful car that has bad QC and CS and a small dealer network. No one wants to buy a car that sits at a dealer getting fixed for half of the warranty period.
Lastly - some of Lotus' recent marketing campaigns have been hit and miss, they really need to do a bit of a re-think about who they are marketing too.
The thumbnail is a bit of clickbait. Most of his gripes are about service and not the car.
He states a rough ride. My car has the touring suspension, and it is a magnitude better ride than my Evora. I drove the sport and it was a bit stiffer but nothing like a GT3 or something of that caliber. Can't have good road feel without a bit ofstifness.
Jay is a bit on the large side (to put it mildly) and that will affect seat comfort and car feel.
He states a rough ride. My car has the touring suspension, and it is a magnitude better ride than my Evora. I drove the sport and it was a bit stiffer but nothing like a GT3 or something of that caliber. Can't have good road feel without a bit ofstifness.
Jay is a bit on the large side (to put it mildly) and that will affect seat comfort and car feel.
The fact that Geely has acknowledged it's misdirection with all-EV, and has and is restructuring to not only NOT discontinue the Emira, but find new engines and improve it is a very good sign to me. Every manufacturer has taken a huge financial hit over the EV debacle, and is struggling to regain their footing. Geely has the resources to take the hit, rebound and get its act together.
Hopefully they'll pay attention to the customer experience too, and not just the hardware.
Hopefully they'll pay attention to the customer experience too, and not just the hardware.
I subscribe to Jayemm and I like his videos, but he does seem to get a bit triggered by Lotus. I don’t get it, he goes on about how great Lotus cars are, but all he does is trash them. All this seems to be mostly because a guy that used to work in Lotus PR sent him a shitty email 6 years ago…
geoffbland
Emira Fan
He's trashing Lotus as a company, he's not trashing the car. He explicitly states just how fantastic the Emira is. He also states how good and dedicated the designers, engineers and builder are at Hethel. There's unfortunately more and more of these people now begin laid off due to the mistakes of PR, sales, advertising, customer service and upper management. It must be heart-breaking to build cars at Hethel with such pride in them to have all the negativity directed at them not due to the actual cars they are building.
Yes - but he is far from alone in having bad experiences with the company and customer services, you will find many examples of this here on this forum.
Couldn’t agree more. James’ criticism is definitely focused on Lotus as a company and it’s corporate culture, if it has any.
marc1adrien
Emira Fan
I like him in general, and find his videos interesting.
That said, he does sometimes tend to hyperbole, and even conspiracy. Other videos have included recently suggesting that he is going to be banned from China for life and he's in danger (!) simply because he didn't want to go to their product launches to be paid as a promoter and only put out good things on their cars. Um, okay.
As for the video and the Lotus experience, there's some truth to that. But two things: first, I think the experience in the UK is different, as there's so much more history there, and there was the whole direct-vs-dealer thing; and second, I don't see it as being very cohesive as a car review or even a company review. I get it, somebody at Lotus sent him an email he didn't like, and he's still upset. But if he is a fan of engineering and engagement, I'd hope he'd let go of some of his favorite quips (Evora in a fat suit, which it's not, and you can see that in the stampings at the factory) and focus instead on what he reluctantly recognizes (it's prettier and more engaging than anything anywhere near it in price). I get the feeling he's working hard on the mental gymnastics to keep punishing them for the previous email, while forgiving other manfucaturers because their cars are so great.
For example, he's a huge Ferrarri fan, and has very long videos about chasing down issues over 5-6 tries (including parts issues) and months off the road for one of his v12s. And he ends with how amazing the cars are. He hasn't tried modifying one, but I doubt he'd be enamored of their well-documented habit of sending desist notices to owners. But he has nothing but love for those cars, and seems very forgiving of them.
That he makes these comments ripping around in a lovely Emira while reluctantly stating how brilliant it is is interesting. I don't know whether he gets the irony, but I'm sure he's thrilled he got the engagement and all of us talking about it. Coming just a couple videos after his rant about the importance of his journalistic integrity (?) I find that a bit offputting.
That said, he does sometimes tend to hyperbole, and even conspiracy. Other videos have included recently suggesting that he is going to be banned from China for life and he's in danger (!) simply because he didn't want to go to their product launches to be paid as a promoter and only put out good things on their cars. Um, okay.
As for the video and the Lotus experience, there's some truth to that. But two things: first, I think the experience in the UK is different, as there's so much more history there, and there was the whole direct-vs-dealer thing; and second, I don't see it as being very cohesive as a car review or even a company review. I get it, somebody at Lotus sent him an email he didn't like, and he's still upset. But if he is a fan of engineering and engagement, I'd hope he'd let go of some of his favorite quips (Evora in a fat suit, which it's not, and you can see that in the stampings at the factory) and focus instead on what he reluctantly recognizes (it's prettier and more engaging than anything anywhere near it in price). I get the feeling he's working hard on the mental gymnastics to keep punishing them for the previous email, while forgiving other manfucaturers because their cars are so great.
For example, he's a huge Ferrarri fan, and has very long videos about chasing down issues over 5-6 tries (including parts issues) and months off the road for one of his v12s. And he ends with how amazing the cars are. He hasn't tried modifying one, but I doubt he'd be enamored of their well-documented habit of sending desist notices to owners. But he has nothing but love for those cars, and seems very forgiving of them.
That he makes these comments ripping around in a lovely Emira while reluctantly stating how brilliant it is is interesting. I don't know whether he gets the irony, but I'm sure he's thrilled he got the engagement and all of us talking about it. Coming just a couple videos after his rant about the importance of his journalistic integrity (?) I find that a bit offputting.
I agree about his larger points with the brand, leadership, and direction but I think his criticism of the Emira itself comes across a bit forced and petty. I know he’s had beef with Lotus PR in the past, and it really comes through in the video.
I don’t really understand an Evora owner complaining that the climate knob is ‘too close’ to the center console, or the placement of the screen. I think it’s head and shoulders above the aftermarket head unit that came in the Evora. On one hand he’s complaining that the better interior is an unwanted departure from the Lotus he loves, and then he criticizes it anyways for not being good enough.
Styling is subjective but I’ll give it to him if he doesn’t like the look of the car. I don’t get it, but to each their own.
It’s easy to complain about the increased weight, but that’s the trend all cars are taking due to increasingly stringent safety and emissions regs. Nobody is eager to admit it, but I think that there are a lot of people out there who will take a slight weight increase in exchange for some modern creature comforts. The EV focus is questionable, but makes sense from Geely’s perspective as I’m assuming the Chinese EVs are more profitable. I think the US tariffs have likely disrupted that strategy. Not sure what Lotus is supposed to do about any of that though without biting the hand that feeds them.
I don’t really understand an Evora owner complaining that the climate knob is ‘too close’ to the center console, or the placement of the screen. I think it’s head and shoulders above the aftermarket head unit that came in the Evora. On one hand he’s complaining that the better interior is an unwanted departure from the Lotus he loves, and then he criticizes it anyways for not being good enough.
Styling is subjective but I’ll give it to him if he doesn’t like the look of the car. I don’t get it, but to each their own.
It’s easy to complain about the increased weight, but that’s the trend all cars are taking due to increasingly stringent safety and emissions regs. Nobody is eager to admit it, but I think that there are a lot of people out there who will take a slight weight increase in exchange for some modern creature comforts. The EV focus is questionable, but makes sense from Geely’s perspective as I’m assuming the Chinese EVs are more profitable. I think the US tariffs have likely disrupted that strategy. Not sure what Lotus is supposed to do about any of that though without biting the hand that feeds them.
Reading the comments above, is enough for me, so I won't look at the video and potentially provide him with income. The "clickbait" title alone turned me off. I've been really pleased with my Emira (it's been w/o any problems), as have others, so I don't need to hear anyone rant otherwise and I've read threads from others on this Forum about problems with their Emiras. That said, no car manufacturer nor any vehicle they make, is perfect...and this being my first Lotus, I knew of its reputation (low production; some problems, mostly hand built; sparse N. American dealer network) and took a chance and it's paid off so far (8,500 km in just over a year; including a couple track days). I've had lots of other vehicle brands and my share of problems with many (not all) of them. For example, given my experience with BMW's and an expensive 7-Series in particular, I'll never own another BMW, which is ++ disappointing given their "more sport than luxury design" (which I prefer over my Mercedes 2016 E550 and recent 2024 E450 purchase), good looks, peppy powertrains and fun steering.
My Emira experience is more in line with the recent video from EverydayDriver, following Todd's one-year of ownership, although unlike me, he did have one "won't start problem" with his Emira V6 standard. Catch that video on this Forum thread, if not already viewed and if interested:
www.emiraforum.com
My Emira experience is more in line with the recent video from EverydayDriver, following Todd's one-year of ownership, although unlike me, he did have one "won't start problem" with his Emira V6 standard. Catch that video on this Forum thread, if not already viewed and if interested:
New Everyday Driver video - 1 year of ownership, and v6 compared to i4
Always pleasant to watch a video from these guys
www.emiraforum.com
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