Service and parts availability in future?

[Magma]

I've been on the fence about canceling lately. Several reasons in favor or canceling and several for sticking it out, but I'm wondering what it's going to be like 5-6+ years down the road when the Emira production ends and something goes wrong with the car. Is it going to be difficult to get parts and repairs done?

 

[VL3X]

I've been on the fence about canceling lately. Several reasons in favor or canceling and several for sticking it out, but I'm wondering what it's going to be like 5-6+ years down the road when the Emira production ends and something goes wrong with the car. Is it going to be difficult to get parts and repairs done?

It depends on the parts needed. The Toyota powertrain parts should be easy enough to source, but the custom Lotus bits might prove difficult. It seems like they've been jumping around to various vendors for parts and I'd typically like to see a long standing relationship in place with their vendors. Brakes and struts/springs are all from major manufacturers... not so sure about things like lights, windshields, etc....

 

[Magma]

Well, it's not even that smaller stuff I worry about, I guess. What if I get rear ended? What if I rear end somebody?

Having a niche car sounds amazing...until the reality sets in. I'm just trying to get a general idea of what life could be like in the future as I would plan to keep this car for a long long time. I've already seen posts from previous/current Lotus owners and their frustrations over the years.

 

[Magma]

I guess this isn't a worry for everyone then
That's great!

 

[Eagle7]

Because of Geely's backing, I don't see a problem with getting the car serviced or repaired over the long haul. The Emira's sold in China are going to be using the same body panels and pretty much everything else, so there should be an available supply of parts for the global market for quite some time.

Keep in mind that Geely's plan is for the electric future, so they'll stay in business mainly for those vehicles, but since the Emira will be their first official 'legacy' product, they're going to support that for a long time too.

 

[Magma]

OK yes that makes sense. I forget they'll want to make sure to take care of the Chinese market and that Wil have a trickle down effect for us. Appreciate the response!

 

[Concept24]

The sales manager at my closest Lotus dealership told me that Lotus seems to be well ahead of previous (underwhelming) efforts to have parts available to its dealerships before new models are delivered. Not having parts available was one of my concerns, as was being 80 miles from the dealership. She told me that during the warranty period, they would send a vehicle transport to pick up the car if there is a drivability issue. There is a shop in town that services Lotus cars, but it may be a while before they have experience with the Emira.

 

[Magma]

The sales manager at my closest Lotus dealership told me that Lotus seems to be well ahead of previous (underwhelming) efforts to have parts available to its dealerships before new models are delivered. Not having parts available was one of my concerns, as was being 80 miles from the dealership. She told me that during the warranty period, they would send a vehicle transport to pick up the car if there is a drivability issue. There is a shop in town that services Lotus cars, but it may be a while before they have experience with the Emira.

It's not the short term I worry about...it's the long term. Say 10 or 12 years from now someone damages the front of your car. How difficult will this be to get repaired? Say it needs a new hood?
It's looking like there won't be as many Emira's on the road as Lotus originally planned. How much effort will be put into parts replacements. I realize nobody has a crystal ball. It's just something I wonder about.

 

[Concept24]

It's not the short term I worry about...it's the long term. Say 10 or 12 years from now someone damages the front of your car. How difficult will this be to get repaired? Say it needs a new hood?
It's looking like there won't be as many Emira's on the road as Lotus originally planned. How much effort will be put into parts replacements. I realize nobody has a crystal ball. It's just something I wonder about.

Early C5 Corvette owners experienced part shortages after 10 years or so. It was not so much the mechanical parts as it was electronics modules and such. I remember years ago that if a smog-related part were not available, the state (CA) would grant a waiver from passing smog or even the visual part of inspection.

 

[Eagle7]

It's not the short term I worry about...it's the long term. Say 10 or 12 years from now someone damages the front of your car. How difficult will this be to get repaired? Say it needs a new hood?
It's looking like there won't be as many Emira's on the road as Lotus originally planned. How much effort will be put into parts replacements. I realize nobody has a crystal ball. It's just something I wonder about.

Matt said in an interview somewhere (can't remember which one) that they're going to continue building Emiras for a long time, as long as they keep selling. It will be the i4 model, but the body parts are the same as the V6 so there shouldn't be a problem getting a part if you need it. Due to the current backlog of orders, I believe the Emira will continue to be produced for at least the next 10 years or longer. It's going to be the only one of it's kind soon, and it's so gorgeous, it will remain popular enough to stay viable for a long time.

In my personal opinion, the electric future isn't going to be quite as it's being touted to be. Toyota has already said they're not switching their car lines over, they're going to continue producing their ICE vehicles. I believe it was also Ford who has decided to restart an ICE division for particular vehicles.

The biggest problem with the electric future is the world doesn't have enough cobalt or lithium to build a vehicle for everyone who has an ICE vehicle now. This means there won't be enough if any, to build all the replacements batteries 10 years from now. Regardless of ideology, that tends to go out the window the moment reality hits and investors realize everything is about to go "boom". Suddenly things that were supposedly set in stone get changed.

The electric future isn't all that green either, due to what it takes to make the hardware, and then of course there's the issue of generating the electricity to charge all those batteries.

As reality (which is already beginning to set in) gets closer, I think we'll start to see a pushing back of those deadlines, so there will still be the opportunity to build and buy ICE vehicles longer than we're being told now.

I expect hybrid technology to emerge as the go-to solution in the near future. The hybrid approach makes much more sense than just dumping ICE technology completely and switching to electric only. Hybrid uses a lot less of either technology which would greatly extend the usage of said resources, while significantly reducing emissions at the same time. Mazda has an innovative idea about to hit the market, with using a very small rotary engine to primarily charge the batteries for the electric motors so the charge range is extended, as well as off-setting the loss of battery charge in cold climates. It can provide heat in cold climates too, which takes that draining load off the batteries.

As a practical real-world solution, I think hybrid will be the more realistic and affordable technology, which it seems the automotive industry is already beginning to focus on. Electric will still be part of the future, but in a different way than people think at the moment.

 

[Concept24]

I agree. McLaren has an awesome hybrid, as it seems to be a logical step to ensure that they don't end up with only EVs that are not supported by sufficient power stations. An ideal lightweight sportscar may never end up being fully electric if winning races is the ultimate goal.

 

[Nick in Sydney]

I think we'll start to see a pushing back of those deadlines, so there will still be the opportunity to build and buy ICE vehicles longer than we're being told now.

Spot on. I think it's a pretty safe bet that the UK ends up pushing back its 2030 sales ban.

Even ignoring the issues around lithium and cobalt availability, the world just isn't rolling out charging infrastructure quickly enough.

Depending on which numbers you believe, about 30% of UK cars live on the street (no off-street parking) but so far most of the UK charging infrastructure has been deployed away from residential areas.

 

[Magma]

Well to stay more on topic, not that I disagree with the EV vs ICE points brought up here, my concerns have more to do with needing and acquiring parts should a need arise in the future. Again, I've seen threads with long time Lotus owners struggling to get parts. Hopefully things will be better under Geely, but I do feel their EV future will be more important to them.