Update on USA/Canada deliveries from Gator Motorsport

[GetawayDriving]

From Tony at Gator! More stellar comms from the team at @GatorMotorsport . Big appreciation.

To those who've already placed your order for a First Edition V6 Emira

I'll rip off the bad news band-aid first.. There is a further delay to your delivery date. This is not because of production issues but a delay caused by emissions/safety certifications for U.S. market cars. As previously communicated, FE V6 production will begin in May & vehicles will start to arrive stateside at the end of July; however, they will not be released to dealers until all certifications are completed. This has been quoted between weeks 42-50 of this year (mid-October thru December). After that point, cars will be released from port proportionate to the previously mentioned timelines.

Good news.. I sent out confirmation a few weeks ago, but to confirm again, here was the statement made by Lotus Cars USA regarding FE V6 pricing ('1.0' only, explained later) in the US & Canada: The level of cost, particularly regarding production, supply chain, and logistics, has increased significantly and to the point where in certain markets, we have announced changes to the retail price. However, please be advised that this will not apply to US & Canada customers with FE V6 Emira orders already submitted to LCU and sitting within the production system. For these, the price will remain locked at $93,900 plus options and inland freight.

Possibly more good news.. I've received several requests to make edits to previously submitted orders. Lotus has not allowed this for some time but is considering a short period to allow minor changes. 'Minor changes' may include details like brake caliper color or tire choice (bolt-on parts, for example). Please do not expect to make a significant change like paint color or transmission choice. I will let you know if this opportunity becomes available.

Great news for those on the cusp of a First Edition V6 order allocation

Lotus has decided to increase the number of FE V6 Emira allocated to North America! An additional 600 cars will be given to our market, bringing the total production number for N.A. spec FE V6 Emira to 1,500. This means that a second batch of First Edition V6 Emira orders will be allocated to dealers and submitted to the factory (internally dubbed FE V6 2.0). Two significant changes for 'FE V6 2.0' orders are:

1. The starting MSRP has been increased to $105,400. Lotus has stated that since the Emira was revealed, production costs have increased by £12,000 (~$14,400) per vehicle. Thankfully, only a portion of the additional production costs have been passed on to the dealer & consumer.
2. 7 additional paint colors will be added to the palette for this batch of orders. All other available options & details for First Edition vehicles remain the same. I do not have official names or examples of these colors yet. The LotusCars.comconfigurator will be updated to include the new colors in the coming weeks.

We will contact deposit holders who have received an FE V6 '2.0' order allocation directly. Please note that we have not received the additional allocations yet, and it will likely be a few weeks before that occurs.

For all future variants: Base V6, FE AMG I4, and Base AMG I4

Many of you have asked about pricing on future Emira models. As of now, no decisions have been made nor communicated about this. A price adjustment is possible, but Lotus is waiting to configure this until closer to the production date of these vehicles. Material & logistics costs are regularly changing, up and down, so there could be an increase similar to FE V6 cars or no notable change at all. We won't know more until later this year.

Production in 2023 will be entirely dedicated to fulfilling both batches of FE V6 Emira. Production of future variants will begin in 2024, and approximately 2,000 cars will be produced for North America within the calendar year. The tentative timeline for 2024 is as follows: FE AMG I4 production January-April, Base V6 production May-December, and Base AMG I4 production August-December. All Emira produced in 2024 will be model year 2025 vehicles.

Some late depositors have been concerned about the ability to order an Emira before production ends.. Rest assured that you'll have the opportunity to order your Emira. Barring that legislation doesn't end production earlier; Lotus plans to produce the Emira until 2028.

More details on the AMG I4?

Many of you have been waiting for more information about the AMG I4.. We specifically asked for more customer/marketing materials (information, pictures, and videos) and were informed that these are currently a work in progress. It's typically a 5-month turnaround between order submission and production, so based on the above-described schedule, we should have more information for you by Summer.

Status of the factory

It appears that most of the supply chain & production issues have been alleviated. Lotus has stated that the production rate is around 80%-90% of capacity, and 100s of Emira are being built monthly. The most significant hurdle for most markets around the world, including ours, is currently type approval (emissions/safety certifications). This is a very complex process in the United States, and our market has some of the most stringent regulations. Lotus has been working on this for some time now but has had to make a few adjustments, pushing us back in the queue. This is ultimately what has caused the above-described delay.

Lotus Advanced Performance

L.A.P. is the division of Lotus that handles halo models like the Evija, motorsport cars like the Emira GT4, other special projects, limited editions, bespoke requests, and vehicle accessories. They've shared that bespoke customization for the Emira is coming at a later date, possibly as early as a year from now. In addition, around 30 different vehicle accessories for the Emira are in development, such as a sports exhaust and various carbon fiber parts. We'll share more information as it becomes available.

Emira Test Drive Event: Round #2

We received a lot of positive feedback from our Emira test drive event last November! We plan to host another test drive event this upcoming April or May. This will provide a longer test drive opportunity than we were able to provide before & more days to choose from for those whose schedules wouldn't cooperate last time. We'll send out invitations once we have more details and dates set.

Lotus Eletre, Type 133 Hyper-Sedan, and other future Lotus models

We saw a production-level Eletre and received lots of information about Lotus' future EV models. For the sake of brevity, I've excluded that information from this message. Please let me know if you are interested in the Eletre or 'Type 133' sedan, as I'd love to fill you in!

 

[TomE]

I’ve copied the update on USA/Canada deliveries from Gator Motorsport across from the long thread and locked it in a standalone post, as it was quickly getting buried under the volume of other posts.

The discussion is over on the main thread:

USA/Canada Delivery Thread

I wanted to create a thread specific to the USA/Canada to track what everyone is hearing for delivery timelines.

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