USA/Canada Delivery Thread

[seriously]

I feel like a moth drawn to the fire.

I know it’s bad and it gets worse. I know it will be hard to own, but I still want it. Damn you Lotus!

 

[scc.131.fe]

"There is other testing and software updates that need to be completed,"

Anyone else heading over to the Porsche Cayman GTS 4.0 configurator as an alternative?
This is nuts!

No, I'd still rather wait for 'soon' to get a more exciting car.

 

[Nova]

When I google my VIN, I get nothing. When I search for it on this site, I get a shipment Lotus made in December, but my car is still being manufactured, so I don't think this provides and accurate or detailed information on the shipping of a particular car. Please let me know if there's something I did wrong or need to do differently as this would be super cool!

Uh, if a VIN is on a BOL on the Import info website, that means it was shipped to the US and not still in production.

 

[Lotustoronto]

When I google my VIN, I get nothing. When I search for it on this site, I get a shipment Lotus made in December, but my car is still being manufactured, so I don't think this provides and accurate or detailed information on the shipping of a particular car. Please let me know if there's something I did wrong or need to do differently as this would be super cool!

Your car is in the USA....somewhere.

 

[K_Squared]

I'm literally in this scenario within a few months max I'll be moving from a non-carb state and need to register it in a CARB state, so not ideal.

Yeah but that's precisely my point. The only thing that makes sense for Lotus to hold non-CARB cars if there is something really amiss and it's not just days or weeks before approval. The decision to hold non-CARB cars on dealer lots makes me think we're in for some troubling news on that front. Otherwise, I don't see the real risk.

Sigh.

 

[Arkham]

Yeah but that's precisely my point. The only thing that makes sense for Lotus to hold non-CARB cars if there is something really amiss and it's not just days or weeks before approval. The decision to hold non-CARB cars on dealer lots makes me think we're in for some troubling news on that front. Otherwise, I don't see the real risk.

Sigh.

Yeah agree. The amount of times I've passed over different 911 models waiting on this Emira is getting depressing . Aside from family and friends making tons of jokes.

 

[azlambo]

Yeah but that's precisely my point. The only thing that makes sense for Lotus to hold non-CARB cars if there is something really amiss and it's not just days or weeks before approval. The decision to hold non-CARB cars on dealer lots makes me think we're in for some troubling news on that front. Otherwise, I don't see the real risk.

Sigh.

Exactly! If they were close to getting CARB approval, they wouldn’t worry about releasing the cars in non-CARB states. I think we’re in for another delay! It sounds like we’re at the back of the line again.
Add a 4th cat and detune to 350 HP…..now we can have CARB approval.

 

[WarriorHockey2266]

Yeah but that's precisely my point. The only thing that makes sense for Lotus to hold non-CARB cars if there is something really amiss and it's not just days or weeks before approval. The decision to hold non-CARB cars on dealer lots makes me think we're in for some troubling news on that front. Otherwise, I don't see the real risk.

Sigh.

Exactly. If Jan was actually realistic. Who cares if you release them in the middle of Jan, so someone has to wait a week or two to actually register it? Besides not all states are California stupid on new cars, so there is a very small number of people that would be affected for almost no time.

 

[LuckysDad]

At this point I would cancel the order but there is literally no other car in this price point that I'm the least bit interested in.
Porsche, BMW, Audi
C8 Corvette

 

[azlambo]

Oh, no! . Lotus speak for “soon”.

 

[bif]

I hope that article was just a bit of shock story. It would truly be insane for Lotus to ship the cars if they didn't believe approval was imminent. The cost alone of Lotus paying floorpan/storage, etc would be massive.

 

[seriously]

If 911s were reasonably priced I’d be gone- not that it’s a better car but just all in all, worth it. Too bad Porsche pricing is bonkers. Just can’t justify their pricing for what you get.

The 911 has a bit of the Emira benefit where there are no real competitors (excl cayman) so you can kind of charge what the market is willing to bear.

 

[KCMO68_510]

I'm more than willing to wait IF we are receiving the same product that was sold to us, and that storing the cars for whatever period doesn't harm the vehicles.

I'd feel a TON better if they just had waited for approval before producing the cars. My FE2.0 somehow already built and sitting (luckily inside) is crazy if they really were not sure if they'd have approval soon.

 

[981KMAN]

I "feel" for all of you waiting for an Emira. Yet I'm happy I bailed out when I obtained an allocation for a Porsche 911 Carrera S Coupe (actually took me less than 3 days). Yes, it's more expensive then an Emira, yet I can get many options (like a glass Sunroof...) that are not available on the Emira and I rather spend more and get what I want now, than wait on something that does not have all the features I would like.

The Emira Looks "Sweet", yet after a while, it's the ownership Issues, Reliability, Functionality, Features that will determine my feeling on if I made a good purchase for myself? In my heart, I know the Porsche is the better purchase for me. Your Mileage May Vary.... Best of Luck to all, and I hope CARB approval come before... "soon"

 

[Lotustoronto]

I hope that article was just a bit of shock story. It would truly be insane for Lotus to ship the cars if they didn't believe approval was imminent. The cost alone of Lotus paying floorpan/storage, etc would be massive.

Article has direct quotes from Lotus' PR USA Manager. I don't think it was written purely for shock.

There won't be any 4th cat or detune to the HP. The emissions will pass. This is either a paperwork issue, or something else. I am guessing it is an actually software issue. I wasn't joking about the car being used in CARB testing as broken. i.e. wouldn't start correctly etc. (unless carb doesn't actually test the cars onsite.... I have no idea how it all works)

I truly believe they shipped the cars and had dealers take delivery to non carb states knowing full well that they could not be sold, just to pad 2023 sales. Remember the US market is one of the few they could have sold Emira's too and guarantee payment via the dealer model. Other areas are not all the same. The fact that V2's were sent along is also showing they wanted to get as many cars built and sent off in December. Geely is gunning for a 5 billion dollar valuation on their public offering. This is a big deal. A lot bigger than 500 customers cars sitting on dealers lots for a couple extra months in the winter.

I will be interested to see if any other auto news / journalists pick up on this.

 

[bif]

Article has direct quotes from Lotus' PR USA Manager. I don't think it was written purely for shock.

There won't be any 4th cat or detune to the HP. The emissions will pass. This is either a paperwork issue, or something else. I am guessing it is an actually software issue. I wasn't joking about the car being used in CARB testing as broken. i.e. wouldn't start correctly etc. (unless carb doesn't actually test the cars onsite.... I have no idea how it all works)

I truly believe they shipped the cars and had dealers take delivery to non carb states knowing full well that they could not be sold, just to pad 2023 sales. Geely is gunning for a 5 billion dollar valuation on their public offering. This is a big deal. A lot bigger than 500 customers cars sitting on dealers lots for a couple extra months in the winter.

I will be interested to see if any other auto news / journalists pick up on this.

Maybe I was implying that Lotus having a PR manager was shocking.

 

[K_Squared]

I "feel" for all of you waiting for an Emira. Yet I'm happy I bailed out when I obtained an allocation for a Porsche 911 Carrera S Coupe (actually took me less than 3 days). Yes, it's more expensive then an Emira, yet I can get many options (like a glass Sunroof...) that are not available on the Emira and I rather spend more and get what I want now, than wait on something that does not have all the features I would like.

The Emira Looks "Sweet", yet after a while, it's the ownership Issues, Reliability, Functionality, Features that will determine my feeling on if I made a good purchase for myself? In my heart, I know the Porsche is the better purchase for me. Your Mileage May Vary.... Best of Luck to all, and I hope CARB approval come before... "soon"

View attachment 36220

It's a very nice car. I test drove a 911 Carrera T (with a manual nonetheless) and while it drove great, it still didn't feel or look nearly as special to me as the Emira does. Couple that with the much lower Emira price point and I still think it's worth the wait/fight. It's just sad that Lotus has put us all into this position.

Source: https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/lotus-emira-2022-coupe-vs-porsche-911-2019-coupe/

 

[Rapture]

Obviously, it appears there was a valid reason the NA cars were shipped with a trickle charger.

 

[410 JPS Fan]

Obviously, it appears there was a valid reason the NA cars were shipped with a trickle charger.

Lmao!

 

[410 JPS Fan]

This rollout has been a disaster. It's unreal. The cars are literally sitting at dealers and buyers are allowed to visit, but no one can have them. Lotus really dropped the ball.. over and over again. I'm sure there will be plenty of new buyers who see these cars for the first time and put deposits down, but there are also a ton of people who will never order a brand new Lotus again after this experience.

It was almost worse with the Evora rollout.. There weren't as many delays, but they did happen and comms were basically non existent. And then Lotus released a more powerful supercharged Evora just 1 year later FOR LESS MONEY! Can you imagine a hotter Emira gets revealed for less money months after you take delivery of your FE that you've waited 2.5 years for? I don't know why I was surprised when "First Edition 2.0" was announced (diluting FE 1.0 values) with additional colors AND they FE 1.0 buyers weren't allowed to have them (even though no US cars were even built yet). And now here we are with both 1.0 and 2.0 cars sitting at US dealers and no one can have them because Lotus can't play by the rules and fill out forms properly.

When I finally got tired of their BS and started looking for other options back in Jan 2023, they were still saying cars would be delivered last spring. I knew that wouldn't happen based on the delays that were happening with UK buyers. Yet they remained silent and didn't directly communicate with US customers. It was radio silence from MW's little delay video in June 2022 to some rumblings on this forum about top secret dealer meetings last Feb/March. Still.. no official comms went out. That was the final straw for me. I would have still been expecting my car to arrive in April if I didn't have this forum's intel.

Unreal.

@K_Squared here is another person who remembers the Evora roll out and Lotus lowering the MSRP lol. It's gonna happen "soon".

One dealer has 100 units just sitting already?! Surely many of those orders are just abandoned at this point and the rest will try to flip on c&b/bat and will fail.