Lotus is a low volume manufacturer and the parts distribution network / volumes / availability will always reflect that.
Perhaps some of us here who have had repairs done to existing Lotus vehicles can comment as to what their prior experience has been.
Parts availability for the Emira will be good moving forward (compared to out of production models) as they're still being made for quite some time, but it may take many months for them to arrive and this may be compounded by lock-downs and shortages (no different to other manufacturers).
You need to assume that Lotus is like any other exotic low-volume manufacturer on this front. If you crash it and it needs repairs, then be prepared to have it off the road for 6-9 months (or more!).
I have to take issue here I am afraid. I fully understand your point, but I dont believe its the case, or rather its not a good excuse for them. Having had cars from far far far smaller / lower volume car makers, a Westfield *about 200 cars a year and an ariel Nomad *about 50 of them a year, this is not my experience at all I have to say, quite the opposite in fact! Its true TVR maybe a bit of a joke right now, but they dont really exist, at least they have no finished factory and dont make cars, but as for the other UK small manufacturers, I think they do an excellent job in general and I would not class Lotus in the same league, in terms of quality and communications etc as Ariel. With Ariel I could call and speak to whom I need to and get an accurate answer on delivery, technical things, anything really.
So for me, any future parts issues/ planning is nothing to do with the size of Lotus IMO, its to do with either the pandemic, poor or no planning or a purchasing department that takes its lessons from the previous QC department. Lotus know how many cars they were going to make before the current issues, they know how many spare parts they need to service these cars, they have done this for many many years, so there will be no excuse for them and certainly not just as they will at some point
only make 7000 cars a year.
For my Ariel Nomad, a whole pedal assembly was sent to me the next day off the shelf, in fact they knew the exact batch number of my broken one and knew others had similar issues and hence had already changed supplier since then. For my Westfield, a fan, radiator, intercooler and thermostat were again sent immediately and again they knew of the issue and were excellent in resolving it for me (they are now in receivership it seems...... they were trying to get a car homologated for the EU market, but this had been going on for about 3 - 4 years without success... by coincidence, the same as the Atom 4... likewise, no success yet)
I personally would expect Lotus to keep a stock of common items and in fact the dealers should do the same. If there is an accident and then yes some far less common parts may be required, but 6-9 months? If my car was off the road for anywhere near that time due to Lotus's bad planning on parts, I would never purchase one again and people would know about it too.
Lotus do not need to be so "greedy" so as to make 500 cars and not keep 1 entire cars parts aside for incidents and I am sure they wont, and again, the more common items they will keep far more of and this should be their practise right from the start, even with orders further down the line being delayed.
We shall see... but I am sure they will do this!!!! If not, they will have lots of trouble....
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noted my apologies
