RE: Lotus Terminates European Dealer Network
Discussion
noclue said:
In times when cash is tight overheads are the first thing a company looks at. Lotus probably believe that the people buying Lotuses have already made thier mind up this is the marque for them even before they hit a dealer and that they will retain 95% of the sales they get direct cutting out the middle man
are you assuming that Lotus will sell direct?
IMHO this is a prelude to rebuildingthe network as an upmarket brand.
new dealer standards will demand that dealers have nicer showrooms with a new corporate identity etc.
If there is not enough volume or profit in the franchise dealers will tell them to go f
k themselves.Frimley111R said:
People would absolutely pay £100k for a Lotus if it had flashy showrooms and great build along with all the main attributes of any Lotus. This is step 1...
Really? Honestly?I can't.
It's like Tesco trying to compete with Dolce & Gabana, or Peugeot / Renault trying to compete with BMW / Mercedes, it's just never going to work.
Ford abandoned the mid size exec market as they realised it didn't matter how good a Scorpio was, it was never going to compete with a 5 series / E class. It might not be right but it is reality.
There isn't enough volume these days for Aston / Lambo / Ferrari / Bentley to maintain sales.
Aston are not back to running full time and the Aston brand is a whole lot stronger than Lotus.
I wish Lotus well, but this policy is madness.
bertie said:
Aston are not back to running full time and the Aston brand is a whole lot stronger than Lotus.
The brand may be good, but I'm not sure Aston have the right mix of cars in the current market. It seems to me that their attempt at a 'city car' is embarrassing and the rest of the range is too narrow.Whether this is a good business decision, only time will tell. It's amazing though, the number of people on this site that appear to believe that the current changes are being made on a whim and without a whole load of analysis, not least from the majority owner. Lotus has to change - their European dealer network is a joke and their bread and butter model is selling into an increasingly saturated market.
Current public opinion doesn't have faith in even a slightly upmarket Lotus (the Evora) despite it being a great competitor in that segment - so the company is boxed in. They certainly can't go cheaper, and without repositioning the brand they can't broaden their range up market. Once again, it's make or break time, and they have to do more than just produce excellent cars - they have to change the way they engage with their customers at every level.
Frimley111R said:
If you think they can't make it look at Alfa a few years ago, look at Skoda and Seat to see how far any manufacturer can come.
Yes, but they had the support/engineering (and corporate parts bins) of much larger and profitable parent companies.For example, many Skodas & Seats are reworkings of VW/Audi models. Lotus doesn't have that luxury with its present owner.
Frimley111R said:
People would absolutely pay £100k for a Lotus if it had flashy showrooms and great build along with all the main attributes of any Lotus.
So Lotus is, effectively, going to dump its existing customer base and chase those in a much more rarefied area of the market?I'm not saying it can't/won't happen, but it's a very big leap to go from flogging circa £30k cars that sell to enthusiasts to peddling £100+k cars that have to compete on all levels with Ferrari/Lamborghini/Porsche.
I wish them well, but fear they could be a small fish in a small pond already populated by sharks.
Puddenchucker said:
So Lotus is, effectively, going to dump its existing customer base and chase those in a much more rarefied area of the market?
I'm not saying it can't/won't happen, but it's a very big leap to go from flogging circa £30k cars that sell to enthusiasts to peddling £100+k cars that have to compete on all levels with Ferrari/Lamborghini/Porsche.
I wish them well, but fear they could be a small fish in a small pond already populated by sharks.
I think they will be fine to be honest. When i think of Lotus i think of small fast track cars as I'm sure most people do, they have being doing these types of cars for decades, so they have pedigree, much like Ferrari/Lamborghini/Porsche. I'm not saying it can't/won't happen, but it's a very big leap to go from flogging circa £30k cars that sell to enthusiasts to peddling £100+k cars that have to compete on all levels with Ferrari/Lamborghini/Porsche.
I wish them well, but fear they could be a small fish in a small pond already populated by sharks.
People buy Ferrari/Lamborghini/Porsche cars due to prestige/pedigree, statistics, looks and how lavish they are. I feel that Lotus have most of these categories except how lavish they are. If they made a bigger more lavish car, just increase the power and bump up the price. I honestly do think they could do well, if it's a nice car and it's fast you can't argue with it's price (as they do have pedigree).
Yea or nay?
Frimley111R said:
Greg_D said:
cqueen said:
bertie said:
My main problem is if I was going to spend the thick end of 100 large on a car, would I be thinking Lotus.........err, no.
Maybe not in it's current format...Edited by cqueen on Thursday 8th July 17:17
But i do agree though, the signs aren't good
Greg
Bottom line is Proton are clearly investing some money to make this work, and Lotus's has not really been very profitable in the past 10 years despite the massive and unexpected success of the Elise
It's clear something needs to be done and for a low volume maker, there is no chance of being competive at the bottom end of the market, it took a ground breaking car like the elise to get lotus decent sales, and even here they still did not really make much money
Small volume car companies need to sell expensive cars, selling cheaper ones, the case just does not add up, i do however hope lotus keep a small lightweight sports car in the lineup, but for the company to ever have a chance of being profitable they need to look at porsche, as in having the majority of there profit comming from high margin, expensive cars
It's clear something needs to be done and for a low volume maker, there is no chance of being competive at the bottom end of the market, it took a ground breaking car like the elise to get lotus decent sales, and even here they still did not really make much money
Small volume car companies need to sell expensive cars, selling cheaper ones, the case just does not add up, i do however hope lotus keep a small lightweight sports car in the lineup, but for the company to ever have a chance of being profitable they need to look at porsche, as in having the majority of there profit comming from high margin, expensive cars
Edited by peter450 on Friday 9th July 01:28
Well I think we are just worried that these guys are going to ruin Lotus. Top of the market is extremely crowded, and Lotus can't really compete with that kind of fit and finish without spyker prices tags. But they practically own the small exotic sportscar segment where most of us enthusiasts have a chance of buying into. Shouldn't they be evolving the elise format to keep it current? Porsche did that with the 911 for what 40 years?
If they go into Porsche/Ferrari territory, they will be abandoning core customers as well as their USP. Good luck to them. I hope they know what they are doing.
In the meatime, I'm ordered a Caterham Roadsport. Back to basics!
If they go into Porsche/Ferrari territory, they will be abandoning core customers as well as their USP. Good luck to them. I hope they know what they are doing.
In the meatime, I'm ordered a Caterham Roadsport. Back to basics!
bertie said:
My main problem is if I was going to spend the thick end of 100 large on a car, would I be thinking Lotus.........err, no.
I seriously think if they are doing this they are going to put themselves in the firing line of mclaren.Lightwight highly strung brittish sportscars both are charging into the market and i think mclaren have the edge on the name. Lotus however could easilly compete with porsche and aston for building true drivers cars.
Gassing Station | Motoring News | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff