Geely To Take Control of Lotus
Discussion
Tuna said:
Frimley111R said:
It is not. Lotus is tiny in comparison to most manufacturers. They simply do not have huge budgets and 100s of staff to manage their marketing.
That's true. However, in their engineering the lack of budget leads to creative solutions and innovation. In marketing, they're playing catch-up at best.As a small manufacturer they could be completely redefining their relationship with the customer. They could be using some of the latest 'big data' techniques to build a cradle to grave involvement with customers past, present and future. From the kid that uses a Lotus as his phone wallpaper through to the guy browsing the classifieds for a restoration project, they should be out there offering support, advice and 'brand presence'.
Yet we've still got the same disjointed manufacturer/dealer relationship where every client interaction with Lotus is effectively started from scratch.
Some of this is pure marketing stuff, but some of it is basic changes in business. Look how Tesla have completely upended the way you buy and maintain a car. There are some interesting possibilities about how the manufacturer manages the full life-cycle of the cars it produces (and the historic cars it has already made - Lotus' heritage and glacial depreciation of the modern cars are strengths they don't always play on).
And some of it is about making a strength from a weakness. In the London area there are just a handful of dealers - so why not deliver test drives direct to your office (in the colour and trim combo you've been looking at on the configurator) on a Friday evening ready for you to spend the weekend with a new car?
These days it's not necessarily about spending millions of pounds on a marketing campaign - that's old school in the extreme - it's about being prepared to try something radically different to deliver real value to the customer. Lotus is at a size where they should be able to contemplate the impossible when it comes to how people buy and own their cars. That's what has allowed Tesla to get as far as it has and increasingly (though slowly) it's how the mainstream manufacturers will go in future.
One issue is that their cars are expensive and niche and, below the Evora, are essentially specialist 'fun cars' that have been on sale in one form or another since 1998.
Tesla has almost no similarities to Lotus at all. The money pumped into them has been massive and they are selling mainstream cars with highly innovative new tech.
I have to agree that their treatment of potential customers is pretty poor. I went on a factory visit with a friend a couple of years ago. It was great BTW. They have my details, I've heard nothing since.
I'm now in the market for an Exige. When I say in the market, I hope to be able to place an order next spring. I went to a dealer, had a test drive. Nothing since.
Now, I'm old-fashioned and quite like the hands-off, we're not going to be too pushy aproach, but I think I'm in the minority nowadays.
I'm now in the market for an Exige. When I say in the market, I hope to be able to place an order next spring. I went to a dealer, had a test drive. Nothing since.
Now, I'm old-fashioned and quite like the hands-off, we're not going to be too pushy aproach, but I think I'm in the minority nowadays.
Frimley111R said:
Getting your name out there still costs. Big data is for Lotus would be a huge undertaking in manpower for Lotus, I don't think that's realistic at all for them. Yes, there are viral ways to promote the cars but it all still needs someone to create and manage them and I doubt the marketers at Lotus are more than a handful at the most. Can they 'contemplate the impossible'? I am sure they can, can they do it, probably not.
One issue is that their cars are expensive and niche and, below the Evora, are essentially specialist 'fun cars' that have been on sale in one form or another since 1998.
Tesla has almost no similarities to Lotus at all. The money pumped into them has been massive and they are selling mainstream cars with highly innovative new tech.
It doesn't have to cost that much at all - sometimes it's just a question of giving a guy with the right skill set the permission to make changes. One of my clients carried out a programme like that with a core team of just four people. We saw eight digit returns on the project. It was an extreme example (one job saw a 1000x ROI), but often transformation like that is more about having the authority to challenge assumptions than throwing men and machines at it.One issue is that their cars are expensive and niche and, below the Evora, are essentially specialist 'fun cars' that have been on sale in one form or another since 1998.
Tesla has almost no similarities to Lotus at all. The money pumped into them has been massive and they are selling mainstream cars with highly innovative new tech.
I'm no fan at all of the social media 'viral hype' hype, but is has changed how people want to interact with businesses. It's rather too easy to assume the answer is to have accounts on Twitter, Facebook and so on - but the fundamental point is that people expect a brand to remember them from one interaction to the next and to maintain a conversation. suffolk009's post is a perfect example. That's the take home from 'big data' - it's not about building some vast machine and bombarding the public with viral crap - it's about using technology to remember people and carry a dialogue rather than just throwing things at them and instantly forgetting them.
The vital similarity between Tesla and Lotus is that they had extremely limited physical presence in the market. There was no appreciable 'dealer network' and no-one to sell Teslas for them. That meant the entire burden of promoting the cars fall on a single entity with limited resources. Compare that with Porsche where the vast dealer network very actively promotes the brand beyond it's core customers. Teslas solution (or one of many) was to sell direct to the customer which was near unthinkable in the motor trade. If you've ever spoken to a Tesla owner, they're fanatical about the brand - they are personally invested in the company and excited about every development.
I must admit that lotus as a brand and marketing company has huge potential if done correctly. They have the Bond connection, race history, engineering heritage. Hopefully Geely will see this and invest in lotus from a marketing perspective and then invest in overhauling the interiors of cars like the evora which to be honest is the car that has the biggest potential to sell in larger numbers. Cars like the elise and exige will always remain very low volume cars due to their nature. If Lotus, with the help of Geely, can pull off a modern-day NSX (i.e. great performance and reliability and affordable) I think they will set up the Lotus brand for a true revival.
I think the point I'm trying to make is that Lotus shouldn't fall into the trap of trying to be 'like the big guys' if Geely pour money into their marketing budget. Instead they should take the opportunity to make the sort of changes that the big guys will take years to implement.
They've done that since forever in engineering terms - early adoption of aluminium, innovation in fibreglass and so on. However, their sales operation is stuck with trying to replicate the surface fluff that you see larger manufacturers do (Twitter accounts etc.) rather than changing the actual relationship with the customer.
We live in a personalised, online, connected and shared world and that is having a huge impact on the motor industry that will take decades to fully respond.
They've done that since forever in engineering terms - early adoption of aluminium, innovation in fibreglass and so on. However, their sales operation is stuck with trying to replicate the surface fluff that you see larger manufacturers do (Twitter accounts etc.) rather than changing the actual relationship with the customer.
We live in a personalised, online, connected and shared world and that is having a huge impact on the motor industry that will take decades to fully respond.
blueg33 said:
It looks like Geely are being a bit difficult for Lotus customers. The are scrutinising every warranty claim whatever the value and dealers are unsure if claims will be honoured.
Really? Already? Probably just doing an audit. I know one dealer was described by the factory as being 'Very good at making warranty claims' 
Tuna said:
It doesn't have to cost that much at all - sometimes it's just a question of giving a guy with the right skill set the permission to make changes. One of my clients carried out a programme like that with a core team of just four people. We saw eight digit returns on the project. It was an extreme example (one job saw a 1000x ROI), but often transformation like that is more about having the authority to challenge assumptions than throwing men and machines at it....
...the brand beyond it's core customers. Teslas solution (or one of many) was to sell direct to the customer which was near unthinkable in the motor trade. If you've ever spoken to a Tesla owner, they're fanatical about the brand - they are personally invested in the company and excited about every development.
Ah I see, not really big data, more a decent CRM. You're right they could do more but given that main manufacturers can barely do it......the brand beyond it's core customers. Teslas solution (or one of many) was to sell direct to the customer which was near unthinkable in the motor trade. If you've ever spoken to a Tesla owner, they're fanatical about the brand - they are personally invested in the company and excited about every development.
Frimley111R said:
Ah I see, not really big data, more a decent CRM. You're right they could do more but given that main manufacturers can barely do it...
Yes and no. The difference being a CRM falls into the siloed data problem and you have yet more fragmentation (but a nice big project that everyone can feel good about for the X years it takes to get it working - a terrible distraction). I'm using big data as a shorthand for systems that cross cut business information. For instance, it should be possible for a customer to track their car being built, or a second hand purchase to have full access to the car's service log online. From the business' point of view it should be possible to know if someone pursuing a warranty claim is a first time owner, or has had a series of cars. Typically such information ends up in lots of separate systems, which prevents the business from understanding where they get value from and where there are problems that can be avoided. Not only that, it often gets bundled up into quarterly or (even worse) annual reports, so change happens incredibly slowly. From a customers' point of view, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.
There are lots of opportunities there to try something different - and with a relatively small user base, to be quite experimental.
suffolk009 said:
And anotrher thing, when are Lotus going to start looking after their older cars and offer factory restorations, like so many other top end manufacturers do.
It's a good example. Once a car is privately owned/sold on the company loses track of both the owner (who has investment in the brand) and the car (which will continue to be a source of revenue to whoever maintains it and an advertisement for the rest of the company).Tuna said:
suffolk009 said:
What's a CRM?
Customer Relationship Manager - or to the overly cynical, an email database. Big and clever ones take years to implement and ensnare all who go near them.craigjm said:
Until the new EU GDPR comes into effect next year (and it will impact on us even though we are leaving so cannot be dismissed.) CRM's will then rely 100% on consent and there will be many "customers" who will ask to be removed. It's a marketing nightmare.
Indeed, which is one of the reasons why email and undirected social media bleating will increasingly be seen as a back channel. There's got to be a reason for the customer to want to talk to you - some value they get from doing so. Why not have your car connect to HQ and automatically handle warranty and servicing conversations? Or have an 'owners app' that takes you from configuration to ownership? It's a difficult topic, because for a lot of people it's still seen as 'marketing' - you tell the customers all the reasons to buy your stuff. But what you're really selling is a deeper relationship with the company, one which works both ways - a bespoke ownership experience and rapid feedback to all parts of the company of the full lifecycle of each vehicle.
I really dislike the 'disruption' mantra, but it goes beyond CRM when you're changing the way you run your business in response to the customer. Uber and Telsa get that - you're not trying to sell an existing business 'better', you're changing what and how you're selling. Do it right and the buy-in is amazing. Do it wrong and it comes across as a second-hand marketing campaign and a bunch of gimmicks.
The headline is all Volvos to be electric from 2021. Actually that should be all NEW volvos.
Anyway, I do hope this doesn't mean that Geely will be pushing for Lotus to use Volvo engines. Don't think the new Elise would benefit much fromm lugging all the extra batteries and motors around.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40505671?ocid=s...
Anyway, I do hope this doesn't mean that Geely will be pushing for Lotus to use Volvo engines. Don't think the new Elise would benefit much fromm lugging all the extra batteries and motors around.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40505671?ocid=s...
Tuna said:
Customer Relationship Manager - or to the overly cynical, an email database. Big and clever ones take years to implement and ensnare all who go near them.
CRManagement not Manager however a Manger can be part of CRM strategy CRM is not a system in itself but more about how you view your customers from every touch point they have with a company, ideally if you contact by email, phone web or in person the 'system' will have sufficient information so you don't have to repeat yourself as to why you are making contact, it can also be anticipatory. The CRM system in itself cannot ensnare people its what a company does and how it interacts with the customer and if the company gets it right then people will stay with them........the system doesn't need to be big or complex.
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