New Lotus Dealership

[anonymous-user]

[redacted]

[BravoV8V]

Its not unusual for a dealer to have multiple franchises under the same roof. For a small marque like Lotus, it might not be much more than a sign over a desk.

Where was their 400 demonstrator?

http://www.lotuscars.com/stoneacre-lotus-durham

[LotusOmega375D]

That is pretty abysmal. Lotus Cars don't seem to have much luck in the North-East of England: they split with Silverlink Newcastle a couple of years ago. I think everyone must still go to JCT600 Leeds. At least you know your car would get serviced OK there.

I don't think Lotus stock is turning at the moment anywhere really. Even an established dedicated dealer like Lotus Silverstone is packed to the gunnels with cars at the moment. In fact they're having to turn away cars being offered to them for sale-or-return or outright purchase, simply due to lack of capacity/space. They currently have listings for 9 new cars plus 17 second-hand ones, so a total of 26 on-site to choose from.

Compare that to new dealer Hexagon Classics in London. They seem to have already lost their Lotus mo-jo: they only have 4 cars listed for sale.

[CTE]

Would expect new car sales especially with any manufacturer to be slow this time of year...a mate who is head sales honcho with the regions premier Vauxhall dealer says he has never known it to be so slow in 10 years. It will be extremely difficult for a minnow like Lotus.

[alex_gray255]

usually starts to happen when money gets tight.

[Shnozz]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I still look back amusingly at the "launch" of the new Exige at JCT in Leeds. All gathered there on the evening only Lotus didn't manage to actually get a new Exige to the dealership so we stood around eating curly sandwiches and looking at an old F1 car instead they had wheeled in. Most surreal "launch" I have ever attended.

[Thorburn]

That's not good at all. Went along to the new Howards dealership at Weston Super Mare and they're sharing that with the Honda showroom, but had 4 or 5 cars inside the showroom and plenty outside as well. Sales manager was enthusiastic and good knowledge given they'd been doing it less than a year.

[Darryl247W]

Our local dealer isn't making much effort either. The cars are all out the back of their Mazda dealership, next to the sheds where they wash the cars for the second-hand lot.
Speaking to one of the salesmen it was clear they've no interest in pushing the Lotus brand.

I really want to see Lotus do well but I wonder how much effort they put into overseeing some of their dealers.

[BravoV8V]

Don’t worry. It won’t be long before they are being sold via every Volvo dealer.

[s2kjock]

BravoV8V said:

Don’t worry. It won’t be long before they are being sold via every Volvo dealer.

Murray's in Edinburgh have been selling alongside Volvo for years of course.

Arriving at silly o'clock to drop your car off for a service before they open up means standing in a queue behind a handful of old bufties with their dogs in tow. I quite like it.

You also used to get the option of sharing a "courtesy" minivan into the city centre with Kia owners and chatting about caravanning.

It's dead glamourous owning a Lotus.

[vernz]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I tend to take a view on the dealership experience. If I like the car enough I'll either lump it with a local dealer or travel further to a better one. There isn't actually too much ex demo stock of 400's at the moment and many appear to be very highly specified with almost all the extra options possible and as a result they are well over 80k in most cases.

As for the GT4 being N/A........I wouldn't be so sure. The old GT4 effectively had the Carrera S engine at the time, so I think it may well be a 3.0l turbo this time, all of which is academic if you are not already on the dealers 'special' list reserved for their GT customers!!

[ade73]

This isn't a new dealership, I test drove a 400 there early last year. Mark the sales guy couldn't have been more helpful.

Spoke with him earlier in the week explaining I was test driving a bunch of different cars that weekend and the 400 was one I was interested in. Turned up on the Saturday afternoon, they took a few details and a photo copy of my driving licence and handed me the keys saying which way to go for the better roads and not to be too silly.


Compared to the Lotus dealer in Gateshead who couldn't have been more unhelpful, they would only let the head sales guy take you out in a car.

And back in the days of F1 in Newcastle who liked to rip you off big style compared to JTC in Leeds.

[Boogs]

s2kjock said:

Murray's in Edinburgh have been selling alongside Volvo for years of course.

Arriving at silly o'clock to drop your car off for a service before they open up means standing in a queue behind a handful of old bufties with their dogs in tow. I quite like it.

You also used to get the option of sharing a "courtesy" minivan into the city centre with Kia owners and chatting about caravanning.

It's dead glamourous owning a Lotus.

I usually grab a coffee and a bite of lunch in Henley and a little meander down the Thames, make a day of it.