RE: Lotus Cars Europe boss reportedly steps down
Discussion
@ JACKO: Nerr yourself! 
I see Eletres occasionally and I find them completely anonymous on today’s roads. Saw a black one parked up on a grass verge a couple of days ago. I don’t think anyone noticed it or gave it a second glance. Not many earlier Lotus cars you could say that about.
I see Eletres occasionally and I find them completely anonymous on today’s roads. Saw a black one parked up on a grass verge a couple of days ago. I don’t think anyone noticed it or gave it a second glance. Not many earlier Lotus cars you could say that about.
DMZ said:
And let's not forget that the buzz around the Emira was huge. Possibly based on the initial price but none the less, huge. It really resonated with people in ways that I don't think a Lotus has done possibly ever. It turns out that people in general saw a lot of value in the supercar-lite looks, a nice cabin, CarPlay and a good stereo, and the famed Lotus handling.
I still do, it's on the short list of cars that could replace my Griffith. otolith said:
The heritage of selling small, cheap sports cars is also the heritage of perpetually teetering on the brink of insolvency. They are harking back to aspects of the company’s history which fit the narrative of what they want Lotus to be perceived as, not what it had become. As always, corporate history is curated.
Oh I completely understand what they thought they were doing. Throwing away their existing owner base, which I think one of their marketing people insinuated on an Autocar podcast. But a lot of the potential customers who would put up with the inherent compromises of the Emira or their EVs are those that own or have positive memories of previous models. Those that don’t like what the brand represented before - they’re still going to associate the new product with that.
Taking your existing fan base with you is how Porsche succeeded with the Cayenne. Or how BMW has massive goodwill despite doing a similar transition over a few generations.
Panamax said:
DMZ said:
Emira is surely one of the best cars to have been launched in the last few years.
As evidenced by the long queues of customers outside Lotus dealerships.Good product, badly marketed.
I think history will be kind to the Emira, but right now, the market is not quite sure what to do with it, allied to Lotus making an utter bolleaux of both the launch and the market positioning of it.
Stick Legs said:
The problem with selling new sports cars is that the mechanisms for selling new cars in volume such as fleet sales, motability and heavily pushed PCP schemes don't apply to cars like the Emira.
Enthusiasts who want one as a indulgence will usually buy used as the saving is significant.
The success of the Elise was that it was so temptingly cheap and brilliant that it was more sensible to buy a new Lotus than a used Porsche.
Lotus fumbled the ball at every stage of the Emira, most notably in pricing, the price rose with seemingly every article until the real car appeared.
They should have touted it at £80k in the first place, the successor to the Espirt.
Instead they started off low ball, as if it was the next Elise.
This is a good point in the RRP I was saying pre launch it would be 100k based on the old Evora was 90k ish for the last 410s. I was staggered when they announced the pricing. They should have had the confidence to price it at 100k and it would have sold. A lot of the pulled deposits were from people that were really pushing themselves to get to the 60/75k and as soon as the penny dropped that depreciation was going to be a thing it spooked a lot of people. At the 100k price point I think they could have weathered the storm however Lotus did have production targets to hit so maybe the artificially low price was more to meet those targets than to have a sustainable business. Enthusiasts who want one as a indulgence will usually buy used as the saving is significant.
The success of the Elise was that it was so temptingly cheap and brilliant that it was more sensible to buy a new Lotus than a used Porsche.
Lotus fumbled the ball at every stage of the Emira, most notably in pricing, the price rose with seemingly every article until the real car appeared.
They should have touted it at £80k in the first place, the successor to the Espirt.
Instead they started off low ball, as if it was the next Elise.
LotusOmega375D said:
@ JACKO: Nerr yourself!
I see Eletres occasionally and I find them completely anonymous on today’s roads. Saw a black one parked up on a grass verge a couple of days ago. I don’t think anyone noticed it or gave it a second glance. Not many earlier Lotus cars you could say that about.
Only really the ones based on mainstream cars. But the Emeya and Eletre are meant to compete in the mainstream space, so they’re going to look more Lotus Carlton than Lotus Esprit. I see Eletres occasionally and I find them completely anonymous on today’s roads. Saw a black one parked up on a grass verge a couple of days ago. I don’t think anyone noticed it or gave it a second glance. Not many earlier Lotus cars you could say that about.
The Emira doesn’t get enough love for the interior. It’s better finished than a comparable Porsche product. No squeaks or rattles and it all feels high quality.
A shame they couldn’t engineer a front boot and heating your luggage is less than ideal as well. I’d forgive it a lot for the looks. Pictures don’t do it justice.
A shame they couldn’t engineer a front boot and heating your luggage is less than ideal as well. I’d forgive it a lot for the looks. Pictures don’t do it justice.
highway said:
The Emira doesn’t get enough love for the interior. It’s better finished than a comparable Porsche product. No squeaks or rattles and it all feels high quality.
A shame they couldn’t engineer a front boot and heating your luggage is less than ideal as well. I’d forgive it a lot for the looks. Pictures don’t do it justice.
I was looking at a couple parked up at Shelsley at the weekend. The yellow is nice but the blue really pops - it is quite metallic.A shame they couldn’t engineer a front boot and heating your luggage is less than ideal as well. I’d forgive it a lot for the looks. Pictures don’t do it justice.
I am still a sucker for the green though - with yellow calipers.
LotusOmega375D said:
@ JACKO: Nerr yourself!
I see Eletres occasionally and I find them completely anonymous on today’s roads. Saw a black one parked up on a grass verge a couple of days ago. I don’t think anyone noticed it or gave it a second glance. Not many earlier Lotus cars you could say that about.
That one in the works car park stands out massively, first of all its pretty big, and being that lovely green they do, in a sea of black, silver and white it does stick out in more ways than one. Its not beautiful, but it is striking, not a bad looking thing, looks like this,I see Eletres occasionally and I find them completely anonymous on today’s roads. Saw a black one parked up on a grass verge a couple of days ago. I don’t think anyone noticed it or gave it a second glance. Not many earlier Lotus cars you could say that about.
Jazzy Jag said:
The results could kill the Lotus brand.
I'll bet they're losing money on every car they build in UK; that's what threatens to kill the sports car business. The "Lotus brand" is a different question. They own it, it's probably worth very little to anyone else, so the only question is what they're going to do with it. Maserati ended up on nothing but saloons and SUVs, but it still exists. Meanwhile, bizarrely, MG does at least turn up with the Cyberster.Panamax said:
I'll bet they're losing money on every car they build in UK; that's what threatens to kill the sports car business. The "Lotus brand" is a different question. They own it, it's probably worth very little to anyone else, so the only question is what they're going to do with it. Maserati ended up on nothing but saloons and SUVs, but it still exists. Meanwhile, bizarrely, MG does at least turn up with the Cyberster.
Nothing but saloons and SUVs, barringthe Maserati MC20/MCPura, Maserati GranTurismo, Maserati GranCabrio, Maserati MSG Racing in Formula E, Maserati GT2 in the GT2 European Series and Ultimate Cup Series, Maserati GT2 Stradale and MCXtrema, Master Maserati driving academy
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