Lotus Emira

[Ascender]

I feel bad for Lotus when it comes to the EV side - the whole industry has been stitched up to a degree with the targets which were set by governments. And whilst there's a (profitable) market there for something like this from Lotus, it feels like they're just not setup to actually implement something like that successfully or quickly.

As for the Emira, that's clearly a fabulous car, so it's hard not to think there should be a sensible, profitable way to make and sell that car as the core of their business.

[Jobbo]

Today's Autocar has a twin test of the base A110 against the Emira SE Turbo with the 400bhp AMG 4-cyl. They say both are easily liveable with but they preferred the A110's flightier feel; they liked the Emira but said early on that as a driver's car, it feels a bit tryhard.

I didn't try a 4-cyl Emira and when I preferred it over the A110, it was the V6 which I'd driven. They didn't feel particularly similar to be honest; the Emira felt much more special to look at, to sit in and to drive. But hey, I didn't buy one. And Autocar also did a full road test of the 992.2 Carrera S today where they declare it the best 911 currently sold. That's still what I want.

[mik]

@Ascender - I chatted briefly with one of the Parks Glasgow sales guys back in 2021 when the Emira model (not even a mule - no powerplant etc) was being dragged around the dealerships with much excitement, and found out that Lotus were changing their sales model with the release of the Emira : purchase on-line rather than via dealership sales teams. I think this created a number of new challenges between parent company and dealerships. My impression (not personal experience) is that this has also created some challenges in the aftersales customer support space too.

[Ascender]

I do wonder with the Emira if its another case of everyone admiring it and saying how great it is... before buying something else.

Moving to an online model for sales and the knock-on impact that must have on the whole dealer network for after sales and the logistics around sales itself isn't an easy thing to do for any car company other than a new start I'd imagine.

[SSO]

As we are discussing Emira+ in this thread - Lotus released their Q2_25 Results a few days ago.

We could do with an @SSO breakdown, but $218MM loss cited for the first half of the year, with sales figures dropped significantly over the same period in 2024. (20% drop in lifestyle EV's, and 64% drop in sports cars (which is almost entirely Emira - maybe a smattering of Evija in there)).

With overall sales up in China, it was Lotus's biggest market for this period. That's mainly due to other market sales completely tanking however.

The Eletre (EV SUV) and Emeya (EV saloon) must offer huge profit opportunity (given their price point, with all manufacturing in China) that Lotus have clearly struggled to leverage. Even in China - Geely's home territory.

A sad state.

Posted this on Lotus recently: https://ssoreport.com/thoughts-aug-25

[Matty]

I do wonder with the Emira if its another case of everyone admiring it and saying how great it is... before buying something else.

There is a lot of this, I'm sure.

I'm stubbornly Lotus learning but if I had 100k, it wouldn't be on an Emira. I don't know the target market is who's actually buying one instead of a Cayman? The quality isn't there, nor the prestige or dealer network.

Should have built an A110 rival.

[mik]

Posted this on Lotus recently: https://ssoreport.com/thoughts-aug-25

Ah - thank you. Hadn't realised. Have just subscribed to your news feed.

[scotta]

Porsche have just done Lotus a massive favour by discontinuing the 718 this week.

Heres the Lotus Emira i would have and keep the £12k change.

https://porsche-code.com/PSTHMTC2

[PaulJ]

Porsche have just done Lotus a massive favour by discontinuing the 718 this week.

Heres the Lotus Emira i would have and keep the £12k change.

https://porsche-code.com/PSTHMTC2

That's the very model I've had for 5 years, and would probably have re-ordered one if it were possible. I'll keep mine as long as seems reasonable and my run of 7 new Porsches over the last 25 years will end.

Over the years I've also had (amongst other sports cars) 4 Lotuses, and I dearly wish they could have built something to retain my custom, but their whole set-up is so flakey that's never going to happen!

I hope younger 2 seater fans find something of interest that's battery powered, there's nothing around to tempt me I'm sad to say.

[scotta]

Porsche have just done Lotus a massive favour by discontinuing the 718 this week.

Heres the Lotus Emira i would have and keep the £12k change.

https://porsche-code.com/PSTHMTC2

That's the very model I've had for 5 years, and would probably have re-ordered one if it were possible. I'll keep mine as long as seems reasonable and my run of 7 new Porsches over the last 25 years will end.

Over the years I've also had (amongst other sports cars) 4 Lotuses, and I dearly wish they could have built something to retain my custom, but their whole set-up is so flakey that's never going to happen!

I hope younger 2 seater fans find something of interest that's battery powered, there's nothing around to tempt me I'm sad to say.

I just don't understand how they think anyone is going to buy an Emira at £92k with the 4 banger when Porsche and Alpine can sell you their 4 banger for mid £50k and Porsche can sell you the 4.0 For £80k with some nice options.

This is before we get into the dealer network support and the issues that customers are having. Ive spoken to a few Emira owners and they have all had issues of varying amounts.

[Mito Man]

They ruined their own reputation and residuals. When researching the dealer that had the 7 series for sale they had some bad reviews - almost exclusively Emira owners. Turns out Lotus had so many rejections on them and never fixed them, they'd just bulk sell them to third party dealers. Of course the stupid thing was they're under warranty so would end up back at Lotus to be fixed. Said dealer would just sell the cars to the public and then new owner would wait many months for Lotus to fix the car.

[RobYob]

It's bloody weird how everyone looked to Geely as the breath of fresh air, the kick in the pants and the injection of cash and connections that Lotus needed to Finally get away from the hand to mouth slow slow slow death spiral that has plagued Hethel for years.

But the fwits of management have outwitted the new masters again.

Maybe it's victim blaming, but it's also a pattern of entrenched behaviour that I really think may be incurable.

I'd certainly expected middle and senior management to be made accountable for treating employees, suppliers and customers the right way, but I see no evidence of that and it's really fucking depressing because there are still good people there and Lotus should be so much more.

[scotta]

It's bloody weird how everyone looked to Geely as the breath of fresh air, the kick in the pants and the injection of cash and connections that Lotus needed to Finally get away from the hand to mouth slow slow slow death spiral that has plagued Hethel for years.

But the fwits of management have outwitted the new masters again.

Maybe it's victim blaming, but it's also a pattern of entrenched behaviour that I really think may be incurable.

I'd certainly expected middle and senior management to be made accountable for treating employees, suppliers and customers the right way, but I see no evidence of that and it's really fucking depressing because there are still good people there and Lotus should be so much more.

The Emira should have been a GREAT product. It looks fantastic. Mercedes onboard as a technical partner for engine supply should have been a masterstroke. Their launch event with the mule they were touring the dealers with was a massive hit.

First disappointment was the weight. Then the 4 cylinder was detuned to 360 bhp. Somehow they managed to take Mercedes gearbox and mess up the software. Then there was supply issues due to covid - Ill give them that one as out of their control. But the customer experience is all on them.

[jamcg]

Lotus always makes me think of clarkson on top gear describing themselves as “ambitious but rubbish”

[integrale_evo]

The original Elise did well because it was a breath of fresh air, and was pretty cheap and affordable.

You could put up with occasional slightly patchy build quality because it felt like something of a sports car revolution. Miles more focussed than anything outside of a caterham or kit car.

They were always always going to struggle to go upmarket and compete with Porsche etc while still having the ‘built in a shed in Norfolk’ image.