[xxxotic]

I confess. I also read the other forum and use a different name there. I saw this posted and dont know if it is true. The person who is #10 in line claims they have been bumped up to #3 because of the color they selected. I think they are at the same dealer as I am, but they havent responded back yet. I also called my dealer to see if this was true or not, but he was busy and so I just left a voicemail. If I hear anything I'll let you know. I ordered red and am #7 and person #9 ordered yellow, so maybe if this person is #10 and ordered red or yellow then maybe they are shipping out standard color cars first. I know the dealer ordered storm Titanium, so maybe they could be shipping them out first too. I know the dealer is fair and wouldnt sneek anybody in ahead of someone else.

Robert P.- Did you notice what colors the cars wher when you were at the factory last week? Seems wierd since at the press launch they had all of the different colored cars, so I thought they were being shipped in the order that the dealer took the order.


http://www.puresportscar.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=794

 

[Robert Puertas]

My comments from the Lazer Blue thread:

Seemed like yellow, red, and the silvers & greys were the most common colors on the line with a handfull of green, black and blue cars thrown in. Saw one Krypton car but it doesn't look very good inside the building. Might be better outside in the sun.
BTW - I was told Krypton is a solid color with a metal flake in the clear coat. I didn't think to ask at the time, but maybe this is the reason for the additional cost of the Lifestyle paints?

The paint process takes over 25% of the total man-hours of the car, so it's the bottle-neck on the production line. For efficiency, they do batch together cars of the same color. So if there's a Krypton car in the first 10, and there isn't another until #80, then lucky number 80 is going to get her car early. Of course they paint the body panels for every car on the same line, so this means Fed cars, 111R's, 111S's, VX Turbo's and Exige's are all painted together. The panels are all painted by hand off of the car on rolling jigs, and there is a comprehensive paint QC process at the end of this stage.

Obviously, for efficiency's sake they paint cars in batches of the same color. There's some down time associated with switching paints in the spray guns that can me minimized this way. However, the fact that they are painting all the different models at the same time, and then separating them into the three different lines later makes all of this impossible to quantify. At one point I saw three jigs lined up and ready for installation with Ardent Red panels, one was a standard Elise, one was a Fed car, one was a VX. Furthermore, it's not like all of the lines work at exactly the same pace, or all of the containers will be delivered to dealers on the same day.

Keep in mind, the Fed cars I saw on the production line would have production numbers in the 80's & 90's. Which means if you're the lucky SOB getting the second customer car from your dealer there's a slight chance that I saw it being screwed together.

 

[shay2nak]

yeah i agree with Robert, I also read/heard about this months ago. No matter what spot you are in, your car may arrive early or be delayed depending on what color you have chosen.

So maybe if one were to chose one of the popular colors, that person may get their cars a lot sooner if they were farther down the list. Compare this to someone in the top ten who pics an unpopular color, it might take longer.

 

[xxxotic]

Keep in mind, the Fed cars I saw on the production line would have production numbers in the 80's & 90's. Which means if you're the lucky SOB getting the second customer car from your dealer there's a slight chance that I saw it being screwed together.

I think I have the first Ardent red car that my dealer ordered!

My dealer didnt call me back yet...Maybe he had to shift me to a higher number and is afraid to tell meI

I know that no one in the top 10 at the dealership ordered green, orange, purple, or bronze, and that they had orders for 2 storm titanimums, 2 blues, a red, a yellow and 4 other unknown colors which made up their list for the first 10 cars to be ordered because I asked the dealer what color people already ordered so that I wouldnt be getting the same color as someone else.

I think it is all a plan by the COM to get their cards first

 

[ringmeister]

My comments from the Lazer Blue thread:
Keep in mind, the Fed cars I saw on the production line would have production numbers in the 80's & 90's. Which means if you're the lucky SOB getting the second customer car from your dealer there's a slight chance that I saw it being screwed together.

That would be me...#2 and Ardent Red. I just hope the LSS doesn't hurt me. Did you see LSS federal cars being built?

 

[Robert Puertas]

I did not see any Fed Sportpak wheels at the factory...

They are supposedly delayed a couple of weeks. Since the entire production is already 1 week behind due to the other issues and the first 40 cars were delaer demos, the delay is basically irrelevant to all of us who ordered the Sportpak.

 

[xxxotic]

I just spoke with Palm Beach Motorcars and they said that the rumor is not true and they did not tell anybody this. Last they heard all cars are being shipped in the way the orders were placed.

Maybe the person that posted heard it from another dealership.
They still havent replied back to my inquiry on puresportscar.com about the dealership they are at so they probably just made it up:no:

 

[MitchT]

Delivery etc,

I was at a kids b day party with my dealer this weekend, he drove the car at barber, he said it was incredible, and that he did not want to give it back, he said it did close to 120 on the straight ?,

Anyway I am 17 at Palm Beach Motors just infomred from the person in charge of ordering, I am told possible august most likely september for my car, Artic Silver,

alos dealer said the car ate the 966 and he spun the car on a slippery part of the tract, had stuff from the trees and rain on it, also said, same old stuff ,gettin in with top on is impossible don't order the hard top, and the regular suspension is fine, plus he said the stock wheels are better lookin in person than the LLS wheels.

They think people will drop off list when time comes and they will get the cars to sell to impluse buyers. Well I feel better knowning my arrival time frame.

 

[Randy Chase]

There are other forums????

Here is the real information, not speculation or "my dealer said something like..."

The plan was to make the cars in the exact order of the deposits, coupled with the allocations of the dealers. That did not happen exactly like planned because they did batch cars according to colors.

However.. I highly doubt someone was number 10 and is now 3 because of it. What is more important is the number of cars being shipped initially and if the order falls into that. Afterwards, things will even out as they develop the Federal only car line and ramp up production (at least one car per week incremented continuously). You should see a much larger flow of cars in early fall.

 

[huggy bear]

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=48948#post48948

I have always been told by my dealership to expect a slow trickle of 3-5 cars per month for the initial shipments. I have never been told by my dealer that they would receive all ten cars at once.

Now I do have an email from LCU that indicates how they plan to produce the cars but doesn't give further insight into the numbers of cars shipped to the dealers in the initial shipment and which dealers get them first. That said I think what my dealer has told me is true.

This is from LCU in reply to my query about when I'd get my car...

We do not tell the specific details due to that the first batch of Elises are being built in order of deposits by dealer. What that means is, instead of building 10 yellow cars with blk in a row. We are building yellow, red, black, purple, and silver. Cars go on sale in the middle of June. This is when these cars will arrive on US shores.

 

[Randy Chase]

Huggy... that was what LCU thought (build by number, not color)... but it turned out to be incorrect.

Cars will arrive by June 15th.

 

[zvezdah1]

Randy,
If not on the water yet, I don't see how they could be here by 15 June. That'd be two weeks if they leave this Friday.

Chris

 

[Randy Chase]

Randy,
If not on the water yet, I don't see how they could be here by 15 June. That'd be two weeks if they leave this Friday.

Chris

I am just the messenger. But as I understand it, a large number of cars were ready to be loaded. And I was told... "they will be here June 15th."

 

[zvezdah1]

Well, sounds good to me!!
Chris

 

[atyclb]

Randy,
If not on the water yet, I don't see how they could be here by 15 June. That'd be two weeks if they leave this Friday.

Chris

it's only 10-14 days from England to SC by ship

(I assume cars being "here" means at the port, not at the dealerships though)

 

[LotusLust]

alright guys...this is unfair. starting to make my pulse surge with all this talk of cars in the US by 15 JUne.

Chris...we MUST do a get together at LOA. Any advance notice will do...hopefully at least a day ahead so i don't miss it by not reading the board for a day or two!

 

[zvezdah1]

lotusl,

Working on LOA to host a get together of deposit holders and interested parties sometime soon after the demo( and perhaps a couple more) cars arrive.
Cheers
CHris

 

[SteveK]

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents!
I was at the factory about a month ago. The body panels were lined up against a wall and not in any way grouped according to color. Annette Lancaster said the cars are built to a specific order and would not be grouped in colors (unless there were say three yellow cars with one other color in between). They paint the body panels in paint booths by hand like at your local body shop so there is very little time saved if they group them. Each car has a specific order number from the very start. Body panels received are fitted to a master jig to be sure they fit, sanded. primed and painted. Yes the body finishing takes a good bit of the entire time at the factory because it is done by hand. Really the rest of the car is assembled like a kit from parts that are manufactured elsewhere.