[Joecooool]

I spoke with Lotus this week about my car and learned a few things.

First of all, they absolutely do color batch. The issue was brought up because I ordered Laser Blue and was told the next batch of those is scheduled for a late November build. Mine is in that group.

Secondly, cars destined for the west coast are built at the beginning fo the month while cars for the east coast are built at the end of the month. This is new info I had not seen here before.

 

[Allan Gibbs]

First of all, they absolutely do color batch. The issue was brought up because I ordered Laser Blue and was told the next batch of those is scheduled for a late November build. Mine is in that group.

Secondly, cars destined for the west coast are built at the beginning fo the month while cars for the east coast are built at the end of the month. This is new info I had not seen here before.

Scottsdale Lotus did mention color batching a few weeks ago too. I just wasn't sure if it was something I could mention.

The beginning and end of the month production is interesting!

 

[ChrisB]

First of all, they absolutely do color batch. The issue was brought up because I ordered Laser Blue and was told the next batch of those is scheduled for a late November build.

They might batch Laser Blue cars and not the other, standard colors. For every batch of orders they take, they probably find out how many Laser Blue orders they have, order that much paint and paint them all together rather than keep an opened paint container around for dyas, weeks, etc. The other colors (except AB? ) likely have enough volume that this is not a problem with them.

Enough people have been through the factory on tours and seen what may be very limited color batching, apparently confirmed by the (a) plant manager.

 

[Surferjer]

Imagine being the one poor sucker ordering AB!

 

[andykeck]

Secondly, cars destined for the west coast are built at the beginning fo the month while cars for the east coast are built at the end of the month. This is new info I had not seen here before.

Absolutely. The west coast cars are built on the 1st and the 2nd, and the east coast cars are built on the 3rd through the 31st.

 

[shay2nak]

I spoke with Lotus this week about my car and learned a few things.

First of all, they absolutely do color batch. The issue was brought up because I ordered Laser Blue and was told the next batch of those is scheduled for a late November build. Mine is in that group.

Oh sweet! I've got Laser Blue also, but I haven't been able to get into my dealer's latest batch of 10. What is the delivery date for a build in November?

Is the info accurate for the late November builds for Laser Blue? If so, maybe I should talk to my dealer about squeezing me in.

 

[Allan Gibbs]

Re: Re: Conversation with Lotus - new info...

Absolutely. The west coast cars are built on the 1st and the 2nd, and the east coast cars are built on the 3rd through the 31st.

oh, I see. Factoring in color batching, that explains why everyone in the western part of the United States who has an Elise lives in San Diego or Northern California and their colors are predominantly yellow! This excludes those who bought it on THE EAST COAST!! :wallbang:

Guess were this is:

a) Northern Cal;
b) Southern Cal;
c) Not Arizona!

 

[Gromit]

Re: Re: Re: Conversation with Lotus - new info...

oh, I see. Factoring in color batching, that explains why everyone in the western part of the United States who has an Elise lives in San Diego or Northern California and their colors are predominantly yellow! This excludes those who bought it on THE EAST COAST!! :wallbang:

Guess were this is:

a) Northern Cal;
b) Southern Cal;
c) Not Arizona!

LA ?

 

[babak]

Imagine being the one poor sucker ordering AB!

Serves him right. J/K

 

[Ridgemanron]

West coast cars are built the first half of
the month (1-15) and east coast cars
(16-end). The reason being it takes
two weeks longer for cars to reach w.c.
when shipped. This was told to me by
Manhattan Motors in NYC.

 

[raggedy1]

Re: Re: Conversation with Lotus - new info...

Scottsdale Lotus did mention color batching a few weeks ago too. I just wasn't sure if it was something I could mention.

uh, why wouldn't you be able to mention it???

 

[James A]

When I toured the factory in July the colors going through production and waiting to be shipped seemed very random to me. I don't remember seeing Lazer Blue, but the other colors were well represented. I could not see that batching was being done.

 

[SteveK]

Yikes, after seeing that picture, I am regretting my choice of Saffron. I'm going to have the same problem finding my car in the parking lot as my wife has with her silver Odyssee!

 

[Evl]

West coast cars are built the first half of
the month (1-15) and east coast cars
(16-end). The reason being it takes
two weeks longer for cars to reach w.c.
when shipped. This was told to me by
Manhattan Motors in NYC.

That doesn't really jive with the 11/11 build date I have been quoted for my car.

 

[_JD_]

That doesn't really jive with the 11/11 build date I have been quoted for my car.

I got an "early November" build date for my East coast car too.

 

[Win]

My early OCT turned into very late OCT.

 

[JonOrangeElise]

One reason I opted against aubergine (a very, very small reason), was that I was concerned color batching would delay the car 4-6 weeks extra.

 

[dechien]

Skipping colours?

Joe Cool:
Thanks for your input. It does seem to make further sense from everything that I've read.
My question remains: Are you aware of Lotus ever SKIPPING a colour due to lack of orders? For example, if they didn't get enough orders for Arctic Silver, does it appear likely that they'll just skip them until the next month? I'm desperately trying to figure out why my AS is so much slower than other customers on the same list from the same dealer here in the west coast.
- dechien

 

[_JD_]

The thing that's confusing about the first half of the month being devoted to west coast cars and vice versa, is that Lotus loads two boats every week, one for each coast.

 

[Evl]

One other point is that according to lotus, only 3 cars go in each container. Therefore, while I can see waiting for a multiple of 3 cars before sending to one coast or the other, I don't see the point in waiting two weeks.