[dwei42]

can anyone make an educated guess due to experience, how much the dealer that do not sell for MSRP will mark up the price for the elise? I know for the e46 m3...in the beginning the markup price was 5 g's...now its down to 2 g's...what do you guys estimate for the elise?

 

[adamant]

Depends how greedy they are. Perhaps they can get the first few cars and sell them to the highest bidder. Any ealership not respecting Lotus's request for selling at MSRP don't deserve to be patronised IMHO.

 

[Vantage]

I can't give a good estimate of what markups will be at dealers that impose them, but certainly the car can be had for MSRP from the beginning. And for reference, who is charging $2k over for M3's? They are not in short supply, with allocation spots ready for an owner to specify particular options, and cars sitting on the lot unsold. I would pay no more than MSRP.

 

[demi]

It's never a good idea to rush to buy a hot new sports car. There are markup, reliability, dealer chicanery, and insurance issues that always make it a pain. We've waited several years for the Elise already - just be patient and I'm sure you can get one for MSRP.

I have a feeling there will also be a few buyers that won't exactly fall in love with the Elise's bare-bones creature comforts (not a problem for me). So within the first year there may be a couple of barely used models at moderately bargain prices, too.

 

[dwei42]

Assael BMW and New Century BMW in southern california are still charging 2 k over msrp!

 

[Vantage]

Assael BMW and New Century BMW in southern california are still charging 2 k over msrp!

Perhaps to make the customer feel like they got a good deal if their MSRP offer is accepted? Who knows. The closest Audi dealer also wants $5k over for the S4, but MSRP can be found easily.

As a Symbolic salesperson put it, "we're in the business to make customers, not lose them."

 

[MattG]

can anyone make an educated guess due to experience, how much the dealer that do not sell for MSRP will mark up the price for the elise?

I believe Boardwalk Lotus (CA) was pricing theirs at about $45k, though since MSRP has not been announced it's tough to say how much of a markup that is.

 

[Craigy]

You'd have to be insane to buy an elise from a dealer charging over the recommended price. From the factory the margin is quite high anyway: 10 to 15%. Of course, they don't cost anything like that to manufacture but the factory needs the money!

Seriously, you'd need your head examining if you payed more than lotus charge.

Craigy

 

[MattG]

It's not uncommon for a brand new model to demand a premium price. Even the Mazda Miata (MX-5) was selling for over MSRP when it was first introduced.

 

[LarryB]

With main stream dealers, they'll sell like 20 cars for $500 over invoice for every hot model that they can get over MSRP for...supply & demand. Hopefully most Lotus dealer wouldn't fall prey to that. Even it means waiting longer or going to another dealer, it'll be wroth not to pay the mark-up.

Agree, that the Elise in Euro trim has good margin, with all the extras (parts, engr...)going into the Fed version, not so sure there givng a little bit of it up to reestablish themself the market.

 

[pcpacker]

A local Dodge dealer here in Utah is marking up the new Neon SRT4 $7,000. That is ludicrous that a car that is supposed to go for 19,999 is marked up to that extreme. It is almost good performance for the money at 20K (if it wasn't a dodge neon of course).

 

[Allan Gibbs]

I was a bit concerned about being charged over MSRP when I placed a deposit with Scottsdale, AZ Lotus. I was relieved that our deposit agreement states "Elise @ MSRP".

Now, I'm just waiting for the offical MSRP announcment.

 

[jml1952]

My agreement with the dealer seems to commit to MSRP, which is listed on it as $38,500. However, the fine print says that the price could be higher if the cost to make the car US-compliant goes up (e.g., if it costs $1000 extra to make the front end pass the bumper test, they could pass it on to me). When I asked about a premium (I think I used the indelicate term "dealer gouging"), I was assured that would not be the case in Beverly Hills. Since they cater to those interested in much more expensive cars, I'm hoping that they stick to this. But with car dealers, who knows?

Many of you have indicated that your deposit is refundable. I think this is true in my case, although my paperwork doesn't seem to address that explicitly. In any case, I have no plans to test that.

 

[Vantage]

Symbolic of BH? They are good people. They will refund your deposit if you wish, and they will charge you no higher than the official MSRP.