[ConeFusion]

I just came across this Elise prototype review on the web site of a local paper. It's not very recent (from June), but it looks like it hasn't been posted before:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/autos/stories.nsf/0/1A1003FDCBEDEF0386256D4E004EE7D5

The dealership expects to get 250 cars the first year! Sounds a little optimistic.

 

[HoopyFrood]

The dealership expects to get 250 cars the first year! Sounds a little optimistic.

Hmm. In early July they were much more realistic - 70-80 at 6-8 per month. Again, I don't think even Lotus themselves have figured out how they'll distribute other than stating (though I can't find the reference at this point - probably on the old official forums) that there will be a fixed total allocation (ie. minimum per dealer) and a variable total allocation.

That's why I found their ad in the local alt-weekly (Riverfront Times) to be rather curious - the only reason they could have for actually spending money to promote the car (as it's safe to assume a dealer could pretty much sell all they can get within reason) would be if the total number of cars they'd get was dependent on the number of orders they take as of a certain date.

If it truly does oversell prior to release (and we have no reason to believe it won't), the logical scheme would be to allocate each dealer x cars plus 1 car per y orders over their fixed allocation - so someone who's 75th at a dealer that has 125 orders may get a car while someone who's 50th at a dealer with 55 orders might not.

 

[Dan]

I just came across this Elise prototype review
[...]

It is not a prototype review. It's a review of the silver European S2 that's going dealer to dealer that many, including myself, have already test driven. When I read "prototype," I was expecting a review of an Elise with a Toyota engine and transmission.

 

[ConeFusion]

Sorry if I gave you false hope, Dan, I tried to indicate in the title that it wasn't recent. The review said "prototype", so I just copied that. I guessed that it was one of the demo cars that went around the country.

So you're also from St. Louis, HoopyFrood? I was at that dealer last week to put down my deposit. They told me they had around 35 so far. And the salesperson didn't want to make any predictions on their allocations. Which was good, because I knew that he would be blowing smoke if he had given me numbers. He said that Lotus should give them much better idea of arrival times once the official orders are taken and processed.

 

[HoopyFrood]

So you're also from St. Louis, HoopyFrood? I was at that dealer last week to put down my deposit. They told me they had around 35 so far.

Yeah - deposit down for a couple of months now. Apparently I just missed the blue S2 being here. I'd been meaning to drop them a line for a couple of weeks - guess I'll have to now, as that's the same figure they mentioned 3 months ago.