[Sownman]

Cars delivered in LA last week.........................0
Cars scheduled for next week..........................0
Los Angeles city dealers...................................0
Los Angeles county dearlers............................0

To give some idea of the absurdity of this situation to those
who are not from the LA area. I list below the counties
who do have dealers that are closest to LA county. I also
list the populations (from 2000 census) of each county

Los Angeles County.........0 dealers serving 9,519,338
Orange County.................1 dealer serving 2,846,289
Riverside County..............1 dealer serving 1,545,387
Ventura County................1 dealer serving 753,197
San Diego County.............1 dealer serving 2,813,833
San Luis Obispo................1 dealer serving 246,681

If you add the populations and dealers for the counties
other than LA you get 5 dealers serving 8,205,387.
Here in LA we have 0 dealers serving 9,519,338.

Now we do expect to have one dealer soon.
One, WOW. Wonder how many cars per month he'll get
for the 9,519,338 people to fight over ?

 

[pianomaniac]

Now we do expect to have one dealer soon.
One, WOW. Wonder how many cars per month he'll get
for the 9,519,338 people to fight over ?

He won't be selling cars :no:.......only parts. :wallbang:

 

[MikeAR303]

Well... I suppose you should feel blessed that there are so many dealers in your state that you guys have the luxury of complaining that there isn't one in your county

 

[MikeRoberts44]

I feel sooooo sorry for you!

My dealer is not in the same city or county either. He is 220 miles away on some of the oldest and worst interstate in the country. How many dealers do you have in that range, you poor thing? And I have it pretty good compared to my friends in Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraske, etc., etc., etc.

While we are on the subject of LA not having their own private dealer, how about this. There is a dealer here in KC that asked for a Lotus franchise sometime in 2003. They have good credentials and could make service 100s of miles closer for a significant part of the country. Lotus USA told them that they had committed the entire 2005 production and would consider them later when they had production that was not committed. The dealer here accepted that, not happily, but at least with some grace. Do you suppose Lotus USA told the same thing to Galpin Ford? Maybe Galpin thought they could pressure Lotus USA with a list of angry potential customers? Could it be Galpin you should be upset with for leading you on and trying to use you for their own benefit?

Maybe we could get Wisconsin (who also doesn't have a dealer) to send you a cheese package to go with your whine!

 

[Marc]

Those of us who ordered at Symbolic in Beverly Hills are being delivered cars on platform. Mine arrived after Thanksgiving.

I service it a Lotus Thousand Oaks which is 25 minutes from Beverly Hills. You can also use Newport beach which is 50 minutes away. For a Lotus, these are not bad distances.

Like the others have said. So Cal has a lot of dealers compared to other states.

There will be a dealer in West L.A. eventually. Symbolic leaving West L.A. has stalled the process somewhat.

Marc

 

[Sownman]

Re: I feel sooooo sorry for you!

Maybe we could get Wisconsin (who also doesn't have a dealer) to send you a cheese package to go with your whine!

From the 2000 census...

Kansas............2,688,418
Wisconsin........5,363,675

Both STATES combined have less people than LA County. Then theres that snow bound in winter thing and the fact that not so many farmers want a performance car. In fact the entire state of Kansas falls short of Orange county Calif. in potential Lotus buyers. Hard to believe Lotus didn't rush in to KC.

 

[pianomaniac]

What makes you think that farmers don't want a performance car? They have a performance tractor....a performance wife........why not a performance car?

 

[ChrisH]

What makes you think that farmers don't want a performance car? They have a performance tractor....a performance wife........why not a performance car?

I would like to hear more about that "performance wife". Please provide more details and pictures.

 

[clrodrick]

All I can say is....heh. Hang in there Sownman!

 

[Sownman]

I know a pig farmer in Indiana and a corn farmer as well. Trust me on this, they are not about to spend $40k on any vehicle that can't harvest anything and can only carry 20lbs of feed. Then there's the issue of the roads that tend to be flat, straight, and often gravel or dirt.

 

[MikeRoberts44]

Actually, the Kansas City I live in happens to be in Missouri. Of course, that doesn't make any difference. Compared to the City of Angles, the whole rest of the country shrinks to insignificance. Our Ozark Mountain roads or Blue River Road right in KC don't hold a candle to the best driving in the country: the dry rivers of LA. Check out "Grease" and "Terminator 2".

It will be a sad day for the world when LA slides off into the Pacific!

 

[Sownman]

Actually, the Kansas City I live in happens to be in Missouri. Of course, that doesn't make any difference. Compared to the City of Angles, the whole rest of the country shrinks to insignificance. Our Ozark Mountain roads or Blue River Road right in KC don't hold a candle to the best driving in the country: the dry rivers of LA. Check out "Grease" and "Terminator 2".

It will be a sad day for the world when LA slides off into the Pacific!

Not sure why you have the chip on your shoulder. I don't think
I ever mentioned insignificance of anyone, just that an area with year round good weather, affluence, and nearly 10 million people
ought to have a dealer.

Sorry you feel we should slip into the ocean.

Have a wonderful day

Steve

 

[MikeRoberts44]

I guess the point is that you do have at least two dealers within an hours drive, another delivering to Bever Hills list, and probably five closer than I have, yet you want more. Do they take their allocation from my dealer and the others around the country? I don't have my car yet, either.

I went to high school in Long Beach (a long time ago). My father commuted to LA every day to work. Thousand Oaks and Newport Beach seem like a pretty short drive for occasional service.

I am sorry if you were taken in by Galpin Ford. But I am pretty sure you should be blaming them and not Lotus USA and the rest of us. Get over it and do whatever you need to do to get your car. Then let me know. My folks have a timeshare two weeks in March at Lawrence Welk Village in Escondido. I would love to drive the mountain roads in that area. LWV golf is pretty good, too.

 

[mact3333]

Not sure why you have the chip on your shoulder. I don't think
I ever mentioned insignificance of anyone, just that an area with year round good weather, affluence, and nearly 10 million people
ought to have a dealer.

Sorry you feel we should slip into the ocean.

Have a wonderful day

Steve

Steve, just out of curiousity, why didnt you just get on list at Smith, Silverstar or in SD???...if I had multiple dealerships within an hr of me, I wouldnt care if LA itself didnt have a dealer...is it because you didnt get on list fast enough?..then I could understand...only reason I was pissed about LA situation in the past was for selfish reasons cause Seattle list was too long and they had policies I didnt agree with and my own home town until this past week, got the shaft from LCUSA...while I like Joe at Galpin, it was abit misleading to say 99% chance of deal going through when obviously it wasnt even close to those odds.

Smith just offered me a car at 1000.00 over last week and they have more coming in so why dont you get one there...I bet you could get it for 500.00 over if you tried...goodluck.

 

[fitnutrn]

symbolic

I thought symbolic motors is a lotus dealership, they have offices in both Beverly Hills as well as La Jolla. What city are you located? I just found a racing green a couple of days ago(the dealer fed exed all the paper work today and should receive it by tomorrow, 12-15-04). The problem with most of the dealers in CA is that they want $5k+(some want 10+) above MSRP.

Rick
[email protected]

 

[ChrisB]

Re: symbolic

I thought symbolic motors is a lotus dealership, they have offices in both Beverly Hills as well as La Jolla. What city are you located? I just found a racing green a couple of days ago(the dealer fed exed all the paper work today and should receive it by tomorrow, 12-15-04). The problem with most of the dealers in CA is that they want $5k+(some want 10+) above MSRP.

Rick
[email protected]

Symbolic closed their BH store about a year ago.

 

[Sownman]

Steve, just out of curiousity, why didnt you just get on list at Smith, Silverstar or in SD???...if I had multiple dealerships within an hr of me, I wouldnt care if LA itself didnt have a dealer...is it because you didnt get on list fast enough?..then I could understand...only reason I was pissed about LA situation in the past was for selfish reasons cause Seattle list was too long and they had policies I didnt agree with and my own home town until this past week, got the shaft from LCUSA...while I like Joe at Galpin, it was abit misleading to say 99% chance of deal going through when obviously it wasnt even close to those odds.

Smith just offered me a car at 1000.00 over last week and they have more coming in so why dont you get one there...I bet you could get it for 500.00 over if you tried...goodluck.

I am on the list at Silver Star and Steve Harris, for 14 months. I was on the list at Galpin, and am on the "interest" list at SB BMW.

I have recently spoken to Smith, Ascot, Fox Valley, Atlanta, Detroit. I have three color/equipment combinations I would take.

My point with the LA update posts is I'm typing them to Lotus.
Do some people live further from a dealer than I do ? Of course they do, so what. There are many cities and states that don't lend themselves real well to exotic cars. If you choose to live there you take what you get. I find the idea that Los Angeles has no dealer to be absurd, as I would also find it absurd if Miami or NY or San Francisco had no dealer. I knew over a year ago that Symbolic BH was closing. Lotus must have known at least as long as me. Why didn't they get something in place ? Why are we still waiting for negotiations 6 months after a car was delivered to Zevzedeh ? Why are we still looking for a dealer 1 year after knowing the one we did have was closing ? I just care more about LA because I live here. I have one dealer about 1 1/4 hours away another about 1 3/4 hrs and another about 2 1/2. I got on the shortest list available at the time and got hosed. I live in a state that does not get cars in numbers that corrlate to population. Hell we can't even get as many cars in the San Fran bay area as Chicago gets. It is becoming a repeat of the Mini deal. We now have a few cars sitting back east at MSRP or slightly over. We have very few cars at all out here. None sitting on lots at MSRP. Here in LA we did have 5 Mini dealers and do you know we still can't get enough cars to match our population of 10,000,000. At Universal Mini they still add $4k to MSRP for a cooper S. We don't really know how much over sticker an Elise would sell for in LA because they don't sit on lots here. There aren't enough cars and there are no lots for them to sit on.

Steve

 

[rob]

The way I see it, you have five dealers for 18 million people:

Los Angeles County.........0 dealers serving 9,519,338
Orange County.................1 dealer serving 2,846,289
Riverside County..............1 dealer serving 1,545,387
Ventura County................1 dealer serving 753,197
San Diego County.............1 dealer serving 2,813,833
San Luis Obispo................1 dealer serving 246,681

New York has two dealers for 18 million people. If you split the demand in half for the weather disadvantage, LA is still well served and New York deserves another dealer.

280 million people in this country with less than 40 Lotus dealers means one Lotus dealer for every 6 or 7 million people. You are very well served

Here's my question. I live in a county with 1 million people with a median household income of $90,000 within the second wealthiest metropolitan area per capita in the country - behind San Francisco. If Ventura and SLO both have a dealer, why don't we have a dealer? Oh wait, I know. There's one over in Maryland, the next state over, so I don't complain :clap:

Anyway, I am beginning to like these weekly reports even if it does sound like I think they are silly :bow:

 

[mact3333]

I am on the list at Silver Star and Steve Harris, for 14 months. I was on the list at Galpin, and am on the "interest" list at SB BMW.

I have recently spoken to Smith, Ascot, Fox Valley, Atlanta, Detroit. I have three color/equipment combinations I would take.

My point with the LA update posts is I'm typing them to Lotus.
Do some people live further from a dealer than I do ? Of course they do, so what. There are many cities and states that don't lend themselves real well to exotic cars. If you choose to live there you take what you get. I find the idea that Los Angeles has no dealer to be absurd, as I would also find it absurd if Miami or NY or San Francisco had no dealer. I knew over a year ago that Symbolic BH was closing. Lotus must have known at least as long as me. Why didn't they get something in place ? Why are we still waiting for negotiations 6 months after a car was delivered to Zevzedeh ? Why are we still looking for a dealer 1 year after knowing the one we did have was closing ? I just care more about LA because I live here. I have one dealer about 1 1/4 hours away another about 1 3/4 hrs and another about 2 1/2. I got on the shortest list available at the time and got hosed. I live in a state that does not get cars in numbers that corrlate to population. Hell we can't even get as many cars in the San Fran bay area as Chicago gets. It is becoming a repeat of the Mini deal. We now have a few cars sitting back east at MSRP or slightly over. We have very few cars at all out here. None sitting on lots at MSRP. Here in LA we did have 5 Mini dealers and do you know we still can't get enough cars to match our population of 10,000,000. At Universal Mini they still add $4k to MSRP for a cooper S. We don't really know how much over sticker an Elise would sell for in LA because they don't sit on lots here. There aren't enough cars and there are no lots for them to sit on.

Steve

wanna know something even more strange, Tonkin Group in Portland hasnt signed a contract(only letter of intent) like Southbay BMW yet Tonkin was told to order their first 4 cars two weeks ago...they are going to sell the Elise of out their high end motorcycle store(Motocorsa)...so I dont think LCUSA is nearly as picky as some are making them out to be.

 

[MikeRoberts44]

First, let me say that I am glad you are trying to get a car through available means. I even, sort of, understand what you are trying to comminicate to Lotus. On the other hand, most people, countries, and companies to not respond positively to negative pressure. You may acomplish much more by showing Lotus their advantage by having an LA dealer.

Second, I still see LA as very well served. As Rob and I pointed out, you have five dealers serving southern California and at least two in what I would call the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In KC (metropolitan area), Aristrocrat Motors could be our highest end dealer. Their building reminds me of the Crystal Cathedral and they sell Maybach, Mercedes, Jaguar, Porche, Land Rover, Saab, and used to sell Lotus. But they are not in Kansas City, or even Missouri. They are in Merriam, Kansas. Does that mean that they do not count as a KC dealer? Not in my opinion.

Third, Marc said that Thousand Oaks was 25 minutes from Beverly Hills and Newport Beach is 50 minutes. Admittedly, it has been a few years since I drove much in LA, but I have a hard time visualizing where you could be that is over an hour from either of them, unless you are talking about rush hour traffic.