[ulmpharmd]

Its been awhile since i posted on the forum, and i must admit the wait strayed me from the elise and i went out and bought a 2003 black on black Z06. An awesome car, but let me tell you, it's not an elise. I just talked to my dealer and told him i still want the elise, so i'm trading him the Z06 that i've had for a total of 4 weeks! Luckily, i'm not getting hurt to bad b/c i bought the car with 4,000 miles on it so i did not take the initial hit. Bad news is that my dealer just told me lotus called him 30 minutes ago and reported that msrp has just gone up 945.00! Sorry to bear the bad news, but i don't think that it is our dealers that are screwing us around, it is the lack of info from lotus. Anyway, it feels good to be back as #38 at Gonzaba lotus of san antonio. Aaron

 

[Gromit]

First I heard of an increase in msrp. Anyone confirm ?

 

[CAErven]

MSRP INCREASE? - IS THIS OFFICIAL FROM LOTUS OR DID THE SLIMY DEALER JUST TELL YOU THIS??? I WANT TO SEE A WINDOW STICKER OR SOMETHING FROM LOTUS.

 

[ulmpharmd]

This dealer is very trust worthy, and he is super upset b/c they just called him this morning, now he has to call all on his list and tell them " Hey, i don't know when the hell your car is going to be here, but it will cost you 945 more for the wait."

 

[Ground Loop]

$945??? WTF? That's all?

Why piss off everyone waiting for a car for a paltry $1k? That makes no sense at all. If they're going to bump it, might as well make it worthwhile so people can get the bad taste out of their mouth by the time they take delivery next year. $945 just says "we're bumping it now, and we'll probably bump it again before you see yours. We're like that."

In return for the $945, I think Lotus owes us each a $0.37 postage stamp and postcard with a Hello and an order number.

 

[ROCKCENTER]

umm....

can anyone confirm this?

 

[MikeAR303]

All I can do at this point is laugh...

My car is already built and quite possibly already on a boat on it's way here... so hopefully I don't get screwed by this.

If I do end up having to pay the MSRP increase, I'll buy an aftermarket exhaust instead of one from Lotus just out of spite

 

[ROCKCENTER]

is there any other product on Earth that you would endure this kind of customer service to own?

 

[Robert Puertas]

$945? What's that 2%? And still cheaper than in Europe or Oz.

I was expecting at least a $2500 bump with the exchange rates so bad, so that's actually a bit of a relief...

 

[MikeAR303]

is there any other product on Earth that you would endure this kind of customer service to own?

Yes, a magical lantern that grants me any wish I submit to it

 

[Genjuro]

Don't US consumer price protection laws prevent this? Currently the Lotus Cars Elise configuration tool shows the MSRP at what it has always been, 39,985. If they advertise that price when the car was ordered, meaning past, present, and future (until it is changed), then that's the price of the car when it arrives. So price increase or not, all those that have an official order with Lotus are locked into that MSRP.

Also, I have a signed agreement that the MSRP of the car is 39,985, and that the car will be sold to me at MSRP. I also have a signed order sheet that stated the MSRP of the car when I placed my official order with Lotus.

 

[zvezdah1]

I kind of thought it be in the 1 to 2k range certainly not the 10k some of the dealers were quoting.
Chris

 

[zvezdah1]

Genjuro,
I don't know, if the dealer guaranteed to sell you the car at 39.985 I'd think he'd be obligated, as to Lotus increasing MRSP, I think they can do that at any point in the game.

Chris

 

[Vantage]

This is sort of lame, considering people who have submitted an order, did so according to another MSRP. Was really expecting a higher MSRP increase, but later in the game. Perhaps in January. However, going with the theme of hiding dealer allocation, Lotus could not really fulfill existing orders at one price without revealing this information. That might be considered unfair as well. This is blanketing everyone.

Mike, I think your car will cost more unless your dealer has already been invoiced for it.

Do you think our polls affected the amount they increased it by?

 

[Gromit]

Well, $945 is hardly a bank breaker, even for me. So thats not too much of an issue. Just means I have to ponder on the touring pack a little more.

Either way, I'm trying to get confimation, and I'll let you know when I do.

 

[Win]

Chris Smith, can you confirm this?

 

[zvezdah1]

nxm,
Don't have any official word as I'm not in the pipeline, just assuming what Ulm said is true.


Chris

 

[Ground Loop]

Wouldn't it make sense that if Lotus can change the price after I placed my order (in March) that I can then change my order?

Specifically, they can keep the Touring Pack and Starshield. There. new lower price, lower margin, and less satisfied customer..

 

[Evl]

I just confirmed new MSRP of $40,930 with my dealer (Princeton). They are expecting a conference call with Lotus sometime mid next week for further build dates, etc. They do have a number that they have been assured they would get by the end of the year, which is significantly higher than my number, which makes me happy. However, the cars seem to be arriving in a nearly random order, which makes me uneasy. I could end up being anywhere from #6 to #29 at the dealer as far as anyone seems to know. And this whole lets put your order into lotus on 3/4/04, at which point we'll make your deposit non-refundable, then raise the MSRP 5 months later when you may or may not have 4 more months to wait before you get your car makes me decidedly _unhappy_. I guess lotus did a good job of researching how much to raise the proce by tho, because I guess I'll just bend over and take it... it is less than the deposit, so I'm loosing a grand either way. I'll skip the stage II exhaust tho, and will look into other suppliers for the star shield to see if I can save some there.

 

[tidalwdave]

I sent Jeff at Dimmitt here in Florida an email to confirm, here is his response.

"F____ ! I just found out this morning? How do you find this S___ out?!? Effects all units invoiced after Sept 1. Got letter from John English"