[wallabyguy]

I guess Arnie and Clyde get paid this year

http://www.autoweek.com/cat_content.mv?port_code=autoweek&cat_code=carnews&loc_code=index&content_code=03962239

 

[offroadr35]

"carbon fiber front and rear crash structure"???

this sounds like misinformation to me. i've never heard of such a thing

 

[babak]

Is that a CO mustang on the cover? *gasp*

 

[wallabyguy]

Autoweek go themselves, lets see how to put this, on the bad side of LCU with the way they have handled the Elise intro. Yea, I agree, carbon fibre front and rear doesn't sound right. But if it is, I know why the R&D cost so much.

 

[atyclb]

Is that a CO mustang on the cover? *gasp*

no, it's saffron

 

[rtking]

No, that's a shade of orange designed to simulate Grabber Orange... the same color that the original 1970 Boss 302 Mustangs raced by Parnelli Jones was painted in. Ford chose this color to replicate those famous Trans Am cars of yesteryear.

Personally, I like that shade of Orange. But then again, I used to have Grabber Blue on my 1970 Mach 1 and now have Azure Blue (a slightly muted variant) on my 2003 Mach 1.

Bob

 

[atyclb]

No, that's a shade of orange designed to simulate Grabber Orange... the same color that the original 1970 Boss 302 Mustangs raced by Parnelli Jones was painted in. Ford chose this color to replicate those famous Trans Am cars of yesteryear.

Personally, I like that shade of Orange. But then again, I used to have Grabber Blue on my 1970 Mach 1 and now have Azure Blue (a slightly muted variant) on my 2003 Mach 1.

Bob

that's a very yellow orange, I guess

 

[ivan1]

or is it an orangish yellow????

 

[MitchT]

This is interesting , they have a hugh demand, supposedly the factory can work double shifts to supply the demand, but the group says 2200 units sales per year. OR 200 month, delivery, of 200 / 39 dealers =5 a month, the allocation we hear bigger dealer bigger allocation, but if sales are back ordered to the magnatude reported why would they not up product to meet demand.

Pent up demand only makes the dealer short term profit as buyers get discouraged then demand fall and dealer are left with excess inventory because manufacturing finally comes around.

Champion porsche in florida had so many boxsters and carrears in inventory last year from other dealers that it looked like a car storge facility, now the market is flooded with the models and prices reflect it.

I am a sports car buff and a CPA, biz is my game and these are simple theories, remember proton is behind Lotus group and I am not saying to deminish quality for quanity, I just see a guy who is 200 out saying well, I 'll buy a vette or a 03 boxster s for less money and no waiting.

The people who can afford a 40k second or third car, usually want what they want now rather than later, I guess the moral here is good things come to those who wait.

 

[wallabyguy]

Mitch,

Remember that Lotus hasn't sold this many cars in the US during a single calender year in literally decades. No one at LCU now was part of the organization when it was importing those numbers back in the early 70's. So there will be some adjustment time required. Also, Lotus is trying to keep up residuals (which the Esprit was terrible with) and knows that it wil have no problem selling all the Elises (as they are now) that they can build until the new one surfaces late in 2006 as a 2007. Now I would expect that model to be much more "federalized" and appealling to a much larger market. When that car arrives, Lotus wil need to adjust production accordingly.

In the mean time, expect a slight increase in production of the current car to about 2500-2800 units annually. Whatever Lotus does, they don't want to hire a bunch of people that they will need to let go in a year when demand drops (see VW with the New Beetle and Ford with the Thunderbird). By keeping the Elise numbers low, it increases the exclusivity of the car and brand and in the long term creates a better premium market. Remember that this is the bottom of the line car for Lotus. they go up market from here. A bunch of Elises sitting on dealer lots in 24 months with 12,995 numbers on them isn't going to help the M250 replacement or a new Esprit.

 

[MitchT]

Robert,

Good points, the residual on boxsters and 996 are not what they used to be, and we all know the esprit was not the best seller, plus some old timers remember the lucus electronics lotus used to use which where not the best, these are all issued to be considered.

But remember one thing, the automitive business is just that in the end a business, don't think for a second that if the elise is as bid a hit as we see here, that competition won't be lurking far away, VW has a roadster in the works and Mazda is upping its mazda speed effort with the 5 and new 8, the vette is supposed a good unit, porsche is revamping the boxster, Don't get me wrong I choose the elise because I believe in the philosophy and the brand history, but these guys also need to strike when the iron is hot, this is a ruthless global industry and market share in america is not looked at as who cares, this is the market a far as the other manufactures are concerned, and proton and lotus are stepping into the big leagues, I want them to succeed because I love the product but that does not mean they will, in the long run.

IMHO

Regards

 

[zvezdah1]

Mitch,
Tony Shute addressed the issue of why not adding shifts to get the backlog out of the way. He said they didn't want to build 5000 cars the first year and have troubled selling cars the next year. Also, they still remember the fiasco of the M100 elan so they don't want to put all their eggs in the US market. Also, as Robert says, no good purpose would be to hire a slew of people for a 2nd shift and lay them all off the next year. They just couldn't sustain two shifts for this car on a continuing basis..

I applaud Lotus for being cautious in re-entering the US market.


Chris

 

[offroadr35]

one issue that you are forgetting Mitch is that there really are no cars that compete with the Elise. Sure there are cars that people will cross shop with it, but they really are not comparable. With the ever growing US regulations there aren't likely to be any close competitors ever again. Can you truly see any other company including Lotus being able to bring over sub 2000lb cars in the future? No serious sports cars have even been close in years and years.

-Steve

 

[andykeck]

Autoweek go themselves, lets see how to put this, on the bad side of LCU with the way they have handled the Elise intro.

Details, man! Details!

 

[MitchT]

We all definately see the beauty of the light weight sports car, I was hoping for years that porsche would issue a light weight spider version of the boxster, not happening, the 550 com edition is paint and gagits,

Love the job Lotus has done on the car, I guess , I like most I am furstrated to wait for a car, and not know when it is coming and also, the dealers seem to use the limited initial avail, to there best advantage, scary when the consumer is held in check by the supplier and the consumer can do nothing about it.

In all likely hood, lotus playing it conseratively, as brits, and since the home market is good, they are not hurt by the lack of presence her, funny it seems we all wanted this car but no one stepped up to the plate, I recall my 93 tt rx-7 r1 , sales where slow, price was thought to be high, and the main stream did not like the car. now they are in demand and have developed a following. We yanks are funny consumers I guess. Hope we can get the cars here with out any hang ups. would love to put together a track day in south florida, also dying to bring the car to the local PCA events and kick sum struddle.

Have fun guy, nice ranting with ya

MT ,
04 VW toureag v8, 19'' 275/45 pzeros, just a little rubber remains

 

[rtking]

About the Trans Am Boss 302, it's actually orange, but that photo doesn't capture the color correctly. Maybe the metering was off on the camera due to the bright sunlight? I've attached a different picture of the car to show the orange color.

As for the Elise... I have to admit that I prefer the 2,200 build number. I know it means that I have to wait, but it also keeps demand and our potential resale value high. (I don't want to sell, but in this economic environment, one never knows if the job situation will change ...)

Bob

 

[BTC]

Here is the authors email address.

[email protected]

Does he have his facts right?

 

[Surferjer]

Mitch, I also am a CFO and CPA, but I don't agree with you on some critical points. You did make some good points about what happens when the supply blows away the demand, though!

First, the Elise will be my 3rd car, although it will function as my daily driver. Those of us who can afford three cars also can afford to wait, because we already have good transportation. I've been patiently biding my time for almost five years on the Elise, and was never really tempted into settling for a vette or boxster. I almost imported an Elise and did a Sun Motorsport conversion two years ago.

The pent up demand will likely stay pretty strong for a couple of years, as each magazine starts to run comparison tests and each in turn shout the Elise's praises.

Also, it's not like Lotus is stockpiling these cars. There's demand all over the globe, so they're selling each and every one they make, and they're making them as fast as they can it seems. Europeans want this version, too, which is more powerful and much more reliable. At the low rates they're going to coming here, they could have a market for many years.

I think we'll find that Lotus will ship at much lower rates over here each month, but keep talking up the 2200 number to try to give hope to those down on the lists. Glad I'm not one of them.

 

[MitchT]

I think the car is great, my friend sat and fired up the yellow car at the ny dealer before the show , he said fit/finishes was excellant,
the rims where perfect, in/out not for girls in skirts, but his impression was that the car for the 42-5k is a deal for the enthu/track/fashion crowd( limited to new hot cars_ then sell when new gucci item comes out), now how big is that market in the us, and what else do we have to choose from.

I find myself lookin at ebay, and mags, and I don't see anything I like but we are a special breed, I had a ford/mercury capri shadow II in high school, every body else had carmaros and firebirds. I think the demand will be created for a decent volume in the race/enthu/collector crowd as the years progress, not big volume, unless they affiliate with toyota then anything can happen.

To that point, toy has no real sports car today, Mazda jumped back in, nissan is trying with the Z, not too many newMR2 around. I have neighbor with an older turbo mr2 perfect shape, he can't believe the elise will be here in the US, for that matter most of us can't beleive it will be here.

Thank g-d< I am not currently married, my x almost lost it when I brought home a boxster, this would most def, put a suv wife over the edge.

 

[zcar222]

Mr2 spyder is due for a redesign. Toyo had better not copy the elise styling though. Something needs to be done if they want to keep making sportscar sales. They should do that or bring back the supra. (but that is a gt car anyway - not a 2 seater sports car).

-Whit