[Stan]

I noticed some folks are mentioning that their car is in "port". I assume this means that the boat got here... I've grown curious about this stage of the delivery process.

How long does it take to get from Port to Dealer?

How often do ships arrive - one per week?

Is Lotus getting the Port to Dealer time duration down? (Maybe this will take some time to settle down)

How much time does getting the star shield applied add?

Is there any other work done on the cars or is it just moving, logistics and paperwork?

 

[MattG]

Lotus has said nothing official about this, so it's all really just speculation. Figure that at best, a car can arrive at a dealer 10 days after arrival in port. At worst...4 weeks or more.

 

[zvezdah1]

Lotus' goal is 10-15 days from port to dealer. My opinion I think ir'a not happening consistently yet in large part due to the trucking and lack of availability of covered transport. This is a busy time of year for car haulers with all the new year models coming in from other companies such as Mercedes, BMW.

Chris

 

[wallabyguy]

My car arrived "at port" on the 31st of July. It made it's way to the distribution center within 3 days. As of last Friday, it was still at the distribution center. A couple of reasons for this; 1) I'm getting starshield, 2) trucking has been, as mentioned previously on this thread, a mess, and 3) the color of my car has stunned the guys (and gals) at the distribution center and they refuse to release it

Honestly, LCU is working hard to reduce the delivery times to approximately 15-20 days. They'll be there within a couple of months.

 

[Stan]

>>>It made it's way to the distribution center within 3 days. <<<

What is the distribution center? A large building where they apply the shield and do various prep things? It sounds like there is only one of them. Maybe this is located at Lotus itself?

 

[wallabyguy]

>>>It made it's way to the distribution center within 3 days. <<<

What is the distribution center? A large building where they apply the shield and do various prep things? It sounds like there is only one of them. Maybe this is located at Lotus itself?

Right description, wrong location. It is located somewhere else in Georgia. There is also a west coast facility.

 

[Stan]

>>Right description, wrong location. It is located somewhere else in Georgia. There is also a west coast facility.<<

Thanks. Okay so there are at least two sets of trucks. Port to Distribution Center. Then Distribution Center to Dealer. Most of the truck delays probably happen in the second move since the dealers are far away and spread out from one another.

 

[wallabyguy]

I know of one car which took 2 weeks to get from Deleware to Princeton New Jersey (about 1 hour away). The trucking has been, how do I put this nicely, an opportunity.

 

[zvezdah1]

Stan,
The two distribution centers are Brunswick Georgia and Long Beach or LA for west coast.

This distribution handles other manufacturers cars as well, it's warehousing facility where they inspect the cars do whatever add ons like the starshield. The distributor is an independent contractor to various foreign car makers.
Chris

 

[Stan]

>>>The distributor is an independent contractor to various foreign car makers. <<<

Oh I see, it's becoming clearer to me now. Lotus needs to depend upon the ship, Port, Distribution Center, Star Shield guy and two sets of truckers to get the show on the road. Given this it seems to me that they might be able to cut the lag by maybe a week or so as they gain experience but not too much more.

 

[zvezdah1]

Stan,
I think your spot on. Timing will get better, it's just a tiny company like Lotus can't compete with BMW, Mercedes for covered trucking space as they probably bring in a hundred times as many cars!

I've heard that the big manuf. like BMW, Volvo book virtually all the covered transport for a number of months when the new models come in.

Lotus could speed up delivery probably if they went to open transporters, but lots of negs to that I think personally.

Lotus is shooting for 10-15 day port to dealer and I'm sure they'll get that point, still on the learning curve.

As has been said before, once the car is released to the dealer, it's really out of Lotus' control on how long it takes to get the car transported by the distribution/trucking company(ies)

Chris