The Official Word - Dealers Now Know Their Allocation

6194 Views 84 Replies 33 Participants Last post by Ridgemanron, Mar 13, 2004

Derek

Discussion Starter · Mar 9, 2004 (Edited)

It has now been confirmed by an official at LCUSA that all dealers have been sent their yearly allocation. This number is, as was speculated earlier, tied to the number of Esprits the dealers have sold.

My dealer said the owner knows their allocation but has not yet revealed the number to him. He said I was early enough on the list so that I would get my car fairly quickly. Does anyone here know their dealer’s allocation or are they all keeping quiet about it?

LCUSA also confirmed that production has not yet started for the US car, but went on to say it would start very shortly. They mirrored the statements made about initial ramp up being slow and then as everything got up to speed a two week holiday where everything would shut down. After this rest everything would kick in at full speed. This full production capacity will not be reached until the end of summer.

1 - 20 of 85 Posts

Evl

· #2 · Mar 9, 2004

I just called Sports and Specialist Cars, and spoke to Mike. I had been dealing w/ Ramsey, but he wasn't in. Anyway, Mike said they hadn't gotten specific numbers, but is expecting his second batch between July and November.

Just one more data point for those waiting with bated breath for any information.

jml1952

· #3 · Mar 9, 2004

Gasp! Are you saying that some dealers will receive more cars than others?? Can we say "I told you so" to a certain someone now?

I can't imagine all of the dealers sharing their allocation numbers too readily, but we have ways of making them talk (actually, I don't, but perhaps some of you can).

So that number of 350 cars by August might be rather accurate for what can be produced in April, May, June and July. Averages out to less than 10 cars per dealer. So even if some dealers get more cars, seems unlikely that they could get more than 15 or 20 by August, and 1 will be the demo, meaning that you need to be pretty high on the list to get a car by August.

Unless they only produce red and yellow cars, so 350 would be just about right for the percentages that have been pre-ordered based on our poll results.

If I were a @#$$$!! speculator, I would be sending a thank-you card to Lotus. This slow launch should boost the market.

babak

· #4 · Mar 9, 2004

Evl said:
Anyway, Mike said they hadn't gotten specific numbers, but is expecting his second batch between July and November.

He should be a politician, might as well say "we'll get the second batch sometime in 2004."

Cary

· #5 · Mar 9, 2004

In my searching for pictures of various color elises' I found this site that had many good photos. Among the photos was this one screen shot. Not sure if it is old news, but interesting none the less....allocation
Not making any claims, or stating anything, just found it interesting, so I thought I'd share.

Edit to point out that this was posted on EliseTalk in both PDF and excel spreadsheet

Modern Wedgie

· #6 · Mar 9, 2004

I know there are many of us who are in the top 3 or so of the second order batch. I wonder what that means for us? A car by next November?

smoseley

· #7 · Mar 9, 2004

So that means I at #52 will be waiting until mid-2004

No biggie... I'll put many fun miles into a Viper GTS by then

ivan1

· #8 · Mar 9, 2004

Modern Wedgie said:
I know there are many of us who are in the top 3 or so of the second order batch. I wonder what that means for us? A car by next November?

I'm in that group. Very discouraging as my dealer told me 2 weeks ago my car might be here in June. Now it seems very unlikely I will have it for the summer

Derek

Discussion Starter · #9 · Mar 9, 2004

Evl said:
I just called Sports and Specialist Cars, and spoke to Mike. I had been dealing w/ Ramsey, but he wasn't in. Anyway, Mike said they hadn't gotten specific numbers, but is expecting his second batch between July and November.

Just one more data point for those waiting with bated breath for any information.

LCUSA said all dealers know their allocation, so someone there knows for sure.

I have to admit this news was a bit disappointing for me. I was really hoping they would say that the all the rumors about time frame, allocation and Esprit sales were greatly exaggerated. Too bad that's not the case. Now I'm going into pessimist mode.... If I get it before 2010 I'll be pleasantly surprised. I'll probably get it just in time for winter storage (2010)

NMRJock

· #10 · Mar 9, 2004

transio said:
So that means I at #52 will be waiting until mid-2004

No biggie... I'll put many fun miles into a Viper GTS by then

Do you mean mid-2005? I've said from the beginning that I hope for an Oct. delivery with my #36 at AutoEurope.
No offense intended, but I don't put a lot of weight on the rumor that the allocation numbers have been distributed. I'd expect it to have been colloborated by at least someone by now. Can we get a real quote from a Lotus official?

roadrunner

· #11 · Mar 9, 2004

Language evolves...

"Colloborate" : When a whole bunch of people get together to verify something (see also corroborate and collaborate)...

Just messing with you man...

NMRJock

· #12 · Mar 9, 2004

Re: Language evolves...

roadrunner said:
"Colloborate" : When a whole bunch of people get together to verify something (see also corroborate and collaborate)...

Just messing with you man...

Unf. Well, I'm a scientist. And I collaborate with people to find corroborating evidence all the time... Pay me no mind, I'm illiterate...

Derek

Discussion Starter · #13 · Mar 9, 2004

NMRJock said:
I don't put a lot of weight on the rumor that the allocation numbers have been distributed. I'd expect it to have been colloborated by at least someone by now. Can we get a real quote from a Lotus official?

This is no rumor. I called LCUSA today and spoke with Clyde, he is the director of marketing. I was not told to keep it quite and don't think it's a secret.

jml1952

· #14 · Mar 9, 2004

Derek said:
This is no rumor. I called LCUSA today and spoke with Clyde, he is the director of marketing. I was not told to keep it quite and don't think it's a secret.

So why doesn't he post the numbers????

ivan1

· #15 · Mar 9, 2004

I suspect the dealers wouldn't want this public, especially those with lower allocations - it would mean longer wait, potentially lost customers...

agent.5

· #16 · Mar 9, 2004

Now, prior Lotus sales must be public record somewhere. Anyone here can hack into all those DMV computers?

ivan1

· #17 · Mar 9, 2004

I wonder how they are dealing with new dealers with no esprit history

Derek

Discussion Starter · #18 · Mar 9, 2004 (Edited)

So why doesn't he post the numbers????

He said all the dealers were sent the details of their actual allocation last week. He did not tell me any numbers but instead said I should ask my dealer as they now have the information. I then called my dealer, he said that the owner was informed of their allocation but did not disclose it to him.

The fact that the dealers know their allocation is public knowledge. If you doubt it, call LCUSA for yourself and confirm what I have posted here.

I know this is not what anyone wanted to here, but them there the facts.

Hans Stuck

· #19 · Mar 9, 2004

This news should make people on the list at Criswell pretty happy. They're one of the biggest Lotus dealers around.

I've heard that at least 15 of the 1st 70 people have dropped off too.

Does anyone know if Criswell sold the most Lotus cars of all dealers last year (I think they did)?

Does anyone know how long their current list is?

Does anyone know for sure how many people have dropped off the list?

NMRJock

· #20 · Mar 9, 2004

Derek said:
The fact that the dealers know their allocation is public knowledge. If you doubt it, call LCUSA for yourself and confirm what I have posted here.

I know this is not what anyone wanted to here, but them there the facts.

So far my only source for this is you. Please understand that I am not willing to classify information from a single, second hand source as public knowledge. My dealership claims to know nothing of allocations yet (as of 30 seconds ago).
I for one would like to hear about the allocations.

1 - 20 of 85 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.