Fully understand and agree with what you say. It is not about the champagne, caviar, etc. or even only the price. I think it is about the tone which is currently a bit all over the place - they risk trying to be everything to everyone.
Firstly, what tone does Lotus want around the Emira? If it was about a beautiful, slick, aspirational car (which the ad potrays), the event (apart from the car) definitely was not that. It was not even about the heritage and properly connecting us to it. It felt like 'the Lotus of old' with the talk about the 'new Lotus' not matching what it felt like.
Second, while most on this forum are 'all about the car' and enthusiasts (hence more forgiving - and I consider myself a newbie here), we are not what is going to give Lotus its 1000s of sales and financial future. To do that, the experience needs to be a lot better - not mimic Porshce but compete with it. That is what hit Alpine especially in the UK. Maybe, Lotus will get this right elsewhere - seems like the Bahrain launch was more slick.
Anyway, let's see how this plays out. Onto the drive next!