US LOT Forum - Questions for Lotus

[blindside]

2 hours ago, Neal H said:

I believe Lotus are deliberately ignoring the current cars as they play no part in the future

Deliberately ignoring the current model lineup because it doesn't reflect where they want to position the brand in future is understandable. Absolutely no doubt there are compelling commercial reasons for this. Geely will expect a clean sheet of paper approach to refresh the whole business from end to end.   

However, whilst trying not to hammer the point to death, probably the best brand ambassadors they could ever wish for are current owners & the network of clubs that support them. Lotus owners are invariably hugely passionate about their brand. Lets be honest they are prepared to defy market opinion & accepted buying norms because of the cars & the unique, unadulterated design/engineering philosophy that underpins them.

It just feels that the whole marketing & communication effort, (which to date has been quite muted & hard to fathom), ignores this. Or their new customer strategy 'is not harnessing this to best effect' if you want to put a slightly more positive spin on things! Preaching to the converted would surely be much easier than exclusively pushing to build a new customer base from scratch.

Who knows? Some of the existing nutters so eloquently categorised by Jonny @The Pits  might even be tempted to buy the new Esprit or whatever 'E' variable their marketing gods eventually decide to go with. Only of course if its pretty enough even without any lipstick and is armed with a V6. 😎   

[Bibs]

I've sent an email suggestion that I head over to the factory and carry out some interviews on a more one-to-one basis with some of the excellent AV equipment I have access to, the idea being to get more of a feel of the people who are now steering the company - their backgrounds, thoughts and ideas of the current and future. Fingers crossed they'll like the idea and we can get it done. 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Nice idea, but you could be in for a long wait in the current circumstances. Pencil it in for when the first series Evija comes off the production line.

Edited April 30, 2020 by LotusLeftLotusRight

[Bibs]

The factory is starting to open back up on the 11th May and I'll have completed 12 weeks self isolation by the end of the month. 

[DarrylV8]

12 weeks of self isolation?? sounds like you've been a naughty boy 

[Bibs]

No immune system mate, and probably what you said too! 

[C8RKH]

Is that why you drink so much rum, gin, wine etc?  You use the alcohol to kill the bugs!  

[Frickin_idiot]

6 hours ago, Bibs said:

I've sent an email suggestion that I head over to the factory and carry out some interviews on a more one-to-one basis with some of the excellent AV equipment I have access to, the idea being to get more of a feel of the people who are now steering the company - their backgrounds, thoughts and ideas of the current and future. Fingers crossed they'll like the idea and we can get it done. 

This sounds like a great idea. An easy win for Lotus management.

[hedgerley]

On 30/04/2020 at 13:27, blindside said:

It just feels that the whole marketing & communication effort, (which to date has been quite muted & hard to fathom), ignores this. Or their new customer strategy 'is not harnessing this to best effect' if you want to put a slightly more positive spin on things! Preaching to the converted would surely be much easier than exclusively pushing to build a new customer base from scratch.

Just got round to listening to the podcast or whatever these are called these days. I must admit to being somewhat disappointed and would endorse what others have said. It got me thinking about the lack of marketing effort behind what are superb drivers cars that are an absolute delight to drive and own (mostly). Plus they are pretty rare - I'm usually the centre of attention when parked up with Porsches and the like and its a 2001 Esprit! Notwithstanding the 70th party, which was an awesome day out and extremely well organised (thanks Bibs) I simply haven't been engaged at an emotional level with the brand by the limited marketing effort in recent years.

So what might engage me or make me think I need to buy one of those? Most of us would agree its not a rational purchase, its emotional.

I had reason to re-post this video on the Facebook forum a few days ago and thought bloody hell, that's probably the best thing I've ever seen come out of what was then a very tight budget marketing effort (I have the original 1996 VHS, nicked from the dealer at the time) Maybe this should be compulsory viewing for the current CEO and the senior management team. in my view THIS is why we buy a Lotus, noting it probably couldn't get made today as we are all under the woke. See what I did there.......

Anyhow, enjoy, even if you don't agree with me! 

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

So whilst the guy is out driving his Esprit, he doesn’t realise that his wife and mistress are getting it on back home.

[hedgerley]

🤣

[comem47]

Looks like Lotus reached into the time machine back then and got 20 yr old Human League footage  🤣

[stephenwhyte]

Never understood why that Ad had the car filmed with one set of alloys and then pictured with another.....🤔

[yeller77]

Ad would never work today. Too sexist.

[C8RKH]

Yup, wish I was born 10 - 20 years earlier sometimes.....

[The Pits]

Yet if it was a woman driving and having an affair with another (black, disabled, trans) woman it would be celebrated as a WOKE masterpiece!

More importantly the car looks amazing, exotic, exciting and desirable beyond its price.

[KAS-118]

On 29/04/2020 at 13:55, C8RKH said:

I don't think people are saying at all that we don't want seat belts, or "good infotainment systems" (for the record I have never had an issue with the infotainment systems in my Evoras and am still at a loss as to why people complain about them or pay extra as you will never get "quality" sound in a car!  You will get better, but never real quality so why pay thousands more for it?). I also don't think people want exactly what we have now or are anti-change or stuck in the 50's/60's. That's just a stupid argument to be honest.  I do think people want different, BUT, they don't want the baby thrown out with the bath water. So that means new models, new packaging BUT with the same focus on drivers, driving dynamics, handling and NOT on trying to out Bentley Bentley or out Range Rover Range Rover.  The emphasis from the people on that Q&A video did not, for some on here, radiate the enthusiasm or passion "for the drivers" and I don't see anything wrong in that being called out.  By all means, celebrate the fact that cars have seat belts and ipads and great infotainment systems, but that is not, I would argue, why the majority on here follow Lotus or buy Lotus.

The elephant in the room is that people keep coming back to well the current models are not selling in enough volume, or the current approach is not delivering the sales. I would strongly suggest and argue that it doesn't bloody well take a rocket scientist to work out that if no one knows about your products, if no one knows they exist, if no one knows how great they drive, then why are you surprised that no one drives them or buys them?  How many times on the "People's reaction to your Elise/Exige/Evora" threads do we hear, time and time again, how people are stopped at the shops and garages and the most common comments are:

1. Wow, a Lotus, I did not know they were still around / making cars

2. An Evora? Never heard of it, never knew Lotus made a car like that I always thought they just made those skateboards with engines (e.g. Elise)

3. Wow, Lotus does a four seater, I can get kids in the back of that?

4. Wow, they use Toyota engines and gearboxes, they'll be really reliable then? (or from Coxster owners, "How's your Camry?")

I would strongly suggest that the reason the Evora has not sold is because Lotus, and the Evora, does not and has not resonated with the general public as they know bugger all about it, that it even exists.  So, there's the issue. The engineers create wonderful cars but let's be frank here now, for 10 years or more, Lotus marketing has been complete and utter shite. Practically non existent. Poorly targeted and executed. Totally under funded and under appreciated by the "management".  So given this, how surprised are we that more people do not buy a Lotus? What's the biggest complaint from the States?  Lack of dealers. Poor dealers. No marketing. Little or poor factory backup or owners and models that are not sold in the US. The owners of there love their Lotus cars, The Evora owners on places like LotusTalk are hugely enthusiastic about their cars. The tuning scene in the US is huge compared to anywhere else. Some of the best aftermarket products are coming out of the US. Just imagine with a decent dealer network, good factory backup, and reasonable marketing and ask yourself WHY Lotus could not sell 5k cars a year in a market of almost 300m people!

My own case. 6 years ago I never even knew the Evora existed and I considered myself a petrolhead and had mates and colleagues who had Elise's, but no one, even then, ever spoke about the Evora.  By chance I went past the Edinburgh Lotus dealers forecourt on a tram and saw a red Evora NA and my eyes dropped off their stalks. 24 hours later that car was mine! I'd always lusted after an Esprit Turbo, but this new, modern Lotus was just wow.

6 years later, I fire up a presentation at work/clients and the current Evora jumps on to the screen as it is my background. EVERY TIME it gets a response. The number of "petrolheads" who are just wowed by it. never knew it existed, never knew what it was. And the ladies. Blimey, never had ladies comment on a car before the way they do on the Evora.

SO, what's the issue? It ain't the engineering. It ain't the driving dynamics. It ain't the lack of cupholders or a decent stereo etc. First and foremost it is because too few people just know anything above modern Lotus or its cars - aside of course from the aficionado's on here which probably represents at least 60% of UK&I Lotus owners! Well, that's my humble opinion anyway.

Well firstly, as I said in other threads, I don't believe Lotus 'does a 4 seater' - because the rear seats on an Evora are not suitable for all but very young children. The problem with that being:

1. You may well need to get them in whilst they are in a baby seat - what, in a 2-door, is likely to leave the parent with a strained back if its supposed to be an everyday car; and
2. You need  a stroller or buggy - which won't fit in the boot.

So it would have been good if they were designed for older children/teenagers as well - as they don't need all the above baggage - but they won't fit. So the end result is that you haven't got any Lotus what can take 2 adults and 1 or 2 teenagers - hence they lose a number of potential customers.

I agree that there is a lack of 'brand awareness' at the moment.

Obviously, when Lotus were in F1 everyone knew the name - they were also in James Bond - so they were familiar to people. However, they are no longer in F1, and  no longer in James Bond films. Even worse, you now see a lot less of them on the roads .

Furthermore, up until the Evija when did Lotus last of all actually bring out a completely new model? So no new cars - means no reason for the general motoring press to write about them or test them.

So is it any wonder people have thought they have disappeared?

Clearly Geely are aware of the issue. However, they need to build momentum. The Evija has received a lot of attention - but Geely needs to build on that. It's pointless bringing one car out and then nit following through. That's what Alfa kept on doing and it caused any promising start they has (say after the 156) to then stall. 

However, to make a recovery on spending a fortune on marketing - you're going to have to sell enough cars to cover the costs. All the cars they produce at the moment are very fine cars - but they do not sell in enough quantities.

Whilst they do need to identify why people bought their Lotus - they also need to find out why people decided NOT to buy a Lotus - but instead bought a Porsche, Mercedes, Audi or BMW instead.

One thing I would proffer; is that out of the 3 cars they currently sell - they're all effectively 2-seaters - and 2 are probably hard to live with as an all year daily driver. That cuts down considerably on your potential buyers. 

Improving the practicality of a car and having a fun car, are not necessarily mutually exclusive to each other.