Lotus at this year's Geneva Motorshow

[TBD]

One way to reel in those pablum sucking pansy arsed Boxster clients.

And, much more imporant, their $$$

Edited March 8, 2012 by TBD

[Iconic Ride]

Just so.

[Guest surferphil]

Exactly so, Kimbers. Nonetheless, Lotus wanted to [one gathers---get it? get it? "gathers," leather, etc] enlarge the pool of potential buyers by offering the so called "lifestyle" choice. One way to reel in those pablum sucking pansy arsed Boxster clients.

You'll never get those Boxter bum chums out of their Barbie cars, into a Lotus and that is a damn good thing!

This is a proper sports car company not some Gay pride appeasement praying on the pink pound.

Did I go too far? Or just right.

This is manly stuff and we don't do soft.

[Iconic Ride]

Hey, even "lumberjacks" need wheels. If their funds are redirected towards the common goal of keeping the company afloat, who's to say no to their numismatic contributions? And, as a reward for their support, perhaps Lotus will release the new Effem a bit early.

[Guest surferphil]

Does that sit along side the new Lotus Effoff that's directed at the Masculine quarter of the Porche market?

[Rick Edwards]

You'll never get those Boxter bum chums out of their Barbie cars, into a Lotus and that is a damn good thing!

This is a proper sports car company not some Gay pride appeasement praying on the pink pound.

Did I go too far? Or just right.

This is manly stuff and we don't do soft.

This is my favourite post EVER on this forum....

[Mark Blanchard]

That Evora looks nice. The Exige S looks better with a dust sheet over it.

[DarrylV8]

You'll never get those Boxter bum chums out of their Barbie cars, into a Lotus and that is a damn good thing!

This is a proper sports car company not some Gay pride appeasement praying on the pink pound.

Did I go too far? Or just right.

This is manly stuff and we don't do soft.

just right; so long as you don't ask what we got the factory to install/remove on our Exige Cup 260!!!

That Evora looks nice. The Exige S looks better with a dust sheet over it.

GTE F1 looks awesome; but then again we like the Elise V6 i mean Exige roadster

[chandrew]

So I went to the Geneva show with my 6 year old son specifically to see how we fit as (1/2 of a) family with the Evora. My dealer had lent me one when I took the Elise in for a service and I was impressed with how it drove on a mixture of roads, from calm and quiet on a motorway to more sporty on a country road.

I have to say I was totally turned off by Lotus. First, they had brought 3 Evoras, all 2+0s (the S and two GTEs). Surely having just one 2+2 wouldn't have been too hard and would have covered more bases. But that wasn't all. The stand was a pain-and-a-half to get on, the staff were rude, the first one I spoke to uneducated and instead of getting a colleague who answered questions just said he couldn't help. There was no-body available to get information, the cars were all locked, they wouldn't even let me sit in an Exige. It gave a really bitter taste. I have to say I left angry.

Let's contrast this experience with their competitors:

Porsche - straight into the closed-off area. Member of staff available who was very well briefed. Lots of information and help. Felix treated like a special guest (packets of small 911 shaped sweets), packs of info for me etc. etc. (The new 911 is a very nice car, with more space in the rear - definitely son-sized). Card passed to local dealer with promise for an appointment to be made (they know me so I suspect I would get this anyway).

Maserati - straight onto the stand. Lovely (and very pretty) lady introducing me to their 2+2 cars. Well-trained and could answer most of my questions. When she couldn't she introduced me to a colleague from my nearest dealer. Result: a day booked with dealer to drive the demonstrators.

Aston Martin - whisked straight onto the stand (to the annoyance of the folk in front I have to say). Allocated a sales guy who instantly gave son a lapel badge, put him in the back of a Rapide and told him that the in-headrest-screen could show his DVDs or let him play playstation. With son happy I got answers to all my questions and now have a morning to drive the car booked with a local dealer.

Ferrari - straight onto the stand. Spoke to a guy from the local dealer - I explained that I had spoken to their colleague on the Maserati stand and had some time booked & that I was interested in the FF but also a 612. Yes, both would be arranged even though I said the FF was more than I really wanted to pay (sales guy talked about the 7 year free servicing, special deals etc. but no, I know how 4-seat Ferraris depreciate. a-bit-depreciated 612s are another matter!)

Lotus must pay a small fortune for their stand. To turn existing customers off is unforgivable. Their competitors all know how to run events & the experience just reinforces my view that their is a big malaise in much of Lotus marketing (note big sections of their website didn't work on day 1 - nobody seems to care about the details). If I do end up jumping to a competitor they only have themselves to blame. If they try and sell new-range cars like this they have no future.

[Billy111S]

Thanks for the posting the videos bibs.

[bingoking]

chandrew

I was there today as well and was well looked after by Graeme Robertson.

Graeme did tell me that the number of his staff on the stand had been cut by half, so that might explain your bad experience. No excuses though for lack of knowledge and rudeness.

I was there specifically to see the Exige Roadster and didn't pay much attention to the Evora's on the stand so didn't realize they only had 2+0's on show. I was also disappointed that the cars were locked but didn't really need to sit in them anyway as the Roadster cabin is just a plush Elise and I sat in the Exige S at our local dealer a few weeks ago.

[gospeedv8]

chandrew,

we went to geneva at saturday last week.

Our group consisted of Lotus enthusiasts from my area, at geneva two guys from the

Lotus Club Germany joined us. All in all 15 Persons.

We were invited by Andreas Maenner to visit Lotus at the Autosalon.

Unfortunately he could not attend in person, but we were very warmly received by

Georg Prismer.

We were allowed to sit in every car on the stand - everyone could take a seat in his favorite Lotus.

After that some of us got invited to go upstairs to something like a VIP-area.

They offered us coffee and water. It was a nice experience.

You're right: it was a pain to get on the stand - The people surrounded the stand on Saturday.

It was almost impossible to get there. But it showed me that the visitors were interested in the marque.

I'm sorry you and your son had been disapointed at the Lotus stand in Geneva - but our experiences

were very different.

[chandrew]

Dragi, Brian.

Really glad that you got much better experiences than we did. (Dragi, my frustrations on getting on the stand were to do with the bouncers, who seemed intent on making it quite clear you weren't welcome, very different to our experience with the courteous and interested equivalents of all the other sportscar makers).

So we can deduce they don't have consistency in their marketing. It was interesting to see how all their competitors obviously had a process in place from the moment a potential customer walked on the stand to ensure a consistent experience. There was none to my knowledge at Lotus.

The folks on the desk at the front were too busy talking amongst themselves to be distracted by visitors that they could help. Apart from the guy I found who insisted that the green Exige's leather interior was standard, and certainly not any pack and who wouldn't let me sit inside to see how the engine affected rear view & the guy who I eventually found to see if we could see the back of the Evora & who explained that 'no-body wants a 2+2, we don't really sell them' as a reason to why they brought a 2+0 there was nobody around.

By that stage I had given up. I had been interested in asking about their customisation service but at the way I feel now I guess that's now academic.

[Guest surferphil]

That's a pretty sad situation. I always felt that car salesmen put people off, but on Lotus own stand is terrible and there is no excuse for having even a single person representing the company in a bad light.

Bouncers are retards what sort of representative is that for a premium brand.

I went to see the McLaren shop in London recently and as I stepped towards the window to see Senna's F1 Car a bouncer type put his arm in my way and said that part of the footpath is private property. I just thought - I'm not coming back here. Maybe they should put up a fence or obscure the window but to employ a bouncer takes a 'special type of management.

[gghc87]

That doesn't sound good which is a shame

[hedgerley]

That's disappointing to hear Andrew. I am there on Friday and hope to hook up with Graeme. I'll pass on your feedback, particularly wrt the competition. I wonder if they are using 'agency' staff on the stand rather than all being Lotus employees?

[Billy111S]

Chandrew

If I were to put my 'Jim'll Fix It' head on.

What would you have ultimately wanted to acheive with your day in Geneva with Lotus?

Edited March 13, 2012 by Billy111S

[ramjet]

....

I went to see the McLaren shop in London recently and as I stepped towards the window to see Senna's F1 Car a bouncer type put his arm in my way and said that part of the footpath is private property. ....

Since when can part of a public footpath in front of a shop be deemed private property?

[chandrew]

Billy,

Here is what I wanted to achieve:

* I wanted to see if my son (who I had taken off school on one of his 2 annual 'joker' days) could fit in the back of some 2+2s, the Evora being one.

* I wanted to see the 2012MY Evora interior

* I wanted to look at the new Exige, especially how the view differed from the drivers seat

* I wanted to speak to someone about the customisation service that they mention on the website, especially paint-to-sample or whatever Lotus call it.

Here is what I achieved from the list

* a peek though the door on an Evora S

* an exterior view of an Exige.

[Justin182]

That sounds pretty bad, although it sounds like a couple of others had good experiences.

Lotus should be doing everything they can right now to impress and atract new customers, considering all the rumours that are flying around just now.

Ashame really.

[Kimbers]

Thats a real shame Andrew and doesn't sound like a good experience. Though you need control on a stand with such expensive cars, stands should openly welcome people and bouncers shouldn't be part of the show, they aren't there for customer service!

[Billy111S]

Chandrew

Thats so disappointing, for you and for Lotus - but don't loose hope.

Maybe there's a real 'Jim'll Fix It' roaming the forum who could put you in contact with someone helpfull?

[Guest surferphil]

For every 1 there is probably 100 others with the same story. I'll check em out on Friday.

[Bibs]

This topic is known about at the factory and has been fed back to Geneva too.

[gospeedv8]

Sidenote:

the blue Evora on the Lotus stand in geneva impressed a friend so much that he has bought his own now.

We went to germany directly after the show. He has signed his contract after his test drive.

Thinking to buy one for me too. I'm sure the car would fit in my collection ...