Lotus Emira demand outstripping supply

Demand for the all-new Lotus Emira has required a reshuffle at the brand’s new Hethel production facility in the UK, to accommodate higher than expected customer orders.

During a visit to Australia to help launch the Emira, Lotus managing director Matt Windle admitted to carsales that the level of demand had caught the company by surprise.

“Yes it did, [we were] pleasantly surprised. When we were down at Goodwood the weekend after [the global launch], at 10 o’clock on Thursday morning we had to get security in for crowd control on the stand and it stayed there until five o’clock Sunday night. It was an amazing reaction.

“The original plan was to peak at 5000 a year and we’re now at 7000 a year, so we’ve got an extra 40 per cent capacity. This year we plan to build 4000 cars, next year we’ll be at the peak of 7000 cars.”

Combined with Chinese production of the Eletre electric SUV from early next year, Lotus is targeting 100,000 annual sales by 2028,making a 5700 per cent increase over the 1710 cars Lotus produced.

Due for delivery Down Under in the third quarter of this year, the new Lotus Emira is set to be the final ever mass-produced internal combustion model from the iconic British sports car maker and will be available with either an AMG-sourced 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder with eight-speed dual-clutch auto or a 3.5-litre supercharged V6 with six-speed manual or auto transmissions.

Windle says the 2.0-litre variant is a key driver of demand.

“It’s trying to appeal to a bigger demographic. Take the Chinese market; a lot of females buy sports cars or they have sports cars bought for them and they’re entry level. They don’t want a V6 – that 2.0-litre with a dual-clutch is perfect.”

The smaller engine with its lower emissions also plays a crucial role in Asian and, increasingly, European markets where larger engines are either financially prohibitive due to taxation or outlawed entirely.

Nevertheless, while the strong demand for the Emira is good news including in Australia, Windle says it does present its own challenges.

“We’re looking at increasing capacity, but it’s not as simple as just the factory because we actually build our chassis as well,” he explained.

“We build at another site in Norwich, Lotus Advanced Structures, [and] at some areas they’re already at three shifts, so what we’re going to have to do if we go beyond this capacity, which we will, is outsource some of that work.

“It’s all a bit up and down at the moment and it’s not an easy lever to crank; we’re putting a second shift at the paint shop, putting a third shift on means night shift and to get people to work, to get the resource in that area is another factor.”

Further challenges are ahead for Windle and his team as the brand transitions from internal combustion to electric vehicle manufacturing, balancing producing the Emira with the introduction of its new all-electric sportscar codenamed Type 135.

The Eletre and Type 133 – an EV sedan to rival the Porsche Taycan – will be built in China from 2023, the smaller Type 134 D-segment SUV will appear in 2025 followed by the Type 135 (Lotus) and Type 136 (Alpine) electric sports cars in 2026.

“[The Emira] will definitely still be in production when Type 135 comes in, then going from ICE to EV as far as the factory is concerned is quite a big job.

“In my mind we’ll go down to a lower volume for Emira of 500 a year or something like that for the markets we can put the car into, and then the main production hall will be put over to Type 135. We don’t actually need to make a decision at the moment – we’re quite relaxed about it.”

Regardless of actual numbers, a Windle said the key focus for Lotus is to ensure that demand keeps ahead of supply.

“What we always want to do is build one less than there is demand for,” he said. “I think it’s really important, particularly to the people who have committed early to the brand, the depositors we’ve got already, that the value of the car stays up.

“We don’t plan to be a mass-production vehicle manufacturer. We plan to produce more than we ever have, but we’ll still keep the allocation correct for the market.”

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