768 replies to this topic

[StuVXR]

Even so, they should have your name against the car AND a rough schedule of when Lotus are to do your car. Heres a new one, I was given my car number as a 6 digit alpha numerical serial by Neil. Mine still scheduled for end of Sept, I too am buying from Bayliss at the moment dealing with Andy Rudge, who seemed fairly helpful + I emailed Stuart H (who passed it to Neil Hughes who sent me the "still on target for end of Sept" email) I am preparing insurance for 1st Sept and will pass this to BH&S when I get the note - they haven't asked for it yet, but they will be getting it !! just in case.

Edited by StuVXR, 17 August 2004 - 06:15 PM.

[Joss]

It has been insured since 15 July and I have the reg doc. Baylis faxed me a date of 8 August. I don't get what the problem is.

[Lastone]

Can anyone help?? I ordered my vxr begining of last month, but still have no confirmation letter. i have asked the dealer but they are really useless. Does anyone know how to contact lotus/vauxhall direct to get more details regarding delivery date/factory collection etc..... cheers

[HF_Evolution]

HA join the club

[StuVXR]

I just take the confusion / lack of informatin to be part of being part of an exclusive club and an exclusive purchase. (gotta justify it somehow!)

[vxr220]

It has been insured since 15 July and I have the reg doc. Baylis faxed me a date of 8 August. I don't get what the problem is.

If it helps, my insurance was 12th July, and V5 dated 16th July so not that far from your timescale but I was 34 (you're 13 !) which became No. 25. I can offer two points to ponder ;

In retrospect the Smartest thing to do was go for a Silly/Different colour - that was you car could not get mixed up

Does Ohlins extend the timescale ??

Oh and if all else fails you can always try prayer

Cheer, Ian

Attached Files

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[stu harris1]

If the dealer can't give you the info then email me stuart.harris@vauxhall.co.uk or neil on neil.hughes@vauxhall.co.uk and we'll give you some dates. Lotus were on shutdown but are back to 'normal' working hours. As we've just had a conference call with them we probably have the up to date info. Stu

[NeilH]

Folks,

Having read the numerous posts and speculation on your VXR orders, I thought it might help if you get an insight into how they are made!

1. Vehicle Numbers. We use an internal alpha-numeric system to identify our vehicles within Opel/Vauxhall. This is an 8 digit sequence (e.g. 0012XY34) called a SONO number. When your VXR's were ordered, these were plugged into the Lotus system and they schedule the cars for production. Without going into the very intricate details of how a vehicle is produced, the VIN number of the vehicle is applied when the relevant SONO is lined up to go along the production line. So, depending on when the SONO is scheduled, results in the ascending VIN number being attributed to that car. For example, if Lotus are producing a batch of black cars, they will schedule cars together to paint them in one go, rather than changing paint, etc. So, when when a vehicle is on the production line it receives the next VIN number available in ascending order. We cannot control what VIN number is matched with the SONO number. Furthermore, Lotus rivet the VXR number at the same time, hence if the first car had a chassis number (last 4 digits) of 7001, this would get 01. Consequently, VIN number 7002 would get VXR no. 02 and so on. Lastly, all VXR production has to fit around the production of 'normal' VXT's and Speedsters, so you can imagine how things get even more complicated.

This is why so many of you are getting numbers which don't correlate with what your dealer told you initially. When you placed your order, your dealer would have phoned me up and I would have informed him/her of your order sequence number, not your VXR vehicle number. This number does not necessairly relate to the VXR number that your car gets. For example, just because you may get car 05 doesn't mean it was manufactured ahead of car 10. Confused yet?!

2. Delivery dates. We currently have 15 customer cars fully completed. This leaves 35 left to build. Following a chat with Lotus this morning, they are aiming to have all cars finished by mid-October. Admittedly, this has slipped slightly as we were aiming to have them all completed by the end of September. Lotus are doing everything they can to shorten this timeframe. However, they are constrained by the fact that they can only ramp-up production to convert 4 cars per week. Doing the sums, this works out at mid-October. Ohlins cars take a little longer because they require set-up and alignment on the special chassis rigs that they use. This is an especially time consuming task.

3. Vehicle registration. A number of you will have been waiting around for a while to receive your cars after they have been registered. We have reviewed the process for this and implemented changes to ensure that this does occur again. Basically, it was due to a slow ramp up in production for early cars at Lotus meaning that they were not producing the full 4 cars per week. We are now only registering vehicles on a JIT basis (rather than in batches) to ensure that we minimise the amount of time between registration and delivery to the dealer. Our original timeframe for this was 2 weeks for a non-Ohlins and 3 weeks for an Ohlins car. For your interest, a significant proportion of this is down to our vehicle carrier who have contracts to deliver a car within a certain timescale, which we can't accelerate (excuse the pun!).

I hope this gives you a brief insight into the wonderful world of manufacturing cars and how things get very complicated sometimes, especially with handbuilt, specialist cars like the VXR!! Please rest assured that we are building your cars as fast as we can. We want the cars delivered as soon as possible too!!

Neil

[wickywire]

Are Vauxhall going to allow potential and existing customers who have ordered the VXR the chance to try the VXR on the Elvington trackday later this month seeing as there is nothing to hit. People were allowed to go out in the VXR at Bedford with the Vauxhall instuctor next to them.

[stu harris1]

Mr W Wire , are you still trying to decide then. Yes customers with cars on order can drive it . Stu

[wickywire]

Yes customers with cars on order can drive it .
Stu

on the track at Elvington?

[Joss]

Thanks for the mail Neil, I called Baylis and they said they "hoped to get it next week but weren't sure". Just as well I asked you.

[HF_Evolution]

Thank you Neil Sir.

[vxr220]

Folks,

Having read the numerous posts and speculation on your VXR orders, I thought it might help if you get an insight into how they are made!

2. Delivery dates. We currently have 15 customer cars fully completed. This leaves 35 left to build. Following a chat with Lotus this morning, they are aiming to have all cars finished by mid-October.

Neil

Thanks for the insight, however as I see by your figures and my basic maths that maybe I should revise the 'Order List' and remove the last 7 people as only 50 customer cars are now due But seriously, shoud the figures me 15 & 45 to build OR 25 & 35 to build ?

Cheer, Ian

PS. Have you located the owner with my V5 yet (or is that the owner who's car I've got )


On The Road (In dispatched order & Red if not stated otherwise)

No.09 - mani (Yellow) - VXR reg plate - July 19th
No.35 - R1 nur - standard - July 26th
No.10 - boxy'svxr220 (Moonland) - July 28th
No.26 - annie (Black) - ohlins - July 30th
No.11 - rasputin - VXR reg plate soon ? - July 31st
No.25 - vxr220 - VXR reg plate - Aug 13th

No.21 - FOR SALE NOW - £29995 in Archie Moss Showroom, Loughborough

Above owners - please correct any of my errors or guestimations


Cars On Order so NOT definitive numbers !!!

10. HF_evolution - VXR reg plate soon - Aug 18th ??
13. joss - ohlins
26. spratbegonda from Graham at picador - ohlins
39. cheeky chops - ohlins?
41. FOR SALE or SOLD ? - £LIST ? contact Wayne at Crownhill
44. dunky
50. VXRandy

57. StuVXR - VXR reg plate
63. sixspeed
__. Ratboiler
__. Vermania (Blue) ??
__. waverunner
__. munkeh
65? Lastone - ohlins

[wickywire]

didn't R1 have the backbox fitted to his?

[NeilH]

Ian, Allow me to clarify what I meant by the number of vehicles to build!! 35 vehicles to be completed on the production line....with 10 currently built ready for conversion. We are sorting your car out with the DVLA at the moment. Neil

[vxr220]

Ian,

Allow me to clarify what I meant by the number of vehicles to build!!   35 vehicles to be completed on the production line....with 10 currently built ready for conversion.

We are sorting your car out with the DVLA at the moment.

Neil

Thanks for info (on both counts) - you can see I've got no A-Levels

Returning to the topic, a BIG to all who have responded to my request for information so here's the latest state of play ;

On The Road (In dispatched order & Red if not stated otherwise)

No.09 - Mani (Yellow) - Standard - VXR reg plate - V5 June 23rd - Dealer July 19th - West Midlands
No.35 - R1 nur - Back box ? - July 26th
No.10 - boxy'svxr220 (Moonland) - Standard - VXR reg plate Soon - V5 eh ? - Lotus July 28th - Milton Keynes
No.26 - annie (Black) - ohlins - July 30th
No.11 - rasputin - Standard (Back box Soon) - VXR reg plate Soon - V5 July 7th - Dealer July 31st - West Yorkshire
No.25 - vxr220 - Standard - VXR reg plate - V5 July 16th - Lotus Aug 13th - Leicestershire

No.21 - FOR SALE NOW - Optional Balloons FITTED ! - £29995 in Archie Moss Showroom, Loughborough

Above owners - please correct any of my errors or guestimations


Cars On Order so NOT definitive numbers !!!

10. HF_evolution - VXR reg plate soon - Aug 18th ??
13. joss - ohlins
26. spratbegonda - Ohlins - Private reg plate - V5 not yet - Dealer Sep 9th - Bristol/W Wales
39. cheeky chops - ohlins?
41. FOR SALE or SOLD ? - £LIST ? contact Wayne at Crownhill
44. dunky
5_. Ratboiler - Standard (FULL Exhaust ?) - VXR reg on V750 - V5 not yet - Dealer Sep/Oct ? - Middlesex
57. StuVXR - Standard - VXR reg on V750 - V5 not yet - Lotus ? - Worcestershire
63. sixspeed
__. waverunner - Standard - May get VXR reg plate - V5 not yet - Dealer mid Sept ? - Surrey
__. munkeh
65? Lastone - ohlins
69. Vermania (Coral Blue) - Ohlins & Back Box - V5 Aug 5th - Lotus Aug 3rd ! - Nottinghamshire

Cancelled ;

50. VXRandy

This list now gives an idea of the time from V5 date to collection, who's got what spec's (& the all important VXR reg plate ) and what parts of the country the cars will be able to be spotted in

Cheers, & thanks for information, Ian

PS.
10. HF_evolution - VXR reg plate soon - Aug 18th ?? Is it on the road yet ???

Edited by vxr220, 19 August 2004 - 07:15 PM.

[cheeky_chops]

Just sent a mail to Neil that i will be having Ohlins Anyone else who want Ohlins had better get a move on as they have to be ordered in.... 10. HF_evolution - VXR reg plate soon - Aug 18th ?? 13. joss - ohlins 26. spratbegonda - Ohlins - Private reg plate - V5 not yet - Dealer Sep 9th - Bristol/W Wales 39. cheeky chops - - Ohlins - Private reg plate? - V5 est(from Neil) <2 weeks - Dealer +3 weeks - Northampton 41. FOR SALE or SOLD ? - £LIST ? contact Wayne at Crownhill 44. dunky 5_. Ratboiler - Standard (FULL Exhaust ?) - VXR reg on V750 - V5 not yet - Dealer Sep/Oct ? - Middlesex 57. StuVXR - Standard - VXR reg on V750 - V5 not yet - Lotus ? - Worcestershire 63. sixspeed __. waverunner - Standard - May get VXR reg plate - V5 not yet - Dealer mid Sept ? - Surrey __. munkeh 65? Lastone - ohlins 69. Vermania (Coral Blue) - Ohlins & Back Box - V5 Aug 5th - Lotus Aug 3rd ! - Nottinghamshire

[cheeky_chops]

Just had a confirmation of my vehicle number!!!!!!!! Should be registered in the next week or so Hopefully be a 54 reg

[waverunner]

I desperately want a dash with the hole cut out for the radio but I was told by Lance Owen it was too late Personally I wouldn't have thought it to be a problem. It's got to be an easy fix. Trouble is as I've got no oreder number, car number or anything else I'm a bit stuck.