Selling a Lotus Can Be a Weird Experience (Video)
We really aren’t surprised that selling quirky British sports cars requires unconventional methods.
If you haven’t come across VINWiki yet, here’s the quick version of what they do: People with interesting car stories tell those car stories. It’s pretty simple. We haven’t been disappointed by their picks either, and this one is no exception. In their newest video, Ed Bolian, who worked at an exotic car dealership in Atlanta that sold Lamborghini, McLaren, Aston Martin, and Lotus models had more than a few interesting stories about selling the curious little British sports cars.
Bolian notes that the Elise and Exige seem like a great investment. Why? He says, “I think they’ve caught Land Rover Defender-itis. There’s not very many of them, and they’re sort of a car that, due to modern safety regulations, really can’t be recreated. I think, over time, we’re going to see them go up (in value) the same way we’ve seen Defenders go up over the last 10 to 15 years.”
The Evora would usually sit in inventory for 8-10 months. The build quality wasn’t spectacular. Bolian rattles off story after story about the Evora. He had us just about convinced that an Exige or Elise is the way to go. Poor weatherstripping, ants in the car, dash panels warping because the leather was too thin? No thanks.
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How did he go about selling a Lotus? He would spend the whole time trying to talk them out of buying it! “They’d come in with this kind of martyrdom complex, that they want an uncomfortable and unaccommodating car. What you really want to do is make them continually say that.” He walks them through all the things that he’d typically have to convince someone of: brakes, clutches, and tires will wear out faster; then the service is more expensive because it’s a rare car; and, you won’t be able to pick out a color because there aren’t that many of them. He adds, “they really were easy cars to sell.”
What about the questionable-quality Evora? “The Evora kinda became the car people bought because they didn’t know [Porsche] made Caymans.”
Do you have any interesting stories about a Lotus? Join us in the forums and let us hear what happened to you!
