Lotus owners are on the forums talking about the impacts of President Trump’s tariffs and the effects it’ll have on their lives like so many other people across the US are doing right now. A post shared to the Lotus Talk forum shows a memo from a dealer in California, indicating there aren’t likely to be any new Emira owners in the near future.
Lotus Halts US Shipments Amid Tariffs
Later, the authenticity of the memo was confirmed when Car and Driver reached out to Lotus for comment. The automaker said the message is legitimate, and that Emira shipments would be paused as a result of tariffs. The memo states that the Emira will be impacted “because of certain globally-sourced parts.” Lotus isn’t broadly affected by tariffs (yet), but the Emira is due to some of its parts content. As a result, “no more Emiras will be shipped to the US.” Meanwhile, Lotus told Car and Driver shipments were “temporarily paused.”
2025 Emira Owners Got Burned By Trump’s Tariffs
The dealer memo provides more clarification: tariffs came as 2025 Emira production was halfway completed, which means that customers with 2025 orders simply don’t get the cars they attempted to buy. Moreover, the dealer states that if production resumes, prices are “sure to dramatically increase.” That’s not good news when the Emira’s starting price is already $102,250. Owners will be able to purchase 2024 models as an alternative, but that doesn’t take into account the customers with personalized orders who may not be able to replace their exact spec with a 2024 model that’s already sitting Stateside.
TopSpeed’s Take
This story is becoming a common one. VW will compensate for increased prices with added fees for buyers. Ford has given customers its employee pricing for 60 days before tariffs hit in force come May when the supply chain is forced to lean on parts not already in the US. Trump’s tariffs will increase prices for consumers, and while the folks buying six-figure sports cars will probably be just fine financially, a lot of people won’t.
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