Genuine Lotus Parts
Discussion
Depends on what the part is...
Very few Lotus parts are actually manufactured by Lotus themselves.
Many are OE items from other manufacturers (eg. Rover, Peugeot etc). Sometimes equivalent aftermarket parts are of better quality than the Lotus originals (eg. Spyder or Tony Thompson components for the older cars, some EliseParts components for the Elise), sometimes they are worse (some aftermarket donuts for the older cars were absolutely worthless).
Very few Lotus parts are actually manufactured by Lotus themselves.
Many are OE items from other manufacturers (eg. Rover, Peugeot etc). Sometimes equivalent aftermarket parts are of better quality than the Lotus originals (eg. Spyder or Tony Thompson components for the older cars, some EliseParts components for the Elise), sometimes they are worse (some aftermarket donuts for the older cars were absolutely worthless).
In short no.
Used to work in automotive components OEM and aftersales. Products were routinely marked up 400-1000% depending on Manufacturer.
If you do a little digging you can often find out who actually manufactured the part and invariably buy the same product for a fraction of the price.
A word of caution, however, what you do get with official parts is piece of mind, and there are alot of cheap parts out there which are effectively worthless, perhaps even dangerous?
As intimated in the above post, do a bit of research, there are lots of excellent aftermarket parts out there for the elise, read reviews, and decide if it offers real value, as opposed to being cheap.
If you are canny with your purchases this is a cost effective way of upgrading your car when things need replacing.
Regards, Neil
Used to work in automotive components OEM and aftersales. Products were routinely marked up 400-1000% depending on Manufacturer.
If you do a little digging you can often find out who actually manufactured the part and invariably buy the same product for a fraction of the price.
A word of caution, however, what you do get with official parts is piece of mind, and there are alot of cheap parts out there which are effectively worthless, perhaps even dangerous?
As intimated in the above post, do a bit of research, there are lots of excellent aftermarket parts out there for the elise, read reviews, and decide if it offers real value, as opposed to being cheap.
If you are canny with your purchases this is a cost effective way of upgrading your car when things need replacing.
Regards, Neil
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