Yeah, I realise an Atom is a good place to put your dosh as you'd likely recoup it upon resale, but that's assuming you can still afford to complete the purchase. OK, so all these 3k lumps certainly help Ariel, but what if someone who's put the money down loses their job and now can't afford to buy the car? Isn't it more than a bit uncharitable for Ariel to say "tough" and keep the money when someone might be in a rather fraught position? This is what I mean by "wiggle room" - a bit of humanity. I mean, if you have to pull out, it's not like they can't just shift everyone behind you in the Q up by one, is it? And I can't see any of those customers moaning if the wait's just got a bit shorter either.
Of course Ariel may well be perfectly amenable in such situations and do the Decent Thing, but it all just seems so....unnecessary.

I don't know how Hawk handle their orders, but the LB way of paying a £500 bond to show you're serious and get your name in the Q, which is refundable if you change your mind, seems much fairer to me. Similar thing happened when I bought my Ducati 916 back in '95 - everyone wanted one, there were none available and no-one knew how many were coming or when (hey, it's Italian!). But the dealer I ended up buying from didn't want a penny till the bike was physically in his showroom, which I thought was a pretty cool way to do business. He justified this business model by saying what I pointed out above - if I dropped out, everyone else moved up one, and it wasn't like he'd not be able to sell it In fact I ended up getting mine 6 months earlier than expected cos someone didn't want his in that year, in order that he could get a later registration on it... some peeps are just weird.
Still got the bike, by the way - still looks just as beautiful as the day it landed in my garage. I'll probably get buried on it... Psychomania, anyone? (Google it if it means nowt to you)