Zeiss: “more substantial volume of lenses is scheduled in September 2015, thanks to an expansion of the production capacity”

A couple of days ago I posted an article on the Batis shipment shortage (Click here). Some readers reported that their preorder at Digitalrev got canceled because “our suppliers are not able to confirm with us when the next available stock can be ordered” (Source: Pete). Some other reported that their May 11 preorder at BH still didn’t ship and there is still no ship date (Source: Cbw).

Finally we have good news to report: After reading our article Zeiss released an official statement to clarify the future availability of Batis lenses. We deeply thank Zeiss for the helpful note! It’s a very good example of how to communicate with your own customers. Here is their text via Zeiss FB page:

The worldwide positive feedback from the first product reviews about the ZEISS Batis lenses and the demand for the lenses has been overwhelming.
We made the first shipments of the ZEISS Batis lenses to our global distribution partner network in mid-July 2015. Additional shipments were made in August 2015 and a more substantial volume of lenses is scheduled in September 2015, thanks to an expansion of the production capacity. This expansion will help serving the global markets more efficiently in the coming months.
At this time, the global demand is much higher than our current supply and we anticipate a wait of several months for orders which are placed now. If you have already ordered the lens from one of our dealers, then we will ship on a first-in, first-out basis depending on when the order was received. It is not possible for us to accurately predict when you will receive your order, since this is also dependent on our international distribution partners’ and local dealers’ allocation process which we have no influence over. In general, orders placed in late April and May should be delivered in the coming weeks, with later orders shipped in the months of October and November.
If you are interested, order immediately so as to obtain your ZEISS Batis lenses as soon as possible.

Batis store links:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.