Hi! New Coupe owner here! Had it for all of a week; girlfriend curbed the rims, got them fixed, got it detailed, rained immediately. So, ups and downs so far!

I read through the manual but couldn’t find anything about the lights on the hatch (circled in yellow):


They don’t come on when the hatch is open...? How are they controlled?

Oh and here’s a photo from when I drove her back home from LA to SF last weekend:

 

Those lights are primarily external rear number plate lights.
They come on when you turn the lights on (either "parkers" or headlights, one twist/click or two of the wand). Parkers = front and rear DRLs and those number plate lights.
They also come on when you first unlock the car which turns the parkers on for 30 seconds, then the parkers and they go off. I like that feature, gives me light for enough time to do what I need to do when the garage is otherwise pitch black.
So when you open the hatch when the car has been unlocked for a while and you don't have the lights on they don't come on at all, and there is no separate switch to turn them on.

 

They illuminate your license plate for the fuzz

 

Funny that this post showed up today. I was packing this afternoon (for the trip to the All British Day in Vancouver, BC) momentarily wondered the same thing. I forgot that these were the license plate lights...
The lights that illuminated the boot are on the sides, way forward, and don't put out much light.

 

Ah doy. Thanks!

 

I was wondering how to change the bulbs in there to brighter ones. I noticed on my car one is a cool white while the other is a warm white. My OCD does not appreciate this ha!

I tried popping them off with a screwdriver and ended up cracking the plastic and abandoned the attempt.