Elio Motors have been in the news quite a lot since the company originally appeared on the market, and even though they’re yet to release their first product, they have been enjoying a lot of attention from people. It’s clear that they’re developing something that many drivers actually want to see, at least judging by the discussions their upcoming first release have generated, and as long as they manage to overcome all hurdles of the production, they should see a lot of success with that car.
If they’re even going to call it a car – we heard that the company has had some issues with the legislation surrounding their upcoming model, as the three-wheel design put them in a peculiar position compared to other cars on the market. But recent reports seemed to indicate that these problems were resolved, or at least were on the way to being resolved, so hopefully the company is back on the road to making their first release now.
Meanwhile, they’ve been trying something new to raise the funding necessary for the project, and even though the recent crowdfunding effort seemed to be a success at first, the company’s founder Paul Elio shared some rather disappointing revelations.
The system which was tracking statistics for the crowdfunding efforts by the company reported that almost 6,000 people have decided to join, donating a total of nearly $25 million – a report that painted quite the positive picture. However, those numbers might have been inflated a bit, according to Paul Elio, who shared some more peculiar points from the crowdfunding campaign.
According to him, someone who signed themselves as “Superman” has decided to reserve $500,000 worth of company stock, and there have been similar fraudulent-looking entries throughout the campaign as well. So in the end, it might turn out that not all of the millions that have been raised so far are actually real.
Currently, Paul Elio is waiting for an official approval for the sale of his company’s shares, which should shed some light on the situation and make it clear which of the people involved were actually serious about their claims, and which are not going to contribute anything to the project.
In any case, even disregarding these issues, the media has been reporting positively on the crowdfunding campaign, claiming that it’s been picking up in popularity recently and that it looks like it’s going to be a success if the current trends keep up.
Which is good if it’s true, because there’s no denying that Elio Motors have something potentially very solid in their upcoming first model if they manage to pull it off correctly. There are many hurdles to overcome – and many that the company has already successfully crossed – and they will need to really dedicate some effort to their work in the coming months if they want to come out on top of the whole situation.
But once this car reaches the market, many experts are curious to see how it’s going to affect it. Its new style could definitely bring some interesting changes to the situation and make people more interested in economic models, while on the other hand we could also start seeing more unconventional designs in terms of wheel numbers and car layouts in the future. If the first model released by Elio proves to be successful among fans, then we see no reason for other companies not to follow suit, even bigger names that have been around for longer.
This info about the trolls is 2 weeks old and they were removed from the numbers.
Elis is now at $28,412,310 from 7680 reservations.
As recently as 8/6 it was mentioned in a Forbes interview with Paul Elio and Ron Miller from StartEngine that it would be a few weeks before the Reg A+ paperwork would be filed with the SEC.
I don’t know at what point ‘Superman’ inflated the numbers but I know StartEngine has reduced the pledged amounts at least once in late July due to trolls trying to sabotage the system.
Additionally, your statistics are a bit dated. The pledged amounts passed $25 million before the end of July. As of today, 8/10, the figures are up over $28.4 million with close to 7700 interested parties.
I am with you; I hope that Elio Motors can find the funding to get their final prototypes build and tested. Once production starts I think the combination of their price point, financing, warranty, and expected owner costs will make for big potential niche market sales.
(Full disclosure: I do not work for Elio but I am a commuting driver, a reservation holder, and a potential Reg A+ investor)
Yes, the amounts being bandied about are only expressions of interest. But with a lot of the troll-work thrown in the slime pit where it belongs, Elio does stand at over $28 million in “interest.” From the SEC’s point of view, this makes a powerful demonstration that potential investors consider Elio a good enough bet to want to be in on the ground floor.
This whole exercise is energizing in a number of ways. It legitimizes the concept of Reg A+ funding; it has surfaced the problem of trolls wanting to poison anything they can reach, and so put future users of the system on guard; and, finally, it should at the very worst kick in well over $20 million to Elio Motors to get on with their program.
Elio is a risky investment, but ultimately may prove very profitable. Only time will tell — and injections of cash by this and other means.
Every high school student, college kid, dad in midlife crisis has the potential of purchasing the elio without messing finances up from their starts. I think this car is way over due. Not everyone. Can afford tesla at one hundred k