As early as 2012, independent car manufacturer Elio Motors has unveiled the concept of its breakthrough three-wheel vehicle that is both extremely fuel-efficient and very affordable too.
Since then, the company has worked on the production of prototypes, the latest version of which was showcased during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015 held in January this year at Las Vegas.
The latest prototype displayed by Elio Motors at CES 2015 showed the vehicle having an added hatchback trunk for additional storage and a tablet-based infotainment system in its interior to aid the driver in terms of connectivity, navigation, and entertainment, cites the Day Herald.
In addition to looking for new partners or investors to bankroll the mass production of the three-wheel vehicle, Elio Motors CEO Paul Elio revealed that one of those financial strategies that he and his company are looking at is the disposal of surplus equipment from the former General Motors manufacturing facility in Louisiana worth several millions of dollars on e-Bay. Elio Motors is planning to use the same plant to manufacture its breakthrough vehicle.
Lest negotiations are jeopardized, the company wants to keep it under wraps until something concrete has been finalized.
Amid the delay in the production of the breakthrough vehicle from Elio Motors, the company has not stopped at all in further doing refinements and additions to the vehicle in an attempt to perfect it before it finally goes into production around next year.
The Elio Motors CEO said that he is confident that Elio Motors would be able to secure the funding very soon.
But given the delay in the production of the three-wheel vehicle, it seems that Elio Motors is having difficulty getting new partners or investors for its breakthrough product.
Still thinking big
While Elio Motors is still looking for a partner or investor to finance the mass production of its concept car, company CEO Paul Elio is already thinking big, confident that his company and its first product would have noticeable impact on national petroleum use in the US.
With fuel consumption of 84 miles per gallon, the Elio vehicle could really make an impact on petroleum use as well as usher a paradigm shift among motorists.
Elio also projects that the company’s three-wheel vehicle can eventually reduce total US gas consumption by nearly half a percent. But in order to make that happen, Elio needs to sell 1.2 million vehicles in the first 60 months or five years after its official release to the market, details Autoblog.
It’s a tough projection really coming from a company which has yet to mass produce a vehicle line. But Elio is confident that the company’s currently-evolving Shreveport, LA factory will someday be able to build 250,000 vehicles per year.
Elio said that it’s admittedly a big number but he is confident that his company can. He said that there are only a handful of badges that will do that and that Elio will be capable of doing it because the company is not competing against them. The vehicle is meant for a new market segment.
Paul Elio is breaking every rule of the high tech start-up game by not producing what he can right now. He’s obsessed with making the car perfect instead of getting the first cars off the line. The company is sitting on over 30,000 pre-orders. If that’s not reason enough to get into production nothing will ever be enough. Henry Ford didn’t have that much pre-launch demand when he started the Ford Motor Company. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR! Just Dot-it!
I remember another story of a perfectionist who kept tinkering with his designs to the point that investors became disenchanted with the product and walked away with their money. Let us hope that the Elio is not the next Dymaxion House, or Dymaxion car.
With $1000 already on the line personally, I would be more than a bit disappointed to see Paul become the next Buckminster Fuller. One more delay in production, and I may end up auctioning off my “spot in line.”
–BEWARE– Elio Motors has been taking ‘RESERVATIONS’ for 2 ½ years, but is still short $230 MILLION needed to reach ‘production’.
In fact, their $100 – $1,000 reservations DO NOT guarantee that you will ever get a vehicle; Elio Motors says: “ we are under no obligation to supply you with a vehicle.“
– And when asked, they refuse to provide which ‘reputable financial institution’ is responsible for their “Refundable” escrow account.
– Even with the over “$17 million collected for “reservations”, they have NOT BUILT nor TESTED one complete Pre-Production Prototype with operable systems to ‘validate their claims’ of fuel economy, or safety!” …. since 2008.
– If you ask any ‘difficult’ questions, or express ‘discontent’ on their FaceBook page, it is [DELETED], and you are “BLOCKED”! Interesting ‘concept’; but NO WAY they will be in production and on the road, by Mid-2016, as they ‘claim’. – Their ‘Production Date’ has already ‘slipped’ from Jun/Jul 2014 → 1st Qtr 2015 → 3rd Qtr 2015 → to First ½ 2016!
– They have NOT demonstrated their “84mpg” and do not guarantee their ‘selling price’ of $6,800. They have never ‘demonstrated “at least 75mpg” to QUALIFY for the ATVM LOAN. They are ‘fleecing’ our citizens.!
Elio hasn’t met ONE self imposed deadline since finishing the orange mule in 2012. They outsourced everything such as design, never seen, for the “20 to 25” preproduction prototypes, never seen, never built. Despite claiming the vehicle would be made of mostly off the shelf parts, they outsourced a new 900cc 3cyl. engine from IAV, and we have seen one video, 14 months late, of some 3 cylinder engine on a dyno, results, surprise, unreported. The only part of Elio Motors actually working is the eternal Malls of America tour, where they drag the orange mule around (with a 20 year old Geo Metro motor) and continue to collect between $100-$1000 per pop for “a place in line.” They have pushed back start of production dates dozens of times. What do you call a company which sells futures for a product which never materializes?
I think Paul needs to stop prostrating to big investors, and let the everyday working slob invest with 10-20-50k. It will be them who will make and be buying this vehicle, why not them who benefit from the success and not a handful of hedge funds?
Claiming environmental impact and dependency on oil, yet producing a vehicle which is not FlexFuel compatible so it can use the widely available E85? I don’t think so.