Early in December 2015, reports started coming out that Elio Motors was looking to build as many as 25 prototypes of its ground-breaking three-wheeled vehicle prior to production.
Apparently, the 25 engineering and test vehicles will be used to conduct a variety of final engineering and validation tests that will allow the company to make final adjustments prior to mass production.
In order to produce the 25 vehicle prototypes, Elio Motors has made a formal public stock offering to make its shares available to interested public to generate $25 million.
After receiving qualification from the Securities and Exchange Commission of its offering statement under Regulation A+, the company launched its formal stock offering on November 20.
Thus far, Elio Motors has already developed five prototypes which it named as P1, P2, P3, P4, and P5. It’s no use making the nomenclature of prototypes complicated, the company probably deduced.
A product of a bored mind
The company has put on display all its prototypes in various motor shows, with the latest being the P5, which was showcased recently during the LA Auto Show late in November, notes Gizmag.
Interestingly, every time Elio Motors displays its latest prototype, it usually comes out with a different color than the previous prototypes. Thus, for some reasons, there have been rumors that started swirling around on the internet that the independent American carmaker has developed only one prototype and not five and the company was said to be just launching a different-colored prototype every time.
Elio Motors actually came out with a clarification on its website in a first-person article aptly titled ‘Facts from Fiction’ alluding that the rumors are quite absurd if not ridiculous.
The site said that the rumors could have been started by someone who was bored and wanted to see if anyone was reading their posts on the internet.
But Elio Motors admit that the prototypes have different colors alright, but each one is a totally different vehicle from the others.
Accordingly, the mission of Elio Motors is to bring fans along with its journey and the evolution of the three-wheeler is a huge part of it. Each prototype is iterative and refined to maximize style and performance than the last.
To those who know the ABCs of car manufacturing, they would surely note the changes from each vehicle prototype to the next. The Elio Motors website also detailed that the P1 was proof of concept and had no color, P2 did not do a lot of touring, P3 was in full tour mode when the P4 was rolled out while the P4 was in full tour mode when the P5 was recently revealed.
The company said that they have an incredible engineering team and they could not figure out how to tour and modify the same vehicle at the same time if those who have spread the rumors are indeed using their logic before making their ridiculous assumptions.
The changes that the P5 bring
When Elio Motors recently launched the P5, those who have been familiar with the three-wheeled two-seater vehicle immediately noted the 60-horsepower 0.9-liter 3-cylinder front-mounted engine, which was custom-made for Elio Motors.
The engine was actually unveiled in Michigan earlier this year. The previous prototypes were equipped with off-the-shelf engines.
Paul Elio, founder and CEO of Elio Motors, explained during the LA Auto Show that the company has decided against going with a third-party engine in order to meet production volume, avoid extra costs that would have to be passed on to the consumers, and the ability to have the engine designed to precisely fit the needs of the vehicle.
Elio Motors is sticking with its target retail price of $6,800 and hopes to begin deliveries of its ground-breaking three-wheeler by the fourth quarter of 2016.
Founded in 2008, Elio Motors seeks to build a three-wheeled vehicle that gets up to 84 miles per gallon consumption for a retail price of slightly below $7,000.