A lot of eyes have been focused on Elio Motors lately. The company managed to make a big name for itself before even releasing their first product, as their initial idea was hailed for its innovation and creative design. And even though the company’s work seems to be going well overall, with reports indicating that research and development are moving according to plans, the company has recently announced that they will need a little more time to truly perfect their design and get it ready for the market.
Currently, the company is aiming at a car that costs just $6,800, and has a fuel efficiency of 84 mpg. An obviously ambitious project, the car is going to be powered by a three-cylinder engine outputting 55 horsepower, and is aimed at the general consumer market, with the intention of delivering an affordable solution to everyone, and improving the way people use cars in general. Not only that, but Elio are also approaching the car’s design in a very innovative way, using only three wheels instead of four, with a design that resembles a motorcycle more than an actual car.
And that has actually caused them some issues along the road, as the company had to go through a lot of trouble to get their car properly certified for some parts of the American market. Lawmakers in some jurisdictions had decided that the vehicle’s three-wheel design classify it as a motorcycle and not a standard car, and wanted it to be registered as such – but at the same time, that would be a problem for the vehicle Elio are trying to produce, as motorcycle riders are legally required to wear a helmet, something which doesn’t make sense in an enclosed cabin design.
According to a recent interview with the company, they currently also need to raise additional funding for their production, and their estimated goal is around $185 million right now. This doesn’t seem unreasonable, considering the scale on which they want to produce the vehicle, but it’s not clear if this will be an actual setback in the car’s release.
At this point, reports put the release date sometime in 2016 – and if all goes well with acquiring the additional funding, that could easily happen. On the other hand, it’s not entirely clear what would happen if the company doesn’t manage to secure their needed funds, but in all likelihood, they’ll probably at least try to get the vehicle on the market in 2016 in order to start profiting from it. From then on, they should be able to secure as much funding as they need to continue the project as they were intending.