While Elio Motors is still looking for a partner or investor to finance the mass production of its concept car, the three-wheel fuel-efficient vehicle, sometime in 2016, 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.
Amortization plan
The Elio three-wheel vehicle will be retailed for $6,800 when it is rolled out in 2016 but even though a single unit has yet to come out of its assembly line, the company is planning to make owning an Elio trike extra affordable.
Elio Motors would be devising a promo called ‘Let Your Gas Savings Make Your Payment’ where consumers who shall buy an Elio, will get to have a special credit card in their pocket.
Motorists can use the card every time they gas up at the pump. So if the person’s gas costs $10, then his total cost to Elio would be $30. The extra $20 is applied to the consumer’s loan or amortization payment.
Elio explained that as long as they drive into the dealership with something that was 27 mpg or less, their monthly fuel consumption will go down. Doing the math, three times 27 equals 81 but the three-wheel vehicle has a rated fuel consumption rating of 84 mpg.
Under the amortization plan, consumers get a brand new vehicle that is truly fun to drive, with warranty, they also don’t have to make a car payment and plus the fact that the owners are guaranteed to spend less on gas.
Financial strategies
One of those financial strategies that Paul Elio 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.
While there has been no official statement from Paul Elio or the company about it, it is also likely that Elio Motors is looking for prospective investors or investor-partners to its breakthrough business undertaking.