Elio Motors cannot be called an automaker as of yet. The company is still in its start-up stage, and it is gathering money and information to introduce a highly-efficient, highly-affordable three-wheeler car to the US market.
However, if you click The Onion’s government page, you will notice a rather slick 44-seconds Elio commercial. In fact, it will seem like it was made by a popular car company. However, it is funnier than anything that could ever be approved by a major car manufacturer.
It’s rather perfect and is a smart move on the part of Elio, commissioning The Onion to make an advertisement like that. Elio’s driving claims include a 7300-dollar base price and an 84miles per gallon range.
In the ad, they are placed at the top of the screen and never mentioned by the two actors in the commercial. After seeing it for the first time, it will be difficult for you even to imagine what they are talking about.
It’s a rather deft move by Elio since the company can’t succeed by engineering geeks alone. If the automaker wants major access, it needs to convince a wide range of potential customers. It has to attract the kind of buyers who would rather end up paying monthly installments for a Civic or Corolla.
The company needs to reach out to those buyers who don’t want to focus on the tandem-setting decreased for aerodynamic drag or the company’s three-wheel layout but instead, love the concept of a highly-efficient car that can be purchased a brand new for less than the price of a second-hand hatchback.
Elio Motors has managed to extract as much as it can from hybrid nonbelievers and hypermilers. However, in the process, it managed to earn 50k pre-orders and a market valuation of $1.3 billion, thanks to a greatly successful crowd funding effort of $17 million. In its next step, the company needs to bring their plans to the minds of regular buyers and step out of the realm of esoterica.
Elio Motors first publicized that the retail version of their EV would cost 6800 dollars but later it was bumped up to $7000. The price-tag of the vehicle was for the 84mpg variant with the 3-cylinder engine. A fixed delivery date was introduced by Elio, but the company is trying to convince consumers for a lock-in through reservations.
By pre-ordering the car, the potential clients must sign a binding agreement to buy the three-wheeled vehicle in spite of the fact that the release date is shrouded in mystery. The customers, who tied themselves with a pre-order that is non-refundable, have paved their way to a $7300 final price, for a two-seater car from Elio Motors.
While the complicated pricing scheme was being announced by Elio, it was revealed that the company needs to abide by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program’s requirements.
Therefore, Elio Motors has introduced two different pricing tiers, even after having 56000 non-refundable reservations, as reported by Slash Gear.
Meanwhile, questions have surfaced on the internet regarding whether it is advisable to purchase a three-wheeled car. According to a person who drove this vehicle, he can’t be sure whether it offers a great driving experience since the vehicle was making a noise like a tractor making its way through a hayfield. The gear was rather messy and unusable, and the handling didn’t inspire confidence either.