Some Questions I'd Like To Ask Paul Elio

[Jim H]

Boy I wish I lived in a world where the questions that kept me up at night were the ones on this thread.
I'm 1K all in, non refundable, so there is only one question that matters and that can only be answered when I drive my Elio home or they fold. Nothing else really matters

JMO. Most people with questions like these act like the company owe's them something. EM owed me a T shirt when I went all in and I received one. As far as I'm concerned we are even.

3. What is the current design of the dash?
They all ready said it would the some type of Elgin design
4. What is the design solution for the windshield wiper?
It was posted that the wiper is not an issue and they will be using a wiper design made in France.

As for the financing, I personally feel it's none of my business and if I was EM I would keep it under wraps to keep the big dogs guessing till they started production.

Absolutely agree, well said.

 

[UCF'73]

I would wait. I don't see any reason to preserve 4105. I don't see a future collectability for these vehicles. If sales go the way we think they will, the market will be flooded with them in a couple years, and you will be able to buy them on ebay for parts. Or, the next big thing will come along and we will be moving on to whatever it may be. Since I've got # 4020, I'll probably see you on the factory tour. I would say drive the hell out of the first one and enjoy it, then order the second one and preserve it if you still think it will have an increased future value.

I think early production models of the Elio will be very collectable, but not for a few decades. Like with any car, the problem is they have to stay low mileage and in mint condition.

 

[ClubJoe]

Mine will always be in mint condition but I hope not low mileage.

ClubJoe
Sunny Brandon, FL

 

[Dustoff]

My question is a practical one. I know they are trying to hold to the $6800 target price for those of us with reservations. Once they work through that will the price quickly revert to market price reflecting supply and demand (presumably much higher)? If so, it might make economic sense to put down an extra C-note to reserve that second car at the bargain price.

Did just that.

 

[eddie66]

I think early production models of the Elio will be very collectable, but not for a few decades. Like with any car, the problem is they have to stay low mileage and in mint condition.

My Elio might last decades, but I doubt the guy driving it will. It will have no value if you aren't here to enjoy it, so drive the hell out of it and enjoy it while you can.

 

[goofyone]

I think early production models of the Elio will be very collectable, but not for a few decades. Like with any car, the problem is they have to stay low mileage and in mint condition.

I agree with this. When we look at how collectable Elios will be we have to think along the lines of classic VW Beetles. These are vehicles produced in high numbers so that only very rare examples, such as ultra low build/import numbers, will be worth anything more than a simple valuation based on age, condition, and the value of upgrades.

Unless you have one of the first 100 Elios off the line the best way to make money on your Elio would be to find someone willing to pay you a premium for your early build instead of waiting months for retail stores to open and place an order at that time.

 

[eddie66]

I agree with this. When we look at how collectable Elios will be we have to think along the lines of classic VW Beetles. These are vehicles produced in high numbers so that only very rare examples, such as ultra low build/import numbers, will be worth anything more than a simple valuation based on age, condition, and the value of upgrades.

Unless you have one of the first 100 Elios off the line the best way to make money on your Elio would be to find someone willing to pay you a premium for your early build instead of waiting months for retail stores to open and place an order at that time.

So, if anyone thinks these will have a collector value, I'm willing to let you have my 10yr old Elio in the year 2025, if you replace it with a brand new one off the line.

 

[Jeff Porter]

As there has been a lot of confusion over what exactly Paul Elio meant in his Town Hall comments Silas Sunday asked for some clarification from Elio Motors and then produced this great production estimate graph and posted it to EMOA on Facebook. This pretty much matches what we have been told by Elio Motors in their blog and also clarifies what Paul Elio described in the Town Hall meeting while extrapolating a proper ramping up of production as it would not be logical to expect Elio Motors to be able to produce hundreds of brand new vehicles on a brand new assembly on the very first day of production.

The blue line is line/shift 1, orange is line/shifts 1 & 2, green is both lines/shifts 1 & 2 @ 100%

Paul Elio and his team have to be able to answer the production question as quickly as possible so they can't really give the full explanation but instead must provide a quick general idea of how things will work.

G.O., thanks very much for the graph. I'm a big graph guy. I am however having difficulty reading it. Total Units Produced along the top, Unit Production on the left, First year on the bottom. What are the numbers at the bottom representing? What are the numbers on the left representing? I think I got the top numbers, a rolling total of the number of cars produced. Is each column representing a week?

Help! :-) Thanks.

 

[goofyone]

G.O., thanks very much for the graph. I'm a big graph guy. I am however having difficulty reading it. Total Units Produced along the top, Unit Production on the left, First year on the bottom. What are the numbers at the bottom representing? What are the numbers on the left representing? I think I got the top numbers, a rolling total of the number of cars produced. Is each column representing a week?

Help! Thanks.

My understanding is that numbers across the top are total units produced, the numbers on the left are how many units are being produced per day, and the numbers on the bottom represent the number of days into the first year of production. So for example their is a green box at 90 days into production when EM should have already produced about 20,000 vehicles and are producing new vehicles at a rate of about 500 per day.

As there has been a lot of confusion over what exactly Paul Elio meant in his Town Hall comments Silas Sunday asked for some clarification from Elio Motors and then produced this great production estimate graph and posted it to EMOA on Facebook. This pretty much matches what we have been told by Elio Motors in their blog and also clarifies what Paul Elio described in the Town Hall meeting while extrapolating a proper ramping up of production as it would not be logical to expect Elio Motors to be able to produce hundreds of brand new vehicles on a brand new assembly on the very first day of production. For example the green box in the center estimates that 90 days into production EM should be producing 500 vehicles per day and should have produced 20,000 total vehicles.

The blue line is line/shift 1, orange is line/shifts 1 & 2, green is both lines/shifts 1 & 2 @ 100%

Paul Elio and his team have to be able to answer the production question as quickly as possible so they can't really give the full explanation but instead must provide a quick general idea of how things will work.

 

[Jeff Porter]

My understanding is that numbers across the top are total units produced, the numbers on the left are how many units are being produced per day, and the numbers on the bottom represent the number of days into the first year of production. So for example their is a green box at 90 days into production when EM should have already produced about 20,000 vehicles and are producing new vehicles at a rate of about 500 per day.

Awesome, I can tell I will have a blast with interpreting the predictions of this graph. Here's my interpretations, have fun.

1 month = 30 days into production >>> 600 vehicles made, now at the rate of 35 / day
6 weeks = 45 days into production >> 2200 made, now at 175 / day
7 weeks = 53 days into production >> 3700 made, now at 250+ / day
2 months = 60 days into production >> 7100 made, now at 360 / day
3 months = 90 days into production >> 20,600 made, now at 500 / day
4 months = 120 days into production >> 29,100 made, now at 600 / day
13-14 weeks = 130 days into production >> 35,100 made, now at 675 / day
Don't shoot the interpreter!

Hypotheses [I've no idea what that word means ] :

• First 500 vehicles done in the first month
• It'll be into the 3rd month, before the last of the current $1k all-in folks get their vehicle (I estimate 9k)
• It'll be into the 5th month, before the last of the current reservation holders get their vehicle (33k+)
• Looking at the graph, it'll be in the 6th month when the vehicles produced reaches 60k, which is a guess as to the limit on the first year of production. So if all goes as planned, perhaps fleet vehicles start being produced at this point.