The Elio 's production has been pushed back a lot. I'm sure that has turned a lot of people away or made them weary of reserving one. However, I stand by my original statement, seeing them on the road is what will make sales.
You have exactly described EM's dilemma! One word comes to mind:
DOUBT. Doubt can easily leads to indecisions and hesitations...even fear of losing one's hard earned money and it's all because of the uncertainty of ELIO's future production! And people can pick on these delays; it makes them either wait or move along. And it shows on the reservations barely cracking the 50K mark after it started years ago. Right now, final delivery of the ELIO is a PROMISE TO NO ONE, as EM is not obligated if they deemed it's futile to continue w/out the necessary funding. But I'm just describing the worse case scenario. For now, it will reinforce my belief and will stay positive if EM starts giving us feedback on the E-series build, not the usual caca meme blog w/ nothing new.
June/July will be critical because by then the e-series tests should have been completed and funding secured (any later than that and they may not have enough time to set up production lines, infrastructure, building and stocking up the new engines, etc.). But hey, what do I know?
Strictly my opinion only.