TheAsterisk!
Elio Aficionado
I fully expect an initial trade press panic over otherwise unassuming and typical issues experienced by every new automotive platform launch. The trade press (and press in general) adore Tesla, for reasons I can't fully fathom, and we see fairly regular animosity for the basic idea of the Elio, opinions of the company (Elio Motors) notwithstanding.It's great to think that Elio will be a blockbuster hit, but until the car actually gets out on the road in peoples hands, we will never know if it'll be a flop or not. All it takes is for one flaw and the press will be all over it. The chance of having a few flaws is pretty good in the real world.
After comparing Elio Motors to Tesla, with a comparatively favorable view of Tesla, you bring up slow maintenance and constrained service parts supply as a point against Elio Motors? Have you paid attention to Tesla's turnaround times for in-warranty service? Clearly, they've gotten away with it. I agree, it would have a negative effect, but perhaps Tesla and the financier-playing-engineer Musk aren't the types you should hold up as examples, then.Elio can't count on that people will be clamoring for the car, ordering them online, going to Shreveport to pick them up and will drive them around without any need for service because they can do it themselves. You can count on 1% of the people doing that but then there's the other 99%. This is not like selling a product on Amazon and shipping it to you. If it breaks, you send it to the manufacturer and they fix it. One of the big problems when the Delorean came out was that when it did break, you were waiting a month for the parts. Most dealers had no training and it was just a learn as you go. There were many other problems with Delorean but they completely left out the service and warranty after the sale. My brother bought one new and Delorean went out of business while his car was at the dealer waiting 2 months for parts. In 10 months of ownership, it sat for 4 months over various times waiting for parts. Thus, he sold it.
Do you actually like to panic?What happens if you don't live close to a Pep Boys. For example, St. Louis has no Pep Boys and the closest ones are in Chicago or Springfield, MO. I suspect that someone in the St. Louis metro area (2.8M people) will buy an Elio. What happens if the car just doesn't start one day and it's only 6 months old? What if all of the Elios need to have the rear wheel bearing changed under a safety recall because they were not installed right? Who's going to fix that? Do we just tell everyone in STL that you need to take it 200+ miles away to have warranty work done? STL is not out in the middle of nowhere, so what happens with a big metro area like that? We are talking about a $7K car not some $200K McLaren. Someone in STL is going to use their Elio to drive from Washington, MO to STL every day because it's economical. Lat thing the need is a car that's sitting in the garage broke down.
Probably just do what you do if you live far from a dealership- repair it at a certified mechanic's shop, and (depending on the shop and their policies) either fill out some paperwork that gets the shop paid, or fill out some other paperwork that gets you reimbursed. (With nicer insurance, sometimes paperwork that gets the insurer reimbursed. Point is, you'll ink in some fields.) I've been present for this. It is neither novel nor particularly difficult. (Also, for those of us who are accustomed to used cars, and are looking at the Elio as a potential replacement for unwarrantied, used beaters, this wouldn't be much change to worry about, even under a reimbursement model. If you can't accept anything but prompt service, no money out-of-pocket, a few blocks from your hometown haunts, then perhaps an automotive startup isn't for you, really, nor would be several European makes, nor the products of Tesla.)
Again, you mean like Tesla has experienced, but which trade press has largely glossed over? Granted, Tesla doesn't actually refuse service, but rather tows to a remote service site, has you wait a couple of months, and doesn't offer a loaner car or anything, but it's pretty close for the affected drivers/owners, consequentially speaking.Elio will need to address that somehow because last thing you need is a bunch of Elios in certain areas of the country that are devoid of service and warranty. If you want bad PR, that'll happen in a jiffy. Again, this costs money and that's why the car business is different.
Amusingly, most of the existing laws that hamper Tesla do so because they apply to cars. Most do not apply to motorcycles (or autocycles, if you like). That could easily change, or be lobbied to change, if dealerships get all flustered, but right now it's mostly OK for Elio as it stands. Just something to keep an eye on.Tesla does it, but not without issues: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_US_dealership_disputes
Apparently it varies by state and here in Texas there are certain hoops you have to jump through that someone in CA would not. So Elio would likely also run into these issues as well unless they get creative with ownership of the marshaling centers?
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