Financing Elio Motors Development And Production

[Neal]

..............
It was interesting watching Paul Elio on Fox and Friends on April 28, the Elio looked impressive, the TV hosts were impressed with it, and it was good press. But, if you picked up on the dialogue, you can watch it on youtube, Paul wasn't pitching the Elio as an alternative, he was pitching it another vehicle to add to what you already own, so you "keep your SUV", verbatim. Interesting pitch, when you only have 30 seconds to convince people, and what that really does is tell people its a toy fun vehicle, not a replacement for what you currently drive. Was fairly clear Paul is not the pitch man you want on national TV pitching this, they need someone telling people, this is the next peoples' car.

So, we shall see where this goes, if even into first production.

Actually, that is the perfect pitch for me. I keep my SUV for family time and use the Elio for commuting and running around town. That was my thought even before this segment. The wife and I figured payment/gas on the Elio will be less than gas only on my SUV per month. It's a no brainer. I like the strategy. It works for a lot of people.

 

[Folks]

Actually, that is the perfect pitch for me. I keep my SUV for family time and use the Elio for commuting and running around town. That was my thought even before this segment. The wife and I figured payment/gas on the Elio will be less than gas only on my SUV per month. It's a no brainer. I like the strategy. It works for a lot of people.

How about traveling cross county in austere times. Tow or trail the Elio and sleep in the Mini SUV and use the Elio to go in town. Break down on the road ? Take the Elio to get help. I probably will never do this but it's great to know Young newly weds or singles could pull up stakes and hit the road to find jobs in say like Oregon, Florida, Texas where things are popping. Heck move to Shreveport. I hear they're hiring. Ok (not) maybe a year from now.

 

[whattheelf]

Actually, that is the perfect pitch for me. I keep my SUV for family time and use the Elio for commuting and running around town. That was my thought even before this segment. The wife and I figured payment/gas on the Elio will be less than gas only on my SUV per month. It's a no brainer. I like the strategy. It works for a lot of people.

That pitch appeals to me as well, however you and I are likely not part of the masses that have 7K of dispensable income to spend. Most of the mass market however that pitch loses traction, and the average person's credit card balance today is well over 20K today, so adding a second or more likely a third vehicle to the average household, even though it adds double or triple the mpgs, also means you are adding annual insurance costs, repair costs, and various state/local excise tax costs, on top of the cost of the vehicle, and its not going to be able to handle what an SUV does on the weekly trips to Costco.

These are the types of things the real mass market looks at far more than early adopters do, and early adopters aren't going to get anywhere near this company needs to reach profitability. If Paul wants to see this thing fly, the pitch has to resonate with the mass market, he has to convince this volume demographic that this is the only vehicle to buy, and its a far better choice than either a Civic, Scion, Smart, Fiat 500, Yaris, etc etc, and for EM to survive, it has to even outsell the Civic.

 

[Folks]

I'v seen this once before and have not been able to get the video to run either time. Maybe they don't like the color of my money. LOL Z

Make sure all your "flash" updates are done. Go to "flash.com" Great post by the way.

 

[zelio]

Make sure all your "flash" updates are done. Go to "flash.com" Great post by the way.

Good advice but it won't work for me. LOL I have a 2001 iMac and an iPad. The iPad will not take flash and the old Mac can't be upgraded anymore. :-) Z

 

[Folks]

Good advice but it won't work for me. LOL I have a 2001 iMac and an iPad. The iPad will not take flash and the old Mac can't be upgraded anymore. Z

The flash I'm referring to is in your browser. Switch to Firefox. its free. This is coming to you from a 2009 Imac.

 

[zelio]

The flash I'm referring to is in your browser. Switch to Firefox. its free. This is coming to you from a 2009 Imac.

My son and I have tried to update everything but my iMac is maxed out. That is why he bought me the iPad so I could at least see and do some things that I couldn't do with my Mac. I mainly use it to print things now because my printer is not compatible with my iPad. The problem with computers is they reach old age much sooner than we do. LOL :-) Z

 

[outsydthebox]

Well said. All electric transportation sad to say will be for the most part a toy vehicle for the well to do. Owners of Tesla and the likes buys it because it's cool not because they want to save money and it's obvious if they can shell out $50-60,000. Other electric cars are just not for the masses that's looking for affordable means of transportation. Range anxiety will always be it's downfall. And good luck waiting for other alternative fuel like hydrogen because it's years away from being affordable enough for the general consumers to buy. Then comes the genius of Paul Elio who comes up with his reverse gasoline trike. Not fancy, no new technology...just a more aerodynamically designed vehicle with an efficient 3 cylinder engine. And it's no secret Paul Elio says it won't replace your existing SUV's...any normal thinking human being can see that....it's for those demographics who wants a vehicle that'll take them from point A to point B with less gas. Well, 84 mpg could mean a lot of savings for us working people that drives 5 times or more a week! How much demand will Elio generate once it's in full production??? You be the judge but here's some stats:
A new analysis of data collected from 2005, yes 9 years ago, found driving the car to work was foremost the means of commuting for 9 out of 10 workers, 77% DRIVE ALONE! Americans hold on to the luxury of the solitary drive to work and this is spite of the rising fuel cost. There are 208 million licensed drivers in the US in 2008, that's a huge market that can use the ELIO for every day commute! Add Europe who love small vehicles for their narrow streets and Asia who uses a lot of motorized tricycles including China and India that likes gas sipping vehicles. So Paul Elio and his team are the least worried about the demand....it's how much they can produce to meet those demands! So my fellow Elio enthusiasts, rest assured that it's place in the automotive world is secured!

Thank you for those 9 year old stats. I would think those stats are even MORE relevant today.

 

[Horn]

That pitch appeals to me as well, however you and I are likely not part of the masses that have 7K of dispensable income to spend. Most of the mass market however that pitch loses traction, and the average person's credit card balance today is well over 20K today, so adding a second or more likely a third vehicle to the average household, even though it adds double or triple the mpgs, also means you are adding annual insurance costs, repair costs, and various state/local excise tax costs, on top of the cost of the vehicle, and its not going to be able to handle what an SUV does on the weekly trips to Costco.

These are the types of things the real mass market looks at far more than early adopters do, and early adopters aren't going to get anywhere near this company needs to reach profitability. If Paul wants to see this thing fly, the pitch has to resonate with the mass market, he has to convince this volume demographic that this is the only vehicle to buy, and its a far better choice than either a Civic, Scion, Smart, Fiat 500, Yaris, etc etc, and for EM to survive, it has to even outsell the Civic.

Although I usually agree with you, I completely disagree with you here.

This pitch works great for the mass market. Very few people imo would only own an elio. They can't pitch this is the only car you need because what happens when lets say there are more than 2 people in your family? You need that other vehicle.

Like you said "its not going to be able to handle what an SUV does on the weekly trips to Costco" - which is exactly why this should be a second vehicle.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but based on the demographics, this car should be sold to primarily younger single people. People with families will not want this as their primary car because it isn't realistic. Old people won't want it either because it won't be fun to get in and out of (hence why many older people drive minivans - I don't blame them)

This greatly benefits the people who drive 2 hours to work each day and a simple car to drive around town.

Instead of buying a civic, scion or smart car, I think the average person would buy the elio and a truck (not a new one).

In terms of costs, this should be very cheap for insurance. Now I only have liabilitiy, but I pay only $18/month. This should not put a significant dent in someones wallet for maintenance. There will be very little repair costs for the first several miles and these cars SHOULD be cheap to fix. You gotta remember, this car will take 3.5 qts of oil. Now if you have ever changed your own oil, it will be ridiculously easy to change it. Most people don't work on their cars, but I think many cheapasses would but this car......the cheapAs usually work on their own vehicles.

 

[Kuda]

Snipped: the cheapAs usually work on their own vehicles.

A contemporary Rickshaw &/or Pizza Delivery!