Financing Elio Motors Development And Production

[goofyone]

Even producing 250 per day puts production at 1,250 per week 533/day and 2,666 is the number they'd be able to produce on a single shift running at the old 54 second speed on the line), two months of production will take them through the first 10,000 Reservations!

10K could prove to be a good estimate depending on when the ride and drive events actually begin. EM expects to start up a bit slower than 250/shift as they make sure everything is going smoothly. What several of us have recently heard from EM about production ramp up is that they expect to produce under 3K the first month with a per shift average around 150. The second month they expect about 250/shift average for about 5K total for the month and in the third month EM expects to average about 350/day which is about 7K total for the month. This puts us at about 15K vehicles for the first 3 months of production which are the most likely to be affected if ride and drive events are not available until production begins.

Even at 15K vehicles the majority of the expected 60K+ first year reservations will have the opportunity to attend a ride and drive event somewhere before they must order their vehicles. Also most reservation holders will have the benefit of reading all about the vehicle from others who receive their vehicles early on in the production run. Anyone with a production number right now is also unfortunately squarely in danger area and will just have to see how the ride and drive event timing works out.

There is a possible solution I can think of for these early reservation holders. If EM can provide the tour team with even a single automatic equipped E-series test drive vehicle about 4-5 months out from production they could run a very limited series of test drive events with specific priority given to early reservations holders with reservations which will be built in the first 3 months. More vehicles would of course be helpful, especially a manual transmission to compare to the automatic, however everyone can drive an automatic and many people have concerns about the AMT so that wold be the one to have if there is only a single vehicle.

 

[JEBar]

Even at 15K vehicles the majority of the expected 60K+ first year reservations will have the opportunity to attend a ride and drive event somewhere before they must order their vehicles. Also most reservation holders will have the benefit of reading all about the vehicle from others who receive their vehicles early on in the production run. Anyone with a production number right now is also unfortunately squarely in danger area and will just have to see how the ride and drive event timing works out.

There is a possible solution I can think of for these early reservation holders. If EM can provide the tour team with even a single automatic equipped E-series about 4-5 months out from production they could run a very limited series of test drive events with specific priority given to early reservations holders with reservations which will be built in the first 3 months. More vehicles would of course be helpful, especially a manual transmission to compare to the automatic, however everyone can drive an automatic and many people have concerns about the AMT so that wold be the one to have if there is only a single vehicle.

in looking at the time frame, lack of an existing test drive vehicle, and if (when available) a single test drive vehicle is provided to the tour, I just don't see how enough of the country can be covered to provide most of the folks with a low (say up to 10,000) reservation number with an opportunity for a test drive prior to having to place their order .... EM knows that and acknowledged it in a link you provided .... I most certainly agree that for folks who are undecided on the type of transmission, not having a test drive isn't good .... I also agree that early on one of the best resources available would be reports from folks who have their Elio and are building real world experience using it .... given that its still too early to publish pricing, I do believe that it would be a positive development if EM would finalize and publish an options list .... I know they have bigger fish to fry but things like that could help redirect the conversation in a more positive direction .... it would also reaffirm their commitment to bring the project into production

 

[JEBar]

according to news reports :

"(CNN) -- Maybe the cash-strapped U.S. government should start selling iPads.

According to the latest statement from the U.S. Treasury, the government had an operating cash balance Wednesday of $73.8 billion. That's still a lot of money, but it's less than what Steve Jobs has lying around.

Tech juggernaut Apple had a whopping $76.2 billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of June, according to its last earnings report."

when I heard this report this morning, I couldn't help but think that Apple could be a great financial backer for EM .... with the Skyz company being an Apple partner, having EM go into production could yield significant sales for Apple ....

 

[Jim H]

......There is a possible solution I can think of for these early reservation holders. If EM can provide the tour team with even a single automatic equipped E-series test drive vehicle about 4-5 months out from production they could run a very limited series of test drive events with specific priority given to early reservations holders with reservations which will be built in the first 3 months. More vehicles would of course be helpful, especially a manual transmission to compare to the automatic, however everyone can drive an automatic and many people have concerns about the AMT so that wold be the one to have if there is only a single vehicle.

Even if they only hit the top 5 markets and required the Drive & Ride reservation holders to complete a survey to be shared with the rest of the nation would be extremely helpful. I think most forum members have been very candid and would expect their comments on the Drive & Ride experience to be as candid as well.

 

[goofyone]

Even if they only hit the top 5 markets and required the Drive & Ride reservation holders to complete a survey to be shared with the rest of the nation would be extremely helpful. I think most forum members have been very candid and would expect their comments on the Drive & Ride experience to be as candid as well.

Being able to share these experience is exactly why I think being able to do something like this would be a good idea. With a limited number of events and a limited number of driving time slots the reality is that most early reservation holders would still not likely have the opportunity to drive these vehicles but at the very least there would likely be hundreds of reviews online from ordinary folks which should really help everyone else make their decisions.

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

That said, I don't recommend test drives with the current vehicle because it wouldn't drive like the production model with no noise reduction measures and the steering ratio apparently making for more difficult driving than will be in the real vehicle. Test driving the P4 is just asking for Elio's rep to be trashed I expect.

 

[goofyone]

That said, I don't recommend test drives with the current vehicle because it wouldn't drive like the production model with no noise reduction measures and the steering ratio apparently making for more difficult driving than will be in the real vehicle. Test driving the P4 is just asking for Elio's rep to be trashed I expect.

This is definitely true. Test drives would have to be done on an E-series vehicle or at the very least the P4 would have to be rebuilt to resolve its current deficiencies. From what we have heard it is possible an upgraded P4 may actually end up happening anyway.

 

[Ty]

according to news reports :

"(CNN) -- Maybe the cash-strapped U.S. government should start selling iPads.

According to the latest statement from the U.S. Treasury, the government had an operating cash balance Wednesday of $73.8 billion. That's still a lot of money, but it's less than what Steve Jobs has lying around.

Tech juggernaut Apple had a whopping $76.2 billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of June, according to its last earnings report."

when I heard this report this morning, I couldn't help but think that Apple could be a great financial backer for EM .... with the Skyz company being an Apple partner, having EM go into production could yield significant sales for Apple ....

Steve Jobs HAS been lying around a lot lately... (How old is that report?)

 

[Kuda]

Snipped: I may need a break until the funding is declared and in the bank in next months Tech Talk along with Paul Elio doing a money dance.

 

[JEBar]

that link has been around a while but the news is much the same ..... here is a link to a report dated today in which they state in part:

"Forget about a simple little hole. Apple CEO Tim Cook has a gaping chasm burning in his pocket.
Apple now has $178 billion in cash. Sure, a big chunk of that is held overseas and a large amount of it is technically considered "marketable securities," but those can be turned into cash quickly."