Hola Amigos!

[secondhand]

Don;t forget that we have too many people living in McMansions. it's not uncommon for a family of 4 to live in a 3500 sqft house. We need to make 1000 sqft the maximum for a family of four. I grew up in a 800 sqft house and we had a family of 6. My wife was in a 700 sqft house and they had 8. They also only had one car as their mom just took the bus and walked everywhere. That's efficient. Just go tell an American today that's the way they need to live because it keeps us from guzzling up natural resources.

Then talking about other countries. We use its more fuel over places like Germany or France or England. On the other hand, go look at the size of those countries as compared to the US. Plus those countries have excellent public transportation which means, you don't need to drive in your car all of the time. We can't have that in the US because everyone tells me, it's too corrupt. As we all know the auto industry and road construction industries are squeaky clean.

So yes, the Elio was a great idea but I honestly believe it was too good to be true. You can't build a three wheeler that has to compete against 4 wheelers. Paul tried but realized to do so, it need to be like a 4 wheeler in comfort and safety. The existing three wheelers are play toys which are limited use. Elio could have competed in that industry but found that was not possible unless the price was there to live up to the business plan. Yes, do not forget the business plan as it's more than just the vehicle itself. Things like the 3yr 36K mile warranty, 120 company stores, training of Pep Boys, filling in the Pep Boys voids for service (i.e. St. Louis MO), stocking parts and then the building between 125K and 250K per year. Elio could do it if they had the size of an operation like Vanderhall, FUV and Solo, so comparing those to Elio is like comparing apples to oranges.

In the end, you want America to change and as i have figured out, telling us what we need pretty much doesn't work. Especially when it encroaches on our freedom. People look at buying a Suburban as freedom because they can to it if they like. As we have seen, the Elio never got the support of Americans like they thought it would. It's just that we are seeing it now.

I can't speak about family size or housing arrangements, I can't speak about foreign transport either. Indeed, Americans do, and should, have choices. I'm not opposed to large vehicles. We need them. Many people, such as myself, want something simple, reliable, safe and inexpensive. Over 65,000 people put money down on the Elio. Demand for this vehicle is high and if he had produced them and they turned out as promised, I believe demand would have soared. I still want my Elio, but I'm getting up in age and I can't wait forever.

 

[RSchneider]

Over 65,000 people put money down on the Elio.

Correct. Remember, it took Elio 50 months to get that 65K. To do that, it took Elio to sweeten the pot to get people to put down a reservation. That took discounts, fixed pricing and jumping ahead in line the more you spent. If Americans were really interested in the Elio, then a $100 fully refundable deposit is all that would have been needed, no discounts or fixed pricing. As we know, that wasn't the case. To top it off the fixed pricing and discounts are killing the project. That 65K has become a liability and it's been discussed before. Each day that passes by, the worse it gets. You have to look into the details and not just claim "65K reservations" as a success.

 

[Watashiwah]

“Remember, it took Elio 50 months to get that 65K. To do that, it took Elio to sweeten the pot to get people to put down a reservation. That took discounts, fixed pricing and jumping ahead in line the more you spent.”

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Remember too, and just for the record and clarity, Elio Motors also aggressively pursued getting to that arbitrary 65,000 reservation threshold to ‘impress’ the DoE ATVM loan deciders on the ‘popularity’ of their three wheeler. It remains to be seen if Paul and Hari felt the lack of ‘Advanced Technological’ (the AT in ATVM) merit needed, what they perceived, a ‘boost.’ Arguably one could say that this merely just beneficially increased EM cash flow while proving absolutely nothing compelling to the ATVM people (it may have had exactly the opposite effect). From a business perspective it was yet another ‘negative’ simply lessening the potential profit further making Elio/ESG even less attractive to future investors, yet again, at the peril of the already existing reservationists and investors.