Jeff Johnson Interview - Autoline After Hours #347 - 9/16/16

[Jambe]

A post has been made on Facebook/elioownersofamerica in which Jeff Johnson (VP of Engineering) gives a long interview with some information that has not been talked about before.

September 16, 2016
1350 target weight. Contradicts the 1228 we have been told.
Has Eco/Sport switch.
At 83 MPG
0-60 at 11 seconds.
Tweeking transmission gears.

 

[Jim H]

A post has been made on Facebook/elioownersofamerica in which Jim Johnson (VP of Engineering) gives a long interview with some information that has not been talked about before.

September 16, 2016
1350 target weight. Contradicts the 1228 we have been told.
Has Eco/Sport switch.
At 83 MPG
0-60 at 11 seconds.
Tweeking transmission gears.

Jambe, thanks. Great update and I also noticed the 11 second 0-60 time and that they will be doing mileage tests next spring. Guess productionwon't begin until after all the mileage/endurance testing is complete. The sport/Eco switch is new and we learned it has a 5-speed w/o overdrive and that Aisin was still tweaking the gearing to reach their mileage goals. Unless I misunderstood it IAV is still tweaking the engine as well. I was surprised with some of his comments (non-comments) about funding. He did seem confident that production will begin in 2017.

Thanks again for sharing this with everyone.

 

[Jelio]

This is encouraging! Thanks for the great vid!

 

[Rickey Labit]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[W. WIllie]

That to me is the first "Intelectual" (sp) interview.
I see Cont. will be using a LRR tire compound.
The ECO/SPORT module also seems promising.
Thanks for the link.
Willie

 

[booboo]

Great find Jambe ! This is why I am here. To share and learn. Thanks a bunch.

 

[Coss]

Right around 9:20 they talk about the body; Steel unibody, SMC outer panel; hmm what happened to all steel?
And 1350lbs, yeah, that is unusual; they always touted 1250, and it changed on the EM website to 1229; I wonder which one is right.

But most encouraging " ...it will be going to market 2017..." and not hem hawing about it; it will be.
YES!!

 

[Ekh]

A post has been made on Facebook/elioownersofamerica in which Jim Johnson (VP of Engineering) gives a long interview with some information that has not been talked about before.

September 16, 2016
1350 target weight. Contradicts the 1228 we have been told.
Has Eco/Sport switch.
At 83 MPG
0-60 at 11 seconds.
Tweeking transmission gears.

Current SEC filing lists 1350 as the design weight

Johnson said first cars will be manual tranny, automatic later in Year 1. If true that's a bombshell, since 93% of Americans buy automatic when offered the choice
.

 

[Elio Amazed]

Right around 9:20 they talk about the body; Steel unibody, SMC outer panel; hmm what happened to all steel?
And 1350lbs, yeah, that is unusual; they always touted 1250, and it changed on the EM website to 1229; I wonder which one is right.

But most encouraging " ...it will be going to market 2017..." and not hem hawing about it; it will be.
YES!!

About the outer panels... Nope. That's not what I got. According to this interview they're all steel.
Quote: "And then the outer body, we were running with SMC, we made the changeover to steel..."
Quote: "You know we're trying to get to a 1350 target and with that being the case...
I had to get to steel to take some of that weight out."

I'm with you on the encouraging part.

And ekh, yeah that is a bombshell unless it's a miss-speak.
If it's not, it looks like my number will suddenly be lower than 9675.
And that will jack some people up, guaranteed.

 

[Ekh]

I have sent jerome a message asking him to clarify some of these points. There are a number of other very significant points in that interview such as the sports / Eco switch.

I do not know if I will get an answer, but I have certainly ask the questions.