My Elio Alternate Project Is Underway.

[JEBar]

personally, I like a McPherson strut front suspension .... it will be interesting to see how you are able to attach them in the space under the hood .... thanks for the regular updates

 

[Mark BEX]

personally, I like a McPherson strut front suspension .... it will be interesting to see how you are able to attach them in the space under the hood .... thanks for the regular updates

Certainly not my first gig with struts, this Exo-Sleton build I used struts all round

This was another setup I was playing with, was going to be a Trike (motorcycle type) but my heart decided to stop beating beating properly just over 2 years ago, still recovering from the open heart actually, almost there, and with a 30 year warranty :-)

Hmm, can't find a picture of it, it's sitting in a corner of my factory, but here is the CAD model of it, uses the well known VW Mk4 Golf or Jetta 1.8 and auto box, and of course the VW struts.

Was going to be this type of Rewaco Trike .....

 

[3wheelin]

Auction, minimum prices set at what ever is required to make a profit with the production plan based on the unit build count.
Probably the first lot will cost the most, but get the better price at auction. Each set should have it's own special issued features. Be it color, logo, custom outfitting or whatever. (VIN and Certificate)

So off the cuff, and hopefully conservative, what is the max value of a 1 of 10 count, vs what is the price to build them?
(Mark would be much more accurate at this...but...)
1) If it cost 1mil to make a one off Elio, well that first set was done, so the next ten would cost a lot less I would hope.
2) Elio was going to build the next 100 for well under $16m as best I could read into the tea leaves, $160k each.
3) TRex's cost under 45k to bench build, since that is the bottom pricing for the breed.
Should be able to 'better that' with reasonable tooling.
4) Probably can sell the first 10 units at a premium, and the next 100 a lot lower.
5) One reservationist satisfied for each 10 made. For equal bids, reservationists win. (double their res-amount to sweeten the deal)

So let's say a first lot of 10 cost under 400k to build, spreading the R&D costs over a projected 231 vehicles.
$8.8m to build all lots.

I think the auctions might average better than $100 (min 90K) for the first 5, over $75k (min 65K) each for the next 5, and average better than 50k for the next 200, (graduate the minimums lower for each set of 10) and $10k for the required 21 reservationists. (I'm not sticking to the original $6400, to be more reasonable)
That takes in $500k + $375 + $10m + $210k = $11,085,000 or $2,285,000 in profit at 20% margin.

That isn't very good returns, but hopefully the cost can be less, or the auctions produce better results. The real issue for better sales is taking time to run all the auctions. In lot builds of 10, you can just pause between and see how it goes.
I think the minimums should start at 20% under the average of the last 10 auction sales.

Sale #1 should be as special as possible to make the best start for the series.

Is this possible, considering a stock (but perfect) 1970 Mustang or Thunderbird can get over $500k each at auction?
Maybe that doesn't relate except to say that a limited supply of something special is pure gold to collectors.
So the custom features I noted above matter totally.

I would also offer that any sale over $60K gets a free forever trade-in, to a new model with equal or better options. (minus what ever it cost to repair the old one.)

Apples and oranges. Mustangs and Thunderbirds have made their mark in the automotive world so I'm not surprise people paying that much in auction. A newcomer ELIO have to earn it's merits, needs to win some races (yeah right) to be popular enough for it to be special and collectible. Then again since we're all just fantasizing, if the ELIO looks like this:

 

[3wheelin]

Well, yup collectible starts with classic. But then again, if something becomes desirable, then it can become classic.
And desirability my friend, is in the eyes of the beholder.

For me, a 350GTV (1963 NOT the 1965 GTS), style with a WRX drive train(in 2WD-FWD), in a tadpole platform. Well it would not be liked by me for it's efficiency, that's for sure.
(Very tuff to fit everything in below the full travel of the suspension. But good so far....)
View attachment 24766

Coulda, shoulda, woulda! In retrospect, had EM built the all important production units and delivered 10-20 ELIOs before going broke, these units with original production numbers will surely be collectible (but not the value you envisioned) no matter how it performed during it's lifetime with the owners.

 

[3wheelin]

I think we are a little out of sync. (or maybe less than it appears) Elio Motors was in no mind set to try my hypothetical. There would have to be substantial engineering and product changes to do my suggestion. Mostly a mind shift that they couldn't/wouldn't do.
That ship has sailed. Yep 'Coulda, shoulda, (would never have)'
Now for Mark, it's possible. But I did do some outlandish dreaming in this, and that is a bit like me to project a bit too far forward, too early, too aggressively, too out of normal. (out of the box and off the rails) My preferred form of risk taking.
Yet if you don't project early enough, well 'Coulda, shoulda, woulda' is long past by then.

But I stand by my process. There are many things I have totally nailed with it, so at least I have benefited.

Doing plan projections along multiple paths is part of my process. This one we talked about was just one. My college degree takes an average of 5 years to complete (BS degree of course, lol). I did it in 3. Creative dreaming works. At least for me.

What I was doing in this thread was offering up one possible path.

Lol, once you started this "possible path", we're way beyond ELIO's KISS and the reservationist's sub 7k expectations. I was feeding along your concept.

 

[Mark BEX]

.... I ran out of time today and no work for the next 3 days as it's Mayday holiday week, and I have been ordered to go camping on Sunday and Monday.

I can not ever remember going camping and it not raining, sheez. Holiday over, back to the car tomorrow :-)

 

[JEBar]

that would be a beautiful, not to mention fun drive when you get your trike on the road

 

[JEBar]

Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap with 318 curves in 11 miles: America’s number one motorcycle and sports car road.

https://tailofthedragon.com/

 

[Mark BEX]

I am currently integrating the strut tops into the frame work.

I made up some strut tops with some simple tube which are certainly strong enough and simple, upper left, but quite complicated to work into the frame and making many, so I am going for flat plates, below left,

.... which I am home now figuring it out in CAD.

 

[JEBar]

shouldn't those struts help keep both front tires on the ground during cornering