New Funding For Elio!

[Trusting]

What happens in the areas with no Pep Boys (i.e. St. Louis, MO)?

Where?

 

[Ty]

What happens in the areas with no Pep Boys (i.e. St. Louis, MO)?

They'll make agreements with some other local shop to do Elio maintenance.

 

[AriLea]

It's helpful about current oil prices too

 

[RSchneider]

It's helpful about current oil prices too

Oil prices are creeping up not going up at a rapid rate. People can live with that. Also we need a good ol' fashioned problem with the economy where factories are shutting down and high unemployment. mix those two together, then Elio will be set. Then there's the issue with how we are hell bent on coal and thus, we can produce the energy to charge those electric cars. So, Elio needed to be in production in 2014 and they would be part of the big 4 today. Since they blew that chance, they will have to accept the reality that 3 wheelers are not something that Americans or Europeans will buy. Technology moves at a rapid pace and Elio missed that bus, thus they need to redesign the car and go with an EV and an optional EV with an extender if they are hoping to get interest. Other than that, it's a niche car that hasn't been proven in the real world. Even your designs are not practical at all and only a few would buy them.

 

[Johnny Cyclone]

they will have to accept the reality that 3 wheelers are not something that Americans or Europeans will buy.

I would, and it looks like another 64,999 would also.

 

[RSchneider]

It only took 52 months to get over 65K and when it came to a committed sale, that was just over 21K went for it. So, it's technically not zero but it's pretty much niche of a niche. I think that the targeted price and up to MPG was the real seller. Elio is in the range of the Polaris Slingshot for interest.

 

[PA Car Guy]

They should have done that from the gitgo. They could have saved a fortune and we might all be driving our Elios by now. I suspect the "new" engine was more of an ego trip than an engineering necessity.

may be they can buy the full stock of Ford 3 cylinder Fiesta engines after Ford's recent announcement!

 

[AriLea]

...Even your designs are not practical at all and only a few would buy them.

Practical? That is definitely wrong, and an inversion of values, if practical means suitable for a purpose. It may not be suitable for the purpose you feel is practical, but for the purposes matching the intension.... It's more practical than other vehicle designs for the intended use.

But granted that IS a niche. These were never a general purpose vehicle. It's foolish to suggest any one suggested otherwise. However, SUVs and crossovers were once niche vehicles, but they are now being preferred for 'general use' by a majority of buyers.

And NO, the Elio by itself would never had been one of the top 4 'general manufacturers'. That was never the plan. EM would need to add several 4wheel/4seat+ products to do that.

By proxy, you are actually attacking the purpose being of value, claiming that was the failure. Again no. The funding was an issue, and it's failure is based mostly on other issues, of which the 'limited purpose' was only a minor factor. There are plenty of limited purpose vehicles making it to the big-show. And plenty of general purpose vehicles have not made it, mostly based on those other factors.

And about technology, it was never Elio's strong point. The 3 wheel platform is not a technology advantage it was a currently unexploited configuration, that avenue remains open. And will remain so until a competitor appears on the horizon. True, that engine is a tecky issue, and becoming less advantaged. However, it will remain a viable selling point for quite a few years yet. Once in production it can easily be upgraded or replaced.

So no boat has left, in fact it's still in dry-dock.

Now about only a few 'buyers', the few in this case means a small percentage, and yes, even a small percentage means a possible fleet in the millions in 10 years. Frankly, that would have been a success, and still not a major production compared to all vehicle sales.

Now about my vehicles, these are more niche than the Elio as I'm interested in specialization. So that's a apples-to-oranges comparison. Non sequitur.

 

[Trusting]

Oil prices are creeping up not going up at a rapid rate. People can live with that. Also we need a good ol' fashioned problem with the economy where factories are shutting down and high unemployment. mix those two together, then Elio will be set. Then there's the issue with how we are hell bent on coal and thus, we can produce the energy to charge those electric cars. So, Elio needed to be in production in 2014 and they would be part of the big 4 today. Since they blew that chance, they will have to accept the reality that 3 wheelers are not something that Americans or Europeans will buy. Technology moves at a rapid pace and Elio missed that bus, thus they need to redesign the car and go with an EV and an optional EV with an extender if they are hoping to get interest. Other than that, it's a niche car that hasn't been proven in the real world. Even your designs are not practical at all and only a few would buy them.

B.S.

 

[Elio Amazed]

They should have done that from the gitgo. They could have saved a fortune and we might all be driving our Elios by now. I suspect the "new" engine was more of an ego trip than an engineering necessity.

Yep. And I think they talked themselves into it being an engineering necessity rather easily.
Paul and the principles wanted to basically not be beholding to any supplier that couldn't be replaced easily.

In the event of an unforeseen disruption of engine supply after the start of production...
The vehicle would likely have to have at least a slight degree of re-engineering to accommodate a different engine.

They could also more easily determine and control the consistent future cost of engines by producing their own.
Was it totally necessary. IMO, no. They wrote a lot of checks that their a**es just couldn't cash.