New Official Elio Motors Blog

[NRB]

Ride a bus to the factory , pick up your Elio , and drive it home---cannot think of a more heart warming , satisfying , and thrilling adventure than that!!! Just remember to go easy the first 500 miles so rings, pistons, bearings and valves can seat themselves properly!!RB

 

[RickDeckard]

new blog updates: Happy New Year Elio friends and fans! Wow, can you believe it is 2014? We hope that your holiday season was everything that you wanted it to be and then some. We took a little time with our families and a lot of time getting geared up for the very exciting year ahead. Oh and are we starting the year out with a BANG! We have three major events all happening within the first three weeks plus the reveal of the new prototype!

First let’s talk about the cool events that we will be attending. To kick off the year we are heading to Las Vegas to attend ShowStoppers CES 2014. This is a private event for key media outlets to get a sneak peak at the coolest innovations from CES. There are only 120 companies showing their latest stuff to over 1500 media outlets. We are really excited to be part of this and are planning for great things to come out of Vegas (none of this what happens in Vegas stuff).

After we leave Vegas we are heading to Scottsdale, Arizona for Barrett-Jackson – “The world’s greatest collector car auctions”. This is a huge event that attracts hundreds of thousands of people that are obviously huge car buffs. We are setting up our display for eight days and the excitement level is out of sight! We will be in the main hall with the big boys from January 12 through 19.

And our final big event for January is the Sundance Film Festival. This private event is held in Park City, Utah between January 17th and 20th. And as most of you are aware, this is the event where we are going to reveal the new prototype! This is going to be a great event and we cannot be more excited!

We know many of you probably skipped the paragraphs above to get to the really fun stuff – P4! Here are some more pictures of the work as the next Elio becomes a reality. ................The first picture is of the interior looking through the door opening toward the steering wheel and pedals. Not a lot to see on this view…yet! Pretty soon there will be flooring, a seat… the cockpit to your Elio.

The middle picture shows the body panels on the vehicle for the first time. Sweet. You can also see the top of the donor engine and the inner workings of the door. The panels are loosely fit at this juncture and will be removed and replaced a couple of times before being put in place permanently.

And the final picture is the look from the side. You can see the nice lines starting and you can get a feel for the nose and where the headlights will be (cut outs on the hood line). And yes, we opened the door and put the cardboard in there, the rear of the vehicle will have to wait until next week!

So those pictures show the progress of the vehicle as it takes shape. It is such an amazing process to watch happen, we hope that you are enjoying it as much as we are. With that said, let’s look at the CAD drawing and see what the next section has in store for your Elio. ........... The middle section has changes that are more nuanced than the pictures from last week. The first was a slight change to the body line to help us remain slippery and sleek. The second is the belt line, the part where the side window meets the door panel. We lowered the belt line slightly to help out with visibility of the front tires and open up the cabin for the passengers a little more. Not a lot of change as you look at this section but important none the less. Oh and say hello to the “Dummies”, these are the 95th percentile that the vehicle was designed around. The 95th percentile is roughly a 6’1″ 220 lb. human. Chances are very good that you will fit in the Elio!

Thanks for checking back again this week, remember to share this with your friends!

Next week – the rear of the vehicle and maybe a CAD rendering!

 

[gio]

I hope they don't settle with that full front fender & ugly front light for the sake of the 84 MPH. I wouldn't mind 70 MPH if it is the green or silver roadster prototypes.Yeah,I'm one of those who is freaking out to see it changed because now they may ask us to pay more for what was originally promised.

 

[goofyone]

I hope they don't settle with that full front fender & ugly front light for the sake of the 84 MPH. I wouldn't mind 70 MPH if it is the green or silver roadster prototypes.Yeah,I'm one of those who is freaking out to see it changed because now they may ask us to pay more for what was originally promised.

I understand where you would be disappointed as the design has changed dramatically and you do not like what you are seeing anymore. At the same time we knew what we saw was only a prototype and was subject to change before production. It does look like the current styling with only minor tweaks is what this vehicle will look like and if we want to change it then unfortunately we may have to pay more even though I can hope that changing the front fenders at least could be a no cost option. I liked the retro hot rod styling that Mr Elio had envisioned however the point of this car was always to build an inexpensive vehicle with extremely good fuel economy.

 

[zelio]

I understand where you would be disappointed as the design has changed dramatically and you do not like what you are seeing anymore. At the same time we knew what we saw was only a prototype and was subject to change before production. It does look like the current styling with only minor tweaks is what this vehicle will look like and if we want to change it then unfortunately we may have to pay more even though I can hope that changing the front fenders at least could be a no cost option. I liked the retro hot rod styling that Mr Elio had envisioned however the point of this car was always to build an inexpensive vehicle with extremely good fuel economy.

Thank you for reminding us these are prototypes. Paul Elio is determined to meet his 4 commitments and if that requires design changes he will make them. I admire him for sticking to his goals because those goals are a major draw to someone like me. That and the fact that I think the Elio looks fun to drive and is so cute (hey I'm a woman I can say that). I am so looking forward to driving a fun car again and the fact that I might even be able to afford to put gas in the tank is a major plus. For all of that I can wait until he gets his 4 goals on target. Just not too long please. LOL :-) Z

 

[Zipper]

I hope they don't settle with that full front fender & ugly front light for the sake of the 84 MPH. I wouldn't mind 70 MPH if it is the green or silver roadster prototypes.Yeah,I'm one of those who is freaking out to see it changed because now they may ask us to pay more for what was originally promised.

I don't want to come across as overly harsh, but wasn't their 'promise' to deliver the 4 'must haves'?
- 84 MPG Highway
- Engineered for an anticipated 5-Star Crash Test Safety Rating
- American made
- $6800

As long as Elio Motors delivers those 4 things, I'll be satisfied. If I happen to really like what the end product looks like, that's a bonus.

 

[goofyone]

I don't want to come across as overly harsh, but wasn't their 'promise' to deliver the 4 'must haves'?
- 84 MPG Highway
- Engineered for an anticipated 5-Star Crash Test Safety Rating
- American made
- $6800

As long as Elio Motors delivers those 4 things, I'll be satisfied. If I happen to really like what the end product looks like, that's a bonus.

Good point Zipper! Those four things have been the stated goals for the project and they have said repeatedly they were going to do whatever they could to make them a reality.

 

[Wheelthang]

I DO like that non-bug catching hidden headlight! I would assume non-bug catching = non-air catching.