Oklahoma City Elio Or What I Learned In School Today

[Jim H]

I arrived well ahead of most of the crowd and waited for Elio to setup. The result of which was that I was probably the 5th or so to plant my carcass in the P4. Seats are comfortable front and back, and the fabric seats in this Elio were far better than I expected and are quite substantial. Getting in and out was not difficult and the seats adjusted easily and smoothly. This was all well and good as I was then able to spend the next couple of hours talking with and listening to Jerome Vassallo, who is vice president sales/marketing. Very early in this diatribe came the words that Elio was working hard to put together a list of options and prices, and it couldn't be too soon for him. Things I learned:
1. Tires on the P4 are 14's production will be 15's widths to be determined; rear wider than front.
2 Fenders: only they call them shrouds. Those seen on the P4 will be those standard for production. There will be several options for fenders but only 2 were mentioned. a. the hot rod fender with mags, and for those of you that have seen the retro Elio parked in front of the diner b. the Indian fender. Other fender notes: The black fender skirts are fairly thick at nearly an eighth inch and are not very flexible at all They will take standard paint and primer. The same material is used on the rear of the vehicle. Fender liners for the Elio are of the same material GMC uses in their SUV's
3. The instrument cluster that will be used in production is Paul's Elgin design. It is however digital with perhaps 1-1.25" high numbers for speedometer and tach. It is unknown at this time if there would be any other instrument options. I did remind him that Continental, the company providing the optional smartphone interface makes 5 levels of digital instrument clusters.
4. The P5: Will have the basic contours of the P4 with the exception of a raise of about 2" in the rear portion of the roof. Now before anyone gets their dander up, let it be known that the P4 is nearly 4" lower at this location than the P3 was. The other changes will be a reworked front end with the grill area being redesigned and made smaller.
5. Options of leather interior seating colors will only be limited by what Lear produces. If Lear makes it you can get it. Colors mentioned were Black, White, Brown, Gray, Tan. and probably several others.
6. Could the Elio be purchased with only primer? Yes, Credit: none
7. As it now stands, he pick it up in Shreveport option is a 3 day 2 nite stay affair and will be hosted and paid by Elio in conjunction with one of the Casino's upon presentation of your one way ticket stub. Day1 arrive in Shreveport, check in, Day 2, tour plant Day 3 pick up your Elio and head home.
8. Surprise... Just over 1/3 of all reservation holders are all in for $1000. The production numbers are now into the 5100's with 15,123 reservations.
9. Reservation upgrades, "cutoff" at this point don't worry about it. 30 days or so before that happens those all in for 500, 250, 100 will be notified and allowed to upgrade in that 30 day window. Those with refundable deposits will also be notified and allowed to go all in and upgrade if they wish.
10. Reservations will be cutoff at 40,000. Production at startup is expected to be 250/day.
If we need more we'll add another shift and or lines. Canada is the next market, that is the easy one with South America, Asia and Africa clambering to get in line.
11 Delivery is to be $750 to all locations. Paul would like to waive that for factory pickup. Others wish to apply it to all vehicles. Have to wait and see.

The only option price I heard mentioned was for the automatic transmission, and that was "less that $1000".
I did get to meet Silas Sunday. Great guy!
I have some pictures and they will follow. This is not an ideal situation for photo ops. Line was maybe 40-50 deep at 3pm and was down to maybe 25 by 6:30 when I left.

Thanks for the fantastic update. Quite a bit of great information that is helpful to all of us

 

[3 Card]

Adding to this...Max front width 78 in rear width 23 in..Inside trunk width at very back is 19 in..As you move forward to the back of the rear seat about 23.. Trunk depth at rear is about 5 inches, depth at rear of back seat is about 8 inches..Tilt wheel will be standard..No key Fob with power door lock..To me the unit was nothing to get excited about nor was it a thumbs down.. About as good as 7 grand will get ya.. It does look somewhat better than pictures reveal..Tow Hitch, After looking under the rear, it's a swing arm , just like a motorcycle, So a motorcycle type hitch will have to be made by someone.. Just one shock back there, that's bad, it needs two, one on each side of wheel especially if you plan to tow... They did say a front bar for towing will be an option, they expect many old fart rv'ers to be dingy pulling flant on all 3's behind motorhomes ( stick shift only)..Most of the younger reps answering questions and helping old people get in and out were x walmart employed..As I watched them move the rear sear back and forth so many times letting tire kickers in / out I would not suggest the power seat option, Why ?.. Power seats are slow moving, my experience has been they are the first thing to screw up.. If you plan on a passenger daily I'd stick with the manual controls..I asked the x Walmart girl about intermintent wipers, She did not know what I was talking about..I was most amazed at the full range of ages wanting one.. There were seniors in their 80"s and baby's in their teens plus children in their 40's also plenty of old dudes like me who don't want to grow up..Your Elio will not be the hottest looking car on the road, however it's purdy dern kool..OH BTW the trunk length is 26 inches..

I did not take many pictures mainly because there are plenty already here that are better than I can do with a camera,, As you can see in the photo below my camera adds 10 years and pounds to my actual looks.. I know bullshit old dude..

 

[Rickb]

Sorry don't agree and doubt if Elio and Lit Motors do either in terms of sales to the average driver.
22 hours to license an enclosed motorcycle is a detriment. Most who disagree are probably already MC licensed. Both the vehicles are classified as motorcycles. You don't need a new vehicle classification, but rather a simple change in legislation waiving MC licensing and helmet requirements for enclosed motorcycles while still maintaining the advantages of motorcycles and enhances sales keeping Elio and C-1 costs lower not higher!!!!!!

I wouldn't be surprised if States with big auto manufacturing influence and Auto Dealership Associations are trying to prevent this legislation to slow down the impact of Elio and Lit sales. There will be big impact on big auto sales in the long run.

Also some States (5) have already passed legislation to prevent direct to consumer auto sales, targeting Tesla's Model of doing business. Both Elio and Lit are looking at direct to consumer sales too and could be impacted by politics of Big Auto and Big Oil in many ways.

 

[Jim H]

Looks like this was not only an autocycle bill. From

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...3/brewer-vetoes-bills-signs-new-laws/8067711/



My guess is they were also trying to get permission for "party bikes", or pedal powered rolling bars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_bike

This is what is wrong with our legislative process, they try to jam all kinds of things into a bill the have nothing to do with the real issue. Elio need to work for a single issue bill that focuses on the issue of classification of this type vehicle.

 

[Jim H]

I did not take many pictures mainly because there are plenty already here that are better than I can do with a camera,, As you can see in the photo below my camera adds 10 years and pounds to my actual looks.. I know bullshit old dude..

3Card thanks for the photo because it is reassuring for another old, heaver than I should be, senior that we will fit into the Elio comfortably

 

[zelio]

This is what is wrong with our legislative process, they try to jam all kinds of things into a bill the have nothing to do with the real issue. Elio need to work for a single issue bill that focuses on the issue of classification of this type vehicle.

It certainly makes you wonder who was responsible for the addition of the other vehicle in the bill and whether Paul Elio was aware that it was there. Amazing things are snuck into bills at the strangest of times. :-) Z

 

[Dustoff]

For those who haven't seen one…

 

[3 Card]

Sorry don't agree and doubt if Elio and Lit Motors do either in terms of sales to the average driver.
22 hours to license an enclosed motorcycle is a detriment. Most who disagree are probably already MC licensed. Both the vehicles are classified as motorcycles. You don't need a new vehicle classification, but rather a simple change in legislation waiving MC licensing and helmet requirements for enclosed motorcycles while still maintaining the advantages of motorcycles and enhances sales keeping Elio and C-1 costs lower not higher!!!!!!

I wouldn't be surprised if States with big auto manufacturing influence and Auto Dealership Associations are trying to prevent this legislation to slow down the impact of Elio and Lit sales. There will be big impact on big auto sales in the long run.

Also some States (5) have already passed legislation to prevent direct to consumer auto sales, targeting Tesla's Model of doing business. Both Elio and Lit are looking at direct to consumer sales too and could be impacted by politics of Big Auto and Big Oil in many ways.

This is why I say let it be a motorcycle..Did those 5 states include motororcycles in their ban?

 

[Jim H]

In your Elio you only get to pick one.

 

[Dustoff]

In your Elio you only get to pick one.

One's enough.