The Options, They Are On Their Way

[Thomas Maule]

I am a little behind. Slow me just listened to the NY Auto Show speech for the 3rd time and realized we reservationists are suppose to start picking our options in 1 month. This will determine what people are interested in and ultimately what options will be available when we make our final decision. Of course to do this, we will have to know the price.

What is important to people is the final total price of the vehicle which means they must know not only the price of the options, but also the base price of the vehicle. Does this indicate the final price of the base vehicle to we reservationist is going to be $6,800 as planned by EM all along? It does not have to be, but it would make us unhappy if it was raised at the last minute and EM is probably counting on us to go good advertising for them during the early days.

He quoted the 51,000 number. (I feel important.)

I remember EM saying the reservationists would help in determining the outcome of the design. This was said years ago, so this was planned a long time ago.

When this email goes out to the 51,000 reservationists in one month, I wonder if this will excite people and there will be a lot of people coming back to this forum.

That seems a bit soon, but I am ready... I don''t mind picking my options a year before I get my vehicle as long as I get it lol....

 

[Sethodine]

That seems a bit soon, but I am ready... I don''t mind picking my options a year before I get my vehicle as long as I get it lol....

Although, to me it sounds more like we'll be getting a survey, and that the results of the survey will determine the actual price and availability of options.

 

[Coss]

Although, to me it sounds more like we'll be getting a survey, and that the results of the survey will determine the actual price and availability of options.

I believe you're right; they wanted to figure out which vendors are going to be in demand vs. no one or very few want and they can tell that vendor that they won't be using them.

 

[Ekh]

Although, to me it sounds more like we'll be getting a survey, and that the results of the survey will determine the actual price and availability of options.

I think we'll be getting a dry run of the myelio.me site -- it will work as a survey, but it will help EM to debug the ordering process, as well as collecting real-world data (what customers actually want, as opposed to what they might want). If prices are listed and things are totaled up by the Configurator, we reservation holders will have a tolerably accurate notion of what our customized Elio will cost, because the cumulative price shows on the Configurator. EM will definitely be able to use the accumulated data to make decisions about what will be the actual offerings.

The only catch that I see is that Elio won't be maintaining quality control over the options, at least so far as I know. The liberal return policy will help a bit in that regard. But since these accessories exist only in never-never land for the moment, consumers don't have any way to tell how they will really work in practice, or how reliable they will turn out to be. Plastic crap is plastic crap; but quality depends on which plastic you use, on its dimensions, coatings, and fastenings. We won't have any way to tell just how good an item is until it's gotten real-world exposure in a fleet of Elios. Or in our own!

I'm thinking particularly of the vast range of rear-view cameras and displays available. Most of them are made by the same half-dozen firms, and almost all are junk. Some aren't junk; but sorting out the difference is impossible from Amazon ads alone. So with the Configurator -- if it's open to any supplier to propose an item, how on earth can quality be maintained?

I'm sure EM has considered this, but they haven't said anything about it. I guess we'll all just have to stay tuned

 

[Rob Croson]

But, is what they show the same? Did I see the "sensor" riding on inside, center of the tread, measuring "tread" pressure, and not air pressure?

Not all TPMS systems measure air pressure. The TPMS law says you have to have indication when your tire pressure is low (25% below normal), but it does NOT say you have to measure the pressure directly. Some manufacturers use an indirect method, such as measuring wheel speed through the ABS system. If the wheel spins too fast, then it is an indication that tire pressure is too low.

This site has a good explanation:
http://www.bridgestonetire.com/trea...ire-pressure-monitoring-system-how-tpms-works

I would guess that a sensor installed on the inside of the tread could measure the distance to the rim surface. That distance will be directly related to the tire pressure. If the distance is too short, then the tire is under-inflated.

Here's another good site:

http://www.tpmsmadesimple.com/index.php

That second site is "sponsored" by Schrader, who manufactures direct TPMS sensors, so it is focused on that.

 

[Rickb]

I think we'll be getting a dry run of the myelio.me site -- it will work as a survey, but it will help EM to debug the ordering process, as well as collecting real-world data (what customers actually want, as opposed to what they might want). If prices are listed and things are totaled up by the Configurator, we reservation holders will have a tolerably accurate notion of what our customized Elio will cost, because the cumulative price shows on the Configurator. EM will definitely be able to use the accumulated data to make decisions about what will be the actual offerings.

The only catch that I see is that Elio won't be maintaining quality control over the options, at least so far as I know. The liberal return policy will help a bit in that regard. But since these accessories exist only in never-never land for the moment, consumers don't have any way to tell how they will really work in practice, or how reliable they will turn out to be. Plastic crap is plastic crap; but quality depends on which plastic you use, on its dimensions, coatings, and fastenings. We won't have any way to tell just how good an item is until it's gotten real-world exposure in a fleet of Elios. Or in our own!

I'm thinking particularly of the vast range of rear-view cameras and displays available. Most of them are made by the same half-dozen firms, and almost all are junk. Some aren't junk; but sorting out the difference is impossible from Amazon ads alone. So with the Configurator -- if it's open to any supplier to propose an item, how on earth can quality be maintained?

I'm sure EM has considered this, but they haven't said anything about it. I guess we'll all just have to stay tuned

I would like to think that EM has a 'partner' say in the specifications and level of quality control over the plastic crap options they make available to Elio customers on their myelio website.

 

[pistonboy]

I think we'll be getting a dry run of the myelio.me site -- it will work as a survey, but it will help EM to debug the ordering process, as well as collecting real-world data (what customers actually want, as opposed to what they might want). If prices are listed and things are totaled up by the Configurator, we reservation holders will have a tolerably accurate notion of what our customized Elio will cost, because the cumulative price shows on the Configurator. EM will definitely be able to use the accumulated data to make decisions about what will be the actual offerings.

The only catch that I see is that Elio won't be maintaining quality control over the options, at least so far as I know. The liberal return policy will help a bit in that regard. But since these accessories exist only in never-never land for the moment, consumers don't have any way to tell how they will really work in practice, or how reliable they will turn out to be. Plastic crap is plastic crap; but quality depends on which plastic you use, on its dimensions, coatings, and fastenings. We won't have any way to tell just how good an item is until it's gotten real-world exposure in a fleet of Elios. Or in our own!

I'm thinking particularly of the vast range of rear-view cameras and displays available. Most of them are made by the same half-dozen firms, and almost all are junk. Some aren't junk; but sorting out the difference is impossible from Amazon ads alone. So with the Configurator -- if it's open to any supplier to propose an item, how on earth can quality be maintained?

I'm sure EM has considered this, but they haven't said anything about it. I guess we'll all just have to stay tuned

By the time EM gets around to making the 100 pre-production vehicles, they will probably have decided what options they will offer. I hope they load the 100 pre-production vehicles up with all the options in order to test them in the real world, just as they are testing the vehicle in the real world.

 

[pistonboy]

Perhaps EM will have a liberal return policy because they know they are the testing ground for new option products that the manufacturer will be testing in the elio for the first time. There are often problems working out the bugs in new products. EM knows this and makes it easy for us to return problem items.

The manufacturer of these products probably likes this opportunity to work the bugs out before offered it to the "big boys" auto manufacturers.

 

[Ekh]

When you order your Elio on myelio with your selected factory installed options and/or other options installed at the marsalling centers or wherever...............the 3 year warranty covers your Elio built and delivered your way. No returns warranty fixes only.

You should listen to Paul's press conference

 

[RUCRAYZE]

What I no longer hear tossed about, was the "special Elio financing plan", buy your gas w/EM card and 2x the cost of gas will be applied to purchase price of your E. Never understood when gas was closing in on $4.00+/gal how it would ever be paid off, and with gas @2..+/- even seems more farfetched.
Is the star safety rating still a consideration?