Ever get bored and just do some random research. Happened to me. Elio entered an MOU with a Fortune 500 company to supply engines. Despite headlines, Roush is NOT supplying engines to Elio. They'll do the engineering to shoehorn an engine into the Elio but they won't be casting engines. Nope. Which leads us to the intrigue that is Elio's Engine Supplier: What we know - It's a Fortune 500 company. That's easy enough to check when you are at work at 0400 with not much else to do.. Here is a list of every Fortune 500 company that produces engines: Ford - top contender as they recently stopped manufacturing small cars for the US market. GM - Probably the #2 contender Navistar - whoa Nellie, not so fast. They only produce large diesels Cummins - it's like deja vu except they produce some other engines but nothing small enough for the Elio Tesla - Okay, they don't produce engines but they COULD produce a single motor Elio solution (yeah, that won't happen) Lithia Motors - actually, they don't produce engines but I added them here to show due diligence Norfolk Southern - Their engines are bigger than the Elio so that most likely won't be a solution Boeing - Yeah, that's a big no GE - Yeah, that's also a big no. That's it. At least, that's all I found on the Fortune 500 list. When boiled down, only Ford and GM stand out as viable engine suppliers for Elio and of those two, Ford is probably in the best position to sell excess engine production. Come to think of it, it may even be beneficial to Ford to actually loan Elio enough money and maybe engineering to get started. Ford would make money on the back end selling motors and collecting interest on the loan. Hmm... HMM...HMM!!! Hit "Like" to vote for Ford or "Like" to vote for GM. Hit "Like" if you are tired of waiting. LOL. Kidding. Hitting like won't do anything.
Only thing is, Ford and GM don't make a suitable Elio motor made in NAFTA. As for FCA, they do (technically, in the USA). I suspect the 90% NAFTA content might go down with this engine choice.
