Paul's stated limit of 250k reservations is his optimistic dream #. He'll be happy with 60k reservations, whether he says so or not. 250k reservations won't happen. I don't think you would get 250k reservations for anything, even if you gave it away for free (hyperbole alert), the market is so fragmented.
I suspect what the deal is, he'll keep taking reservations during the first 6 months of production if he has to. But there is nothing stopping him from producing Y1 Elio's for 18months if he wants. If he does that, I'm sure he'll have to assign numbers to all current reservations at start of production. Maybe he'll change the reservation deal at that time, only accepting 1k All-In.
I'm sure when these hit the streets, anyone who could be interested, will be a believer and look into it.
Either way, I just want to hear a solid production date.