P6 ?

[Smitty901]

Would it not make sense to contract out the engine. Of course one major problem with that is where would you look. Any place in the US would greatly increase the cost. The UAW are not going to be silent about the ELIO. ELIO will not have the cash of resources to fight with them. Going outside the US would defeat PE's goals.
The EcoBoost is a much more complicated engine to build from what it appears. Still a major problem for ELIO.

 

[pistonboy]

Correct. The NHTSA may not even require them to do crash tests since it's not technically a car. Paul said, if that's the case, they still plan on contracting a private firm to conduct their own crash test. Knowing him, I believe he'd set a higher passing standard than the NHTSA.

Paul Elio is going through all this work to get private safety certification because the government will not do it because it is technically not a car. But will the public regard these private certifications as highly as a governmental certification?

 

[pistonboy]

How many private certifications is Paul Elio going after?

1) Insurance institute rating for safety (5 star goal)

2) Private company verification of MPG

Are there any others?

 

[wizard of ahs]

Who gives a rip !!!!
We all know it's a motorcycle. ....just give me mine !!!

 

[JEBar]

I did ask during the 'AmA' session; seems Paul Elio 'forgot' to include the workers for his 'Engine Manufacturing Facility' to assemble 500 - 1,000 engines daily. ( Ford's Brook Park Plant (with 1,200 experienced workers, and a 1,200.000 sq. ft facility) currently only produces 50 EcoBoost engines per hour, running 24/7) GOOD NEWS for Shreveport, needing 'jobs'; BAD NEWS if Elio's Business plan does not account for the salaries of an additional 1,000 workers!

interesting ...... a person ask a question and gets an honest answer .... then that person twist the answer by adding their own comments in an effort to prove their point .... from what you report he says it will take an estimated 1,500 workers to build the trike .... he also says the that number doesn't include the number needed to produce the motors .... its a jump from there to saying that the cost for the additional number of folks needed to assemble the engine hasn't been included in EM's business plan .... folks who take the truth and twist it like this make it easy to see why its usually best for EM to not release any info

 

[AriLea]

Us version only sells about 10K a year . At best 39 mpg they had to lower the claim, Requires 91 octane that cost a lot more, transmission problems My Fords get 40 mpg often 41.2 On 87 octane can drop to 32 in city like Chicago . The smart is a failure in everyway. If they had gotten the diesel version into the US it might have done better that is getting 61 mpg but extra taxes on diesel hurt that also.

I don't know that this kind of a debate gives much 'true' clarity. To some threshold of longevity, it's kind of up to the individual to decide what is a failure. We all like to quantify the whole experience in one lump. But in fact it's separate goals for each year.

The Smart was highly successful at nabbing 30k each for 5 years, then the market changed ( as they expected ) and then they dropped the price, then sales rates started falling(in that order). So overall it was a success at making inroads into the US for that size vehicle, now with several makes providing a variety of products. If in time they all are abandoned, like in 5-10 years, will that be an overall failure for the entire category?

Similar situation for the Messerschmitt, Heinkle and Issetta. These did very well for a number of years then the situation changed and that kind of vehicle disappeared. Many many people call that a fail. Really? The purpose of those vehicles was to give people affordable transportation and lift everyone out of a post WWII depression. It worked! I call that a success overall.

So for clarity, if anyone actually cares about clarity technically, you need to look at it in parts, launch, ramp-up, the full production run and the length (longevity). And strictly speaking longevity can't be looked at as pass/fail, but by a count of years. So when is nn years good enough? To each their own opinion.

I'm just suggesting we be aware of a discussion slipping back and forth between generalization and specifics. Even worse taking one specific and claiming that is representative of the overall.

 

[AriLea]

Would it not make sense to contract out the engine. Of course one major problem with that is where would you look. Any place in the US would greatly increase the cost. The UAW are not going to be silent about the ELIO. ELIO will not have the cash of resources to fight with them. Going outside the US would defeat PE's goals.
The EcoBoost is a much more complicated engine to build from what it appears. Still a major problem for ELIO.

If I had a team of people working on a problem I would like at least one of Mr 901, one GL, plus several optimists and pretty much something of everyone else. ( minus just a couple of resistance fighters ) This would give balance, perspective and hard nosed reality to it, it would definitely be the 'dream-team'. JMHO

 

[ElioDigger]

I purchase my smart back in 2009. It has been a great car. it was unique when I purchased it and at that time it got very good MPG compared to the rest of the US offerings. I drive it mostly to work and to my sons ball games ( much like I will the Elio). Average 41MPG in it overall. smarts major issue is the us distribution is over seen by Mercadies Bens. The Dealerships as a whole look down on the smart clientele and charge crazy service fees, Not many people who buy a smart want to pay $400.00 for an oil change...

 

[pistonboy]

The Model T and air cooled Bug both eventually stopped production. Does that mean they were failures?

 

[Rickb]

PE, "Thank God, I don't think things through", not so funny.

The good news is now Paul Elio has time to plan, there is additional space available at the GM Plant and Shreveport would no doubt welcome the additional jobs. It's all about funding and timing to production, whenever that may be (not 2016).