Report On P4 In Columbus With New, Hard Information

[Ekh]

I'm assuming you didn't get to drive it? Really curious how they drive with being 3 wheels. I can already make an assumption how the engine and trans feels.

No such luck!

 

[Dustoff]

Elio in Columbus


By Eric K. Hatch

Columbus, OH 6/18/2014

I and my very large friend Bob trekked to Columbus from Cincinnati to see the Elio P4 prototype. He wanted to see how well he fit; I wanted to butt-check the seat, take some pictures, and ask many, many questions.

This was instructive. I spoke with two people in particular, Don Sheltron (spelling?) and Jerome Vassallo, VP of Sales for Elio Motors.

Here, in no particular order, are the key things I learned:

· Elio’s decision to build their own engine rather than buy from another manufacturer was based in three things. First, it’s actually cheaper than buying someone else’s. 2. Other engines have the power and weight, but they don’t have the torque. According to Mr. Vassallo, “we wanted this car to get 84 mpg at 65 miles per hour, so we needed a longer stroke than we could get in other engines.” 3. It’s also a matter of pride; car manufacturers mostly make their own engines, and they want their own names on them.


· According to one person, there will be no P5 protototype. According to Mr. Vassallo, there will be, but it will not be shown. “I need it to get my tooling measurements,” said Mr. Vassallo. The plan is to go as soon as possible to a limited number of “pre-production” vehicles for use in testing.


· Production differences from the P4 prototype will include a higher roof line (about two inches); they want to keep the curve to preserve the aerodynamics, but provide taller headroom in back. This means a longer windshield as well.


According to Mr. Vassallo, the windshield wiper has been the most difficult problem to solve. The windshield is a long, narrow shape, rather than wide and short. So how do you wipe it clean, and then store the wiper where it will not cause aerodynamic flow problems. “The production wiper won’t look anything like this one,” he said.

· The instrument panel and controls layout in the production car will look very different from the P4, which is put together from other people’s components.

· The final ground clearance will be “that of a current Mustang,” about 5.75 inches. The P4 has actually been lowered, and is not as high as the final car will be.

· Mr. Elio is determined to hold the price and mpg if it is possible to do so. While the $6,800 and 84mpg are still firm targets, it is possible that there may some slight variance in price and/or mileage from that target. According to Mr. Vassallo, “Paul walks around the car literally pointing at spots and pieces saying, ‘we can save a dollar here …. And here …. And here.”

· Philosophy of the car: When I suggested this car would still sell like hotcakes at $10,000, Mr. Vassallo said, “I’m sure it would. But while we need to be profitable to stay in business, Paul is concerned about the people who couldn’t pay $10,000. He thinks about the Walmart worker who commuted 75 miles to her job each way, and how much this car would mean to her." That’s why the price target is so low, and so hard.

· Regarding financing the venture, they currently have $67 million and need another hundred (as I understood it). I specifically asked if $167 million would be enough to enter production and was told, crisply, “Yes.” The financing is looking very promising, according to Mr. Vassallo, with a number of sources expected to come in. He feels they are on course, on schedule, and very clear that the venture WILL succeed.

In this same vein, asked about Warren Buffett as a possible source of capital, I was told that Mr. Buffett had not been approached as there were “political considerations” which made that impractical. I did not enquire further.

· Regarding the 5-star safety rating, Mr. Vassallo said that their simulations were showing great results. “Even without airbags, we are showing numbers better than 6 other cars that do have the 5-star rating.”

· Regarding performance upgrades, there will be plenty of them, including a supercharger (I think that’s what I heard, not “turbocharger”) and, possibly, a full race kit.

· Production ramp-up in the Shreveport plant is going very fast. Paul (and Mr. Vassallo) are very confident that production will begin in September, 2015.

· The first few engines will be ready soon; they are currently ironing out details in designing the cylinder head.

· My personal experience was that the trunk is larger than the specs suggest, and with the seat down will hold groceries, etc.

The seat in the P4 had an enormous range of adjustment fore-and-aft (backwards and forwards) and a lot of adjustment vertically. It accommodated my friend Bob, with plenty of headroom left over, and it also adapted very comfortably to my short, stocky build. See photos of Bob entering the car and showing how much headroom he had left.

The cabin feel was compact but not cramped. In the front seat, it really felt like being in a one-seater airplane (only much more comfortable). The car did seem to stretch waaayyy out in front of the driver, but perhaps further seat adjustment would have fixed that.

The mirrors do work well, but I still want a rear-view camera. This will be available as an option.


To sum up, I came away convinced that this car is the real deal. It is not going to be junk. It will meet its performance, economy, and safety goals or be very, very close to those difficult targets. What struck me about both Mr. Vassallo and Mr. Sheltron was not merely that they BELIEVE. It’s that they are convinced beyond doubt that the car will succeed and bring profound beneficial changes when it does. Mr. Vassallo is decisive, direct, and absolutely clear on Elio’s mission and route to accomplish it. Mr. Sheltron has been hauling the car all over the country. When I asked him if he was exhausted, he grinned and said “Yes. But this is the ground floor, and I’m young enough to work my tail off for a long period. That’s what it takes, and I’m happy to be doing it.”


I also came away feeling far more confident in the Elio team, Elio strategy, and Elio commitment than I was before.


I want my Elio!


Pictures may be seen at


http://ekhphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery/Elio-in-Columbus/G00002DoiQiTRRoM

Mr. Hatch,
By far the best first person report to date. Thank you very much.

 

[AriLea]

Elio in Columbus .. By Eric K. Hatch .. Columbus, OH 6/18/2014
I and my very large friend Bob trekked to Columbus from Cincinnati to see the Elio P4 prototype

This is really good article and to the point.
Can I have permission to forward a copy of this to Elvis at 3wheelers.com? Or, if you could send him the article plus your photos, either way, this would satisfy legal issues and most likely he'd publish that as an update to my article already there.

His email is on the website contact link. 3Wheelers.com is the best 3-wheel car IMO. The book that Elvis published also has a large image of the Elio (and my Atlantric) included. I got a signed copy, it's very cool.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

Same height as the Mustang? I'll be right at home then.

 

[Ekh]

Same height as the Mustang? I'll be right at home then.

Same ground clearance.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

Same ground clearance.

I haven't had enough coffee yet today. You know what I meant.

 

[Jim H]

Elio in Columbus I also came away feeling far more confident in the Elio team, Elio strategy, and Elio commitment than I was before.

Thanks for the great photos and very reassuring report. I did note what seemed to be a lot of rust on the suspension parts in photo #3. Was it rust or creamsickle paint overspray? I must admit is was impressed with the depth of color in the paint and makes me more confident that my Hot Red color will look fantastic. Thanks for you efforts to provide this information to everyone that views the forum.

 

[imageon]

Thanks,
Very informative. Sounds like they are sitting on ready. Great Photography!
MK

 

[Ekh]

Thanks for the great photos and very reassuring report. I did note what seemed to be a lot of rust on the suspension parts in photo #3. Was it rust or creamsickle paint overspray? I must admit is was impressed with the depth of color in the paint and makes me more confident that my Hot Red color will look fantastic. Thanks for you efforts to provide this information to everyone that views the forum.

You're welcome. Regarding rust, I went and took a much closer look at the photo. No rust and no paint overspray. You're just seeing reflections from the orange body work near the suspension members.

 

[Jim H]

You're welcome. Regarding rust, I went and took a much closer look at the photo. No rust and no paint overspray. You're just seeing reflections from the orange body work near the suspension members.

Thanks for clearing that up. Makes me even more confident in the designed quality of the Elio.