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More Problems For Elio

Ty

Ty

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voyager said:
Elio would stand a better chance in Europe where gasoline is around $7-8 per gallon. Also EU vehicle regulation might be easier for him.
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What is the market like over there? Is it comparable to the US where you go through one set of regulation and can be sold to everyone in the US? Or do you have to meet the regulations for each country separately? How large would any one market be?
 
R

RSchneider

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The problem with Europe is that they are way ahead of us when it comes to small efficient cars and using alternative sources of energy in cars. Elio would have lots of competition. In large cities, they have car sharing where you use a car for as long as you need. It's electric and you just pick up or drop off at dedicated parking sports with charging ports. These are the size of a Smart car. Then in many cities (especially Paris) there are thousands upon thousands of scooters. They get great mileage and you can park about 50 of them in the same spot as you could 10 cars. Then there cars like the Renault Twizy that seems to be gaining popularity. It's electric and has the Elio seating arrangement but it's a 4 wheeler.

When you get away from the big cities, the cars do get bigger but they love their diesels. They also love station wagons. If you do get a small car, then it's a VW UP! or a Renault Twingo. Then you can jam 4 people in it. A Fiat 500 looks like a big car in the city and an average sized one in the country.

If Elio did sell in Europe, it would make it a better car over time because they would find out that when you have a competitive market for small cars, it only makes them just get better. I do know that's a tax jump for anything above 999cc and that's why you see so many 999cc three cylinder engines over there. Elio would have to work hard to do well there. It's not a given.
 
voyager

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EU vehicle regulations are easier... even up to the point that authorities don't do their work, as we all have witnessed with the VW diesel scandal. Once an Elio is tested, approved and allowed on the road in one EU country, it will be automatically street legal in the other EU countries. But Trump may be a damper too in this case, since it threatens to pose import duties on European imports. The EU will probably 'retaliate' the same week then.
 
R

RSchneider

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I could see some Germans buying and importing them. They would consider it a novelty and being unique. Probably turn them into some delivery vehicle for a fast food restaurant and plaster some goofy name on the side, paint it bright green and put a tail on it. People in the US are not buying an Elio to be a garage queen and only putt around just to get looks. They are buying it to support American jobs, support an American dream and save lots of money on gas.
 
airforceguy6

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RSchneider said:
The problem with Europe is that they are way ahead of us when it comes to small efficient cars and using alternative sources of energy in cars. Elio would have lots of competition. In large cities, they have car sharing where you use a car for as long as you need. It's electric and you just pick up or drop off at dedicated parking sports with charging ports. These are the size of a Smart car. Then in many cities (especially Paris) there are thousands upon thousands of scooters. They get great mileage and you can park about 50 of them in the same spot as you could 10 cars. Then there cars like the Renault Twizy that seems to be gaining popularity. It's electric and has the Elio seating arrangement but it's a 4 wheeler.

When you get away from the big cities, the cars do get bigger but they love their diesels. They also love station wagons. If you do get a small car, then it's a VW UP! or a Renault Twingo. Then you can jam 4 people in it. A Fiat 500 looks like a big car in the city and an average sized one in the country.

If Elio did sell in Europe, it would make it a better car over time because they would find out that when you have a competitive market for small cars, it only makes them just get better. I do know that's a tax jump for anything above 999cc and that's why you see so many 999cc three cylinder engines over there. Elio would have to work hard to do well there. It's not a given.
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I have seen the Twizy several times around here, and love the look and design of it! You're right about the use of different energy sources, as diesels are extremely popular around here, and electrics are becoming more mainstream. Ive even seen a bunch of Teslas out here too. In bigger cities (like Paris you mentioned) scooters are definitely king, and the rest are smaller vehicles, so Elio could have a chance. The regulations that cars run into the problem the most between the EU and America are emission standards. Its almost impossible to bring an EU car back with us unless its up to American spec. With that in mind, if the Elio is being built to American spec, it should be reasonable to believe it could be easily imported to the EU.

The Elio has several elements working for it that would be a good sell in Europe: Gas mileage-as gas/diesel costs are extremely high here, smaller size-as roadways can be very tight in many situations, 2 person seating-as this would be a good benefit over choosing a scooter that might not be able to hold two people comfortably. Things that might work against the Elio: speed-if top speed is around 100mph, that's about 160kph (which would be good for most of the autobahn) but handling at that speed might be interesting to see. Suspension might also be a concern, as for any city that has cobblestone might be too bumpy of a ride for some.

voyager said:
EU vehicle regulations are easier... even up to the point that authorities don't do their work, as we all have witnessed with the VW diesel scandal. Once an Elio is tested, approved and allowed on the road in one EU country, it will be automatically street legal in the other EU countries. But Trump may be a damper too in this case, since it threatens to pose import duties on European imports. The EU will probably 'retaliate' the same week then.
Click to expand...
The VW scandal had nothing to do with the EU market for vehicles. Emission regulations are not as strict as the US, and all of the VW EU vehicles were to EU code. The problem was that they used software to trick the system into lower emissions for US testing for the US vehicles(a big/costly mistake). EU inspections can actually be very difficult to pass on used cars, as they are pretty strict when it comes to maintenance and safety compared to the US (for example, a leaky oil pan will prevent you from registering your car until you get it fixed).

RSchneider said:
I could see some Germans buying and importing them. They would consider it a novelty and being unique. Probably turn them into some delivery vehicle for a fast food restaurant and plaster some goofy name on the side, paint it bright green and put a tail on it. People in the US are not buying an Elio to be a garage queen and only putt around just to get looks. They are buying it to support American jobs, support an American dream and save lots of money on gas.
Click to expand...
I could see Germans importing them, but more towards just transportation and novelty like you said. Delivery is actually very rare here compared to the states, Ive only seen a few restaurants provide the service, and its mostly aimed at providing for American customers located here.
 
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