Ty
Elio Addict
Keep in mind the Elio ISN'T very narrow so road width won't benefit from having Elios around.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.
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).
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.
For quick comparison - Ford Fusion front wheel track is 62.7" while the Elio's front track is 66.8"