7/4/14 - Jo Borras Article: Elio Motors Q&a With Paul Elio... The A Part

[goofyone]

I liked all the responses Elio Motors gave in that article. Truthful and factual. What I would really like to see is the death penalty for weight loss spammers that keep clogging up the forum feed every day. Too bad it's illegal to kill the bastards.

Posted a response on another thread but I agree that these spammers are really killing this place. Its even worse than all the trolls in that at least I can ignore the trolls and they go away. These bozos are creating new members to get around that

Hopefully there are some more knobs on the server that can be tweaked to make things more difficult for the spammers.

Trust me it's even more annoying for us moderators chasing the spam down and deleting it. We definitely appreciate your help reporting it and our administrator, Okuma Steve, is working on finding a better spam deterrent solution.

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

So, what is Jo Borras' angle on the Elio anyway? Is it that he thinks the car is a bad idea, or is it that he thinks the business plan is messed up? Or is gas2 overly fixated on electric cars and hybrids?

It's largely that he thinks the business plan is messed up.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

It's largely that he thinks the business plan is messed up.

He probably has no clue how to start up a business, let alone a multi million dollar one.

 

[AriLea]

So, what is Jo Borras' angle on the Elio anyway? Is it that he thinks the car is a bad idea, or is it that he thinks the business plan is messed up? Or is gas2 overly fixated on electric cars and hybrids?

I would guess yes. But, unfortunately, Gas2 does voice the concerns of people who are afraid of being disapointed. There has been plenty of that, given how Aptera, Zapp, the Corbin Sparrow and others performed. In some ways if you focussed either being better than the prior efforts(while doing the same game) or try avoiding pitfalls those efforts hit(just rasing your game...but still the same game), you'd be dead. Sorry, but to be simply and only looking back, isn't keeping your eyes on the ball. Being true the to the vision IS the best game for this effort.
To me, IMHO, Paul Elio obviously started fresh, with a complete blank slate. Then he looked at it from a purely pragmatic view in terms of what SHOULD there exist and why. It's almost like the urban legend of Mr Ford, 'Don't give 'em what they want, give 'em what they need.' Of course once people got a solid look at the 'A' and 'T', they wanted it a lot.
Personally, I'm really happy with the questions and especially the answers in that article. I almost forgive Gas2 for all it's transgressions up to now. Almost.

 

[Dustoff]

I would guess yes. But, unfortunately, Gas2 does voice the concerns of people who are afraid of being disapointed. . I almost forgive Gas2 for all it's transgressions up to now. Almost.

caveat emptor

 

[Snick]

Mr. Paul Elio's answer's regarding funding do not jive with the corporations's public SEC filings:

http://www.secdatabase.com/CIK/1531266/Company-Name/ELIO-MOTORS-INC

EM has hardly raised any capital through equity sales. They may have perhaps $4M-$6.5M of non-refundable reservations, plus the tiny amount of capital raised by equity sales (according to the public SEC FORM D filings in the link), but where is the other $50M coming from?

Stu Lichter has yet to invest a penny according to public filings and newspaper accounts.

Perhaps Paul has raised capital through short-term VC loans (undisclosed)?

 

[Jeff Porter]

So, what is Jo Borras' angle on the Elio anyway? Is it that he thinks the car is a bad idea, or is it that he thinks the business plan is messed up? Or is gas2 overly fixated on electric cars and hybrids?

Yes, it's one, some or all of what you said, Three. He strikes me as not-open-minded. I've made a few comments on some of his articles, and one reply he responded by saying "Well said actually." He's not that way very often, and it's because my comment was more supportive of a guy that got burned when he put a deposit down on the Aptera years ago. If you make a supportive comment to Elio, he'll figure out a way to disagree with you.

And yes, I'd bet $20 that he'll post some reply to EM's answers, picking them apart as only he can.

 

[AriLea]

Mr. Paul Elio's answer's regarding funding do not jive with the corporations's public SEC filings:

http://www.secdatabase.com/CIK/1531266/Company-Name/ELIO-MOTORS-INC

EM has hardly raised any capital through equity sales. They may have perhaps $4M-$6.5M of non-refundable reservations, plus the tiny amount of capital raised by equity sales (according to the public SEC FORM D filings in the link), but where is the other $50M coming from?

Stu Lichter has yet to invest a penny according to public filings and newspaper accounts.

Perhaps Paul has raised capital through short-term VC loans (undisclosed)?

I understnd the point, and you have stated this before.
Frankly, a more important few things are now happening, that engine and the crash-mules have to get done. That will say more about the future as anything else can. (and will say it to investors as well)
It's fairly quiet out there in EM land, and that would be about right when some dusty back shop work is happening. While they do that engine, all the machining and fabrication planning has to go in. This is where you make or break an engine fabrication process. That process then has to fit into the manufacturing R&D. Reliablility and quality happens in this moment. Go boys, stay focussed!

 

[Dustoff]

Snick said,
"Mr. Paul Elio's answer's regarding funding do not jive with the corporations's public SEC filings:"
http://www.secdatabase.com/CIK/1531266/Company-Name/ELIO-MOTORS-INC



Regulation D Offerings
Under the Securities Act of 1933, any offer to sell securities must either be registered with the SEC or meet an exemption. Regulation D (or Reg D) contains three rules providing exemptions from the registration requirements, allowing some companies to offer and sell their securities without having to register the securities with the SEC. For more information about these exemptions, read our publications on Rules 504, 505, and 506 of Regulation D.
While companies using a Reg D (17 CFR § 230.501 et seq.) exemption do not have to register their securities and usually do not have to file reports with the SEC, they must file what’s known as a "Form D" after they first sell their securities. Form D is a brief notice that includes the names and addresses of the company’s executive officers and stock promoters, but contains little other information about the company.

 

[Snick]

I understnd the point, and you have stated this before.
Frankly, a more important few things are now happening, that engine and the crash-mules have to get done. That will say more about the future as anything else can. (and will say it to investors as well)
It's fairly quiet out there in EM land, and that would be about right when some dusty back shop work is happening. While they do that engine, all the machining and fabrication planning has to go in. This is where you make or break an engine fabrication process. That process then has to fit into the manufacturing R&D. Reliablility and quality happens in this moment. Go boys, stay focussed!

Yes, I am just guessing here, but they MUST have raised some funds from Venture Capital firms or other investors in order to keep paying IAV for the development work--which usually means bad repayment terms. I am hoping this doesn't put EM into an overly tight financial position. I would hate to see EM succeed technically and operationally and yet fail financially.

I am rooting for them--but I'm just realistic because I work in a highly regulated (medical device) business in both new product and process development/engineering and I understand the technical and execution risks better than most. My analogy for the layperson is this: imagine you have to assemble a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle in a small airplane flying through turbulence. And no glue and no cheating is allowed!

THIS is what EM is up against, not to mention the financial complications which can paint them into an almost garunteed failure. ( I said *CAN*, not will, so don't freak on me, dear readers).