Elio Progress

RUCRAYZE said:

of course you could step out your door tomorrow and be killed by a meteorite (not sure if it's a meteorite or meteor )

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Shooting start or meteor, whichever name you like. But as soon as it comes down to Earth, it's called a meteorite.

Coss said:

Remember; the Elio was never intended to be a primary driver; it has always held true to being an -- And ---- vehicle.

If you're stuck for transportation, go and buy something you can turn around and sell when the time comes.
There are a number for car that hold value , so you can get out of it, what you put into it.
Or if you can work it to lease something on a short term lease, do that.

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There is no use in waiting around for a "maybe", life is way too short for that. We can all hope to drive our Elios before we die, but since there is no guarantee when either will happen it makes no sense to put life on hold.

If you want a new car, get a new car. If you need cheap, reliable transportation then get a used Civic or Corolla, or even cheaper a 5-6 year old Kia or Hyundai that still have a couple years of powertrain warranty left. No one will judge you for taking care of yourself, especially since we have no concrete release date and the latest projected date is still a year away.

In my case, I was in the market for a fun commuter to use when it was not good motorcycle weather. I was going to wait for the Elio, but gave in and picked up my Miata. I am so happy with it now that I am planning on selling my bike in the spring... But I still want my Elio

Coss said:

Remember; the Elio was never intended to be a primary driver; it has always held true to being an -- And ---- vehicle.

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I love ya, Coss, but I just don't think that's true. Paul has often used his "single mother" that needs a car to get to her job. And talked about how the Elio is better than a used car for a college student or recent grad. Both those cases are single-car households. As I remember, Elio didn't start pushing the "And" angle until well into the 1000's of reservations when it became clear "mature" people with disposable income are the lion's share of reservationists.

I'm still looking for input on these items, I changed them a bit. Thanks to NorTracNY who gave some thoughts on these, and Coss spoke on the suppliers at the plant. Thanks!

• The 100 pre-production vehicles, target date has moved to Q3 '17; was there a reason given?
  
• In Elio's original plan showing the months and what milestones they wanted to hit, what month are we in... is it about Month 8 now? That plan has to be changed since the 100 vehicles target has been moved out 9 months, yes?
  
• Other than the seat manufacturer, are there any other suppliers committed to setting up in the Shreveport plant?
• The 65,000 reservations amount was established by EM as the limit for folks who can get a locked base price; do we have any information on what EM will do once the 65,000 reservations are reached? I always viewed it as a way to generate some demand and more reservations, but I'm curious if we have a good idea of what EM plans after that.
• How many engineering vehicles do we know have been completed? I believe the first one was done in July. Four E vehicles in about a 7 month stretch is sort of under-achieving, yes?
  
• What's the most recent good news / milestone reached / encouraging event in your eyes?

Gas-Powered Awesome said:

I love ya, Coss, but I just don't think that's true. Paul has often used his "single mother" that needs a car to get to her job. And talked about how the Elio is better than a used car for a college student or recent grad. Both those cases are single-car households. As I remember, Elio didn't start pushing the "And" angle until well into the 1000's of reservations when it became clear "mature" people with disposable income are the lion's share of reservationists.

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I agree, when the Elio first came around, Paul did use that as a sales pitch, when they figured out that's not who is putting in deposits, he would still start his pitches out with that idea, and credits that single mom with the idea; but in the next line, he follows the money.
So the idea of being a primary vehicle stays in the spiel to "keep him humble" but the real life facts take over.
If you ask him now what the primary target is, you'll hear --And-- vehicle; and not the original concept.

Jeff Porter said:

I'm still looking for input on these items, I changed them a bit. Thanks to NorTracNY who gave some thoughts on these, and Coss spoke on the suppliers at the plant. Thanks!

• Other than the seat manufacturer, are there any other suppliers committed to setting up in the Shreveport plant?
• The 65,000 reservations amount was established by EM as the limit for folks who can get a locked base price; do we have any information on what EM will do once the 65,000 reservations are reached? I always viewed it as a way to generate some demand and more reservations, but I'm curious if we have a good idea of what EM plans after that.

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I'll address these two parts;

The 65K was a number that was worked out when they were negotiating for the ATVM loan. We've never been told why 65K and what percentage of those have to be committed, or how they came up with 65K

Setting up in plant; there was never any mention or discussions of vendors setting up in the plant. The seat manufacturer in house could have been a deal that they worked out with them to get a better price on the seating. If you recall Lear was supposed to be building the seats.

Rob Croson said:

Shooting start or meteor, whichever name you like. But as soon as it comes down to Earth, it's called a meteorite.

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Coss said:

I agree, when the Elio first came around, Paul did use that as a sales pitch, when they figured out that's not who is putting in deposits, he would still start his pitches out with that idea, and credits that single mom with the idea; but in the next line, he follows the money.
So the idea of being a primary vehicle stays in the spiel to "keep him humble" but the real life facts take over.
If you ask him now what the primary target is, you'll hear --And-- vehicle; and not the original concept.

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I know from talking to several folks in the I've-got-a-50-mile-commute-and-my-beater-is-killing-me group that the Elio would be a lifesaver for them.

I wrote up one of these encounters at the end of July; I'm pretty sure I posted it here. The point is that the Elio serves a number of social needs, and enabling people to get to work, especially distant work, is an important part of the project's mission. We're talking folks who would find it very difficult to pop down $100 or $500 on a car that doesn't yet exist -- but when it's real, they will break down the doors trying to get one.

Elio still has a lot of work to do and 12-months go QUICK. I honestly don't see these being sold to the public until 2018. I want this vehicle as bad as all the forum members do but I feel thats a realistic timeframe.

bowers baldwin said:

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So, I'm still confused, I thought I just learned that if it comes down to earth-meteorite?
Cartoon shows a (?) coming down to earth, and's calling it a meteor ?? It's getting so's ya can't trust what you read on the net.