Reservations: 65341 As Of 6/20/2017

Except they already have the 100 going to specific fleet customers so they are all accounted for

Build these before the 100 fleet customers. If the cost to build an Elio is $6K and you give away 100 of them, it just comes down to a $600K marketing cost that will be spread out over 12 months. That's a cheap marketing investment of $50K per month and it does the job. I'd think there has to be 100 people here willing to go to bat for Elio and in the end, get a free car.

As for the ones they get back, those are written off because they are pre production anyway. Like all pre production products, they just get destroyed.

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Build address
address for the 25 builds, I believe it is 34005 Autry St. Livonia, MI.

Maurtis said:

Were we told that the ATVM was actually involved with working out the 65,000 number? I remember us speculating a lot about where it actually came from. Elio mentions the ATVM and needing binding commitments, along with the 65,000 number here: https://www.eliomotors.com/elio-motors-locks-in-its-price/

But I am missing where they actually say the ATVM wanted 65,000 reservations (and I assume a certain percentage locked in). At the time they were at 56,000 non-binding and that was not good enough. The ATVM could have said "get us around 10,000 more and if 30% or more are binding, we are golden", but those details were not disclosed

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That does make me think.
The reservations are becoming less important, after the 65k, and they expect that interest will jump when these get on the road, or even once production seems immanent. EM may want the flexibility of ending/capping the old reservation program for something new.

Maurtis said:

I suspect you are right. It might be that Elio is not at liberty to discuss the fine details of the ATVM application, but I have not seen any official mention that 65,000 was something the DOE asked for but more what was offered up by Elio. I think it is just a way to artificially create demand. And it works, I find myself tempted to put down a $100 all-in to lock in $7,000 even though I am not interested in the first year non-turbo.

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Ask them if you can lock-in now for the base price and wait for the turbo before getting a car.... Win-win I think...

L0gic said:

Ask them if you can lock-in now for the base price and wait for the turbo before getting a car.... Win-win I think...

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Ooooh, I like that idea! I will shoot them an email, but if that is the case I would put down my all-in today. I can see this working out if they offer the turbo as an add-on package for the base car, as we assume they will.

I know you can make your own turbo kit, but that is not for me in a reliable DD. The Miata will become my play car and get the less reliable mods once the Elio is in the driveway, LOL.

Thanks for the idea, I will let y'all know if it works out.

RSchneider said:

Build these before the 100 fleet customers. If the cost to build an Elio is $6K and you give away 100 of them, it just comes down to a $600K marketing cost that will be spread out over 12 months. That's a cheap marketing investment of $50K per month and it does the job. I'd think there has to be 100 people here willing to go to bat for Elio and in the end, get a free car.

As for the ones they get back, those are written off because they are pre production anyway. Like all pre production products, they just get destroyed.

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I guarantee you that the first 100 will be far more expensive to produce than $6K. That's a target cost at FULL PRODUCTION.

Also, do NOT assume that Elio's pre-production vehicles will receive the same treatment as similar vehicles at a "mature" auto manufacturer. Start-ups can't be as inefficient as "mature" manufacturers.

You are missing the point. The numbers were thrown out there as an example, not as fact. If you want it to make it look better than reduce the number of cars by half and double the production cost of them. Then pick the top 5 regions of the US where you have the most reservations. That way you know where the most interest is (i.e. you wouldn't want to promote a snow blower in Miami). Pick the areas and the events that would most likely fit the person who would like to won an Elio. Real fans driving real cars. You could even give each driver a credit card to cover the tiny amount of gas they will be using and meals. All of this can be written off as advertising. Other car companies do this and so far it works quite well because if it didn't, they would do something different.

Marshall said:

I guarantee you that the first 100 will be far more expensive to produce than $6K. That's a target cost at FULL PRODUCTION.

Also, do NOT assume that Elio's pre-production vehicles will receive the same treatment as similar vehicles at a "mature" auto manufacturer. Start-ups can't be as inefficient as "mature" manufacturers.

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Just an FYI. There is no indication what is being paid for the first 100. It was a pursuit that, at some point, just came out of the blue. I suspect these customers were willing to make it worth-while to EM to provide these early on. There are distinct advantages for some businesses to have some experiences before the competition and this is likely a 6mo advantage (maybe more).

AriLea said:

Just an FYI. There is no indication what is being paid for the first 100. It was a pursuit that, at some point, just came out of the blue. I suspect these customers were willing to make it worth-while to EM to provide these early on. There are distinct advantages for some businesses to have some experiences before the competition and this is likely a 6mo advantage (maybe more).

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I have no idea what Elio is being paid (if anything) for the Fleet 100, but I can guarantee they will cost more than $6000/vehicle. If Elio chooses to take a loss to advertise their new vehicle, then I'm OK with that. But it's an expense and not a revenue stream.