I Have Given Up On Elio, Have You?

RSchneider said:

Instead of moping around and kicking yourself in the butt, how about come up with real solutions? This forum is full of smart people that have many years of experience. Why not have a "Hey Paul" section? You need to remember, Paul probably gets 2 hours of sleep every night and wakes up the next morning to find that he's in the same position he was the day before. So, posting things like "scam" or "I gave up" do nothing at all. I bet Paul comes here a few times a day just to see what is going on. That's because any other public feedback is pretty much dead. Paul will never admit he comes here because if he did, there would be a constant complaint section beating that same dead horse.

Suggestions. How about what you'd put up with? If it gave 75 mpg, would that be good enough? If that $7K you locked in got raised to $8K, would you still buy? What if there were 3 different option packages and the Elio My Way was eliminated? There are many things that I bet people could suggest. Just please don't cherry pick one of my examples and then go off on a tangent. Those were only examples of what you can come up with, not set in stone points that must be done.

How about it? Because if you turn it into another complaint session, it'll get deleted and that does nobody any good and it will not get you your Elio any faster. In reality, it does the opposite. There's nothing wrong about being critical but what has been done in the past has been done and you can;t change it. The situation they sit at today can't be changed unless they know that you the Elio owners are willing to give in a bit and won't be hanging Paul because he didn't do everything 100% of what you worked up in your mind as Elio ownership.

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I agree, negative posts get Elio no closer to production and I love the idea of a positive "Hey Paul" section where we, those invested in Elio's success, can give positive feedback. BUT... I think this has zero chance of getting Elio closer to production. I think it would be a fun distraction but really think nothing anyone here can say would cause Elio to get the hundreds of millions he needs to proceed.

I honestly think the low price is their biggest draw for the masses, followed by the interesting layout, and then the high MPG. A decade ago when gas was $5 per gallon and EVs were a lot more uncommon the "84 MPG" mantra held a lot more weight. But with gas prices half that for a while now, EVs common and cheaper both new and used, and plenty of 40 MPG real cars on the road that bullet point falls down the list. Sure the Elio should be twice as efficient, but it is also different and going to be seen as unsafe. To get past the "weird and unsafe" barrier to entry you need something more than just incremental gas savings over years. That is where the low purchase price and interesting driving experience come into play.

Unlike the Yugo that had a low price and low quality, I have always felt that the Elio would offer a low price and high quality, a real value. On top of that, you get a cockpit like driving experience. That was always tamed by the lackluster 10 second 0-60 performance, but with the announcement to switch to a powertrain with twice the power and better performance, oh yeah! Now we are talking! A cheap, high quality commuter that is actually fun to drive! Brown chicken, brown cow, w00t!

Maurtis said:

I agree, negative posts get Elio no closer to production and I love the idea of a positive "Hey Paul" section where we, those invested in Elio's success, can give positive feedback. BUT... I think this has zero chance of getting Elio closer to production. I think it would be a fun distraction but really think nothing anyone here can say would cause Elio to get the hundreds of millions he needs to proceed.

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I would have a simple suggestion for Paul, please be more transparent in your communication.

Elio Motors lack of transparency is one of the main reasons for all of the public negativity.

Lots of hard working individuals placed advance orders, and they deserve more updated and factual information.

Please discontinue the recycled Elio Motors blog postings. They no longer serve any useful purpose.

The Elio Motor website needs to do revised. It contains too much unsubstantiated hype.

Being the CEO of any publicly traded corporation demands leadership and accountability.

There’s another important fact, Paul is not subject to any specific SEC gag orders. That’s just a tired excuse for Elio Motors lack of transparency.

Almost all CEOs give a public statement or a conference call when their quarterly SEC reports are filed. Again, it’s all about corporate transparency.

TexasTesla said:

There’s another important fact, Paul is not subject to any specific SEC gag orders. That’s just a tired excuse for Elio Motors lack of transparency.

Almost all CEOs give a public statement or a conference call when their quarterly SEC reports are filed. Again, it’s all about corporate transparency.

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Agreed! Until I see some actual formal documentation regarding this point, I call BS! And Elio Motors actually saying this is the case (in a recent email to Coss) makes my skin crawl.

The only reason Elon Musk was getting in trouble with his Tweets was because the info was not correct (funding secured, etc). But if your statements are truthful, should be no issues.

I'm here for the "long haul" come hell or high water. I knew what I was getting into when I made the deposit.
I'll probably have to rebuild the G1 by the time I get an ELIO, if I want to keep good mileage.
Still getting 60 + per tank and LMPG of 58.2 hasn't changed in a very long time.

Regarding Paul’s statements, transparency, SEC Filings, and Elio Motor’s credibility: This is quoted/copied from EM’s SEC Filing for the initial Reg A+ Funding round: “Virtually all of the component design and engineering has been completed on the Elio. The next stage of vehicle engineering and development process is prototype build, vehicle test, and engineering validation stage. The primary use of proceeds for this financing round is to fund this stage. Through this process, the vehicle safety characteristic,the gasoline efficiency, and the cost of manufacturing the vehicle will be confirmed.” This was critical to move the ATVM Loan application to the approval stage. Oddly, most blame the government for EM’s Loan application lack of approval. Paul stated he didn’t need it.

“$13 Million needed to build and test the 25 prototypes” and $15 Million raised. Technosports Creative built 2.5 incomplete shell Elio prototypes/no engines/drive trains. Does Paul Elio have credibility with the venture capital market based on past performance and/or small investors and reservationists for that matter? Paul has a history of not doing what he says or following through on his statements regarding R&D or production schedules. “Fool Me Once.............”.

My guess is if Elio is produced “in the long haul” it would more likely be an Elio 2.0 by a private investor group that has enough interest in the Elio design and engineering to take over the company. Perhaps a name change to “Elonio” would attract and regain the confidence of the venture capital market to fund production. I hope so and I have no regrets following Elio during a decade of retirement hoping for a fun utility Elio to supplement my SUV.

My suggestion to Paul is that he offer one of the production lines to another maker. If I recall there are four lines in the plant. It could be limited to three to five years so that by the time Elio is running on three lines the fourth would become available. That would provide the other maker with a plant they could make some money, prove their concept and get the funding they need to build their own plant. It would also provide Elio with a somewhat trained workforce to draw from. Most important, they would have income for finishing the Elio prototypes.

I'm in, with no regrets. I'll just enjoy driving my CTS until she shows up in my driveway.

Made in USA said:

My suggestion to Paul is that he offer one of the production lines to another maker. If I recall there are four lines in the plant. It could be limited to three to five years so that by the time Elio is running on three lines the fourth would become available. That would provide the other maker with a plant they could make some money, prove their concept and get the funding they need to build their own plant. It would also provide Elio with a somewhat trained workforce to draw from. Most important, they would have income for finishing the Elio prototypes.

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That's exactly the response that we need to see. As for the rest, they do nothing but just rehash the past and won't get you your Elio any faster.

Awareness of Elio’s past statements and their lack of follow through of successfully building a single driveable prototype points out why you should beware of future statements and similar follow through. The continued blind trust of the past didn’t get you your Elio. You have to be aware of the past failures to make the neccessary changes for a successful future that might get you an Elio period. A dash of reality check. You’ll be relieved to know this is my last post regarding Elio, until after my Elio test drive experience. I’m going back to limiting myself to Tesla, Arcimoto, and ElectraMecannica threads and will try to keep those to a minimum. I do enjoy your comments and appreciate the Elio Owners Forum. Go Elio!

I haven't given up on Elio, but I do think they're in a do-or-die phase. When I first learned about Elio in March 2014 and started researching them, I figured if things went exceedingly well, they'd be out by 2016... if they'd had hiccups, people could accept a wait until 2017, but 2018 would be the kiss of death unless something major happened.

For me, the major thing was Overstock, or more precisely Patrick Byrne. Even still, that investment was a lifeline and a very tenuous one at that.

I just can't see Elio surviving 2019 (let alone 2020) unless they put out a tangible, finalized product that ANYONE can test drive via big funds brought in by Cryptocurrency. They've burned all the other options I know of to raise funds, as far as I know.

So I still give them around a 50/50 shot. Because if the ICO can bring in enough money to produce enough engineering mules to allow the STO types to take rides in, which hopefully impresses them to invest in actual production, then maybe they have a shot of creating an initial run of vehicles for all of us (because lord knows if Elio will actually survive long-term, I just want them to survive long enough to get my Elio ^_^).