Elio Plant In Ohio

84mpg said:

Sure.... go to the first video posted. Go to post #22 on the “When-Really?” thread posted by xAaron. It’s the WKBN 27 video that lasts about 1 min in length. At about 13 secs into the news segment, they cut from the news anchor to the footage of The Governor walking to the Elio. In those 3-4 seconds of him walking toward the Elio - it sure appears to be Stu Lichter walking by his side. Stu is talking to the Governor while making a gesture toward the car. As they get to the car - there’s a cut (edited) showing the Governor walking around the back and entering the car. Paul is there with the Gov at that point. Next shot is the Governor walking around the back of the Elio and if you look in the background... you can see Stu standing on the sidewalk... the clips are short, but he’s there.

To me, it appears that Stu was “introducing” the vehicle ..... leading the conversation. Paul was in back of them, while walking to the Elio. Once they got to the car - Paul took over.... what was all said - who knows. But it’s great to see Stu still involved - and apparently in a big way.

Added: if that isn’t Stu..... he has a twin brother! Lol!

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That was a good find and it now really makes me wonder what's going on.

Rabrandt99 said:

I think it’s a shot across the bow of Shreveport.

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I think that's correct. 2020 election is coming up and there are two sides.

1. OH politicians don't act upon Elio and no jobs at that plant. Don't reelect those politicians
2. LA politicians don't eliminate the fine $0.5M, then the other $7.5M fine, Elio moves to OH. No jobs at that plant. Don't reelect those politicians.

Only reason this might backfire is because the Shreveport plant has been idle for so long that they already lost hope. Plus, people in Ohio have already searched "Elio Motors" and have found either very little press over the last two years or a bunch of angry reservationists. They can figure out the timeline pretty easy.

The reality is, that Lordstown plant is not going to fire back up. Every single plant that closes down goes through the same exact scenario. There's an effort to get it to reopen or get the manufacturer back in there and because there's "The best workers out there are sitting idle" but in the end even those people give up. If a plant like that does open back up, it takes years and most likely, it won't be automotive and if it is, it's about 10% of what it was in the glory days.

For a company under an SEC gag order, they sure made a spectacle of themselves in Columbus with the Gov. I hope they don't get fined.

How about this unlikely scenario: Elio will start up two plants at the same time, Louisiana and Ohio. The suggestion that Paul is helping Stu buy more plants is interesting. Why would Stu need Paul except to maybe to suggest to the Ohio governor that he already has someone interested in moving in? Problem with that is Elio Motors quickly denying any change of plans from manufacturing in Louisiana. Another problem for Elio is that they continue to say that Paul is in 100% funding mode. So exactly what was the purpose of showing the E1c to the Ohio governor? They aren't trying to generate more reservations and they didn't bother to announce the public display. I would ask them but I'm sure all I would get is the response of "Read the Blog". Right.

Made in USA said:

I would ask them but I'm sure all I would get is the response of "Read the Blog". Right.

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Also, you forgot about the SEC gag order. Elio can't say anything. Just read the blog and it'll tell you everything you need to know except for when they were recently in Columbus, OH and talking to the gov with the press present. Maybe the next blog will cover this.

Two plants would be interesting. One for east of the Mississippi and the other one west. That way each plant can become a destination vacation for many. Go to the OH plant, pick up your Elio and vacation in Cleveland, stop by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Go to LA, pick up your Elio and vacation in Shreveport and pick up a game with the Mudbugs.

Another possibility... Paul went to Ohio shopping for a better deal than Louisiana was offering. Then, when the governor said "That's all good. Pass.", Paul had to go back and assure Shreveport that they were still planning on producing there...

I'd prefer to believe that Paul is trying to lock down a more favorable plant but it's difficult to get a feel for the situation with Paul being incommunicado with his faithful followers here.

Another thing, might be that Elio is 99.9% of the way there for complete funding and they are doing this to see which state will fight harder to get Elio Motors after the funding announcement is released. This sounds like something Pat would do and probably got Paul to start playing hard ball now.

If possible, Ohio would be much better. LA would fight EM as long as EM is there.

Doesn't this plant belong to GM and not the state? Why would GM let a competitor use the plant?

If EM did move to Ohio, could they just simply walk away from the LA fine and not pay it? They would be in another state. I doubt this.

Perhaps EM can let GM use the LA plant, and GM can let EM use the Ohio plant. I read somewhere that GM did not want to lose the LA plant because it was an advanced one.

I wish Ford or GM would buy EM and we could get our vehicles serviced at one of these dealerships.

pistonboy said:

Perhaps EM can let GM use the LA plant, and GM can let EM use the Ohio plant. I read somewhere that GM did not want to lose the LA plant because it was an advanced one.

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I've been in both plants. The LA one is really old and quite dirty. The OH one is 10X better. The best part about the OH plant is, it's set up much better for an Elio as compared to the LA plant. The LA plant was more for frame on body trucks as opposed to small unibody FWD sedans like in OH. In addition to that, it's a fact that manufacturing plants do not age well and the Elio plant has been sitting for about 7 years. The OH plant is more or less turnkey with a built in labor force and equipment that is up to at least 2016 standards as opposed to LA where the labor force have moved on and the equipment is circa 2005.

IIRR the LA plant was originally for building HUMMERS. Part of it is also being rented out by KIA/HUNDI for post assembly items on some vehicles.

W. WIllie said:

IIRR the LA plant was originally for building HUMMERS. Part of it is also being rented out by KIA/HUNDI for post assembly items on some vehicles.

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That’s right. At least they never built things like Isuzu’s or that Hummer that was a reskinned GM pickup/SUV.

Made in USA said:

How about this unlikely scenario: Elio will start up two plants at the same time, Louisiana and Ohio. The suggestion that Paul is helping Stu buy more plants is interesting. Why would Stu need Paul except to maybe to suggest to the Ohio governor that he already has someone interested in moving in? Problem with that is Elio Motors quickly denying any change of plans from manufacturing in Louisiana. Another problem for Elio is that they continue to say that Paul is in 100% funding mode. So exactly what was the purpose of showing the E1c to the Ohio governor? They aren't trying to generate more reservations and they didn't bother to announce the public display. I would ask them but I'm sure all I would get is the response of "Read the Blog". Right.

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They did do a post on Facebook about it I hope to see more info in a blog. So this was the only public display so far from eliomotors I have seen.