Cancelled - Texas Event - Texas State Fair 9/26 - 10/1/2014

[tommy]

I just got off the phone with officials at the State Fair and they said Elio could still show the car with a waiver if they wanted. They said an auto manufacturer is supposed to have a manufacturing certificate to show ---Not trying to stir anything up. Just wanted the actual reason. I think with cooperation they could still exhibit. Yet, as mentioned, there could be a conflict of show dates

They have, I saw this event listed on their page a couple of months ago, as usual the problem came in when political factions changed the rules with no notice.

 

[wayne kemp]

Your move ELIO.

 

[Truett Collins]

I just got off the phone with officials at the State Fair and they said Elio could still show the car with a waiver if they wanted. They said an auto manufacturer is supposed to have a manufacturing certificate to show ---Not trying to stir anything up. Just wanted the actual reason. I think with cooperation they could still exhibit. Yet, as mentioned, there could be a conflict of show dates

Till they actually go into manufacturing they can not get a manufacturing certificate. The problem is that the "rule" was not in effect till after Elio had set their schedule and they were not notified till it was too late.

 

[tommy]

Till they actually go into manufacturing they can not get a manufacturing certificate. The problem is that the "rule" was not in effect till after Elio had set their schedule and they were not notified till it was too late.

Sorry, didn't stress waiver.

 

[tommy]

Sorry, didn't stress waiver.

I'm beginning to feel like the Troll I've heard mentioned on here and I'm not like that at all. I was just disappointed I wouldn't get to see the Elio at the fair. I had been to the fair when I was about six years old and had a chance to go this year but now----------------

 

[goofyone]

I'm beginning to feel like the Troll I've heard mentioned on here and I'm not like that at all. I was just disappointed I wouldn't get to see the Elio at the fair. I had been to the fair when I was about six years old and had a chance to go this year but now----------------

Thats very understandable. The good new is that I am sure they will come back and show it again and hopefully it won't be in the too distant future which I don't think it will as during the winter months they tend to spend much of their time in the southern half of the country.

 

[goofyone]

The Elio Motors VP of Government Affairs, Joel Sheltrown, posted this more detailed explanation of the Texas State Fair situation on Facebook today:

Just to set the record straight, Elio Motors was forced to cancel because of the completely detailed agreement TX wanted before they would allow us to display at the fair. Among the restrictions were: "If anyone asks you what the retail price is on the Elio, you will respond: ""It is against the law for me to discuss the price" If anyone ask about reserving we were only to say: "It is against the law for me to discuss reserving the Elio and what amount might be required to reserve." If anyone asks about our website..or if we have one. "Can't tell you that either" Soooooooo, about the only thing that our product specialist can do is stand there and look dumb. We have the VP of Governmental Affairs doing that already. Bottom line, you know where to squarely place the blame and it isn't with Elio. We spend a lot of money on lodging, travel, many times airfare, and event costs of course. I suspect most of you would agree, these regulations are certainly over reaching and you should know what to do about them.

We COULD tell you what the MPG is... though. We COULD tell you that TX doesn't have a helmet or endorsement requirement(while we were at it) but you can already get that information from me at no cost. Being Elio Future Owners, I would imagine you to be quite frugal with your funds.

He then followed up with post post:

Any event .. any place we show the Elio, even in a parking lot, requires a number of things to work out... insurance for that location (each seems to have their own requirements) and a loss payable clause added to the contract to the owner of the premises.. sent to the right people for approval. I'm sure we will circle back again. I hope we do.. I want you and other Texans to be able to see the Elio upfront and personal. Events also have to .. or should be held where we get the most exposure. Not my area of expertise.. we have a VP and a tour crew that handle that quite nicely without me being involved, (Thank God) but I have set up two events now myself. It requires planning and a little time to get the approvals. Just can't pop in and set up. We had other locations that did not have the restrictions the fair did. We didn't know until late about these restrictions... and we suspected the State of TX may not get this worked out nearly in time. So the tour with all its expense would have set idle if the fair wasn't approved. I don't want to get into too much detail on this right now. Just wanted to comment that it is completely unfair that some are casting the blame on Elio for the cancelation. The original paperwork (got it very late ..too late to comply) contain NUMEROUS requirements that were impossible, completely impossible for us to meet.. especially in that short of time frame. That paperwork, even if we had sent it in, would have been denied. Period; In addition, there was a $2,000.00 application fee which is non refundable ... even if you can't address every requirement and your app is denied. The state did react rather quickly (surprise) to come up with another doc that they wanted us to agree to... some of the terms in that doc I explained already above. It's my job to get these things done... It's my job to provide guidance in what I think may or may not happen. I didn't think we could count at all on getting this resolved in time for the fair. Based on that information, the tour team had to rebook immediately. We are all disappointed in the cancellation.

 

[zelio]

The Elio Motors VP of Government Affairs, Joel Sheltrown, posted this more detailed explanation of the Texas State Fair situation on Facebook today:


He then followed up with post post:

I hope the members from Texas will take note of how the state government works. It is an election year and it sounds to me like they need to make some changes. Talk about being between a rock and hard place. Sorry Texans, but in my very biased and not at all humble opinion, Elio made the only logical decision. Z

BTW thanks for posting that goofyone.

 

[84mpg]

Sorry to hear about that Texas! You want to see and touch it as badly as I do!

I will not live long enough to understand the mindset of any level of government officials.

 

[tommy]

I thought we were missing out on a lot of exposure to part of an expected 2.5 million turn out if there was any possible way. At that time there were only 18 reservations in the Dallas Fort Worth area. Am I wrong??