I'm not as familiar with the history of Tesla. I only knew they produced the expensive, high end Roadster first. I think Elio is doing fine except for the pushing off on dates. When did Tesla first say they would ship a Roadster versus when did it occur?I agree. It takes many years still to get a car from the drawing board to the showroom floor. And that's with an established car company. Tesla was founded in 2003 and didn't ship the Roadster till 2008 and that was with Lotus providing most of the car.... $70M from Elon Musk, $50M from Chrysler, and $50M from Toyota didn't hurt either... nor did the $465M from the ATVM.
So, Elio, founded in 2009 on a shoestring budget NOT using an existing manufacturer to build their car, isn't doing too badly. Not bad at all, actually. It is only our impatience that makes it seem like it's taking forever.