Interesting Reading From 2010

[Dustoff]

WAAA WAAA WWAAA WWWAAAAAAAA

I found this to add to it.

 

[whattheelf]

The longer the elio is delayed, gives the people in charge more time to "shift" the reservation money to other areas..

Exactly, and they will, mass market consumers are fickle, and they don't wait very long, they move on quick, plus there are a freight train of alternative market vehicle options, closer on the horizon than the Elio, just more dilution into this niche area to divide things up.

Besides, this whole idea that Pep Boys is going to handle all the servicing of this vehicle is ridiculous. The mass market, is not really going to be that excited to go to Pep Boys to handle all the recalls and warranty issues these things are going to have.

Its a clusterfrack for Pep Boys to get into this, will be far more trouble than what its worth, plus I don't see any information regarding their building modifications etc etc to handle these things. It all sounds good in theory, but in the fine print and details, its a disaster in the making.

 

[pj rogers]

What the elf...I always look at the big picture. yesterday a face book comment popped up and today it is gone. EM is a manufacturer, techno sports is an assembler basically taking EM's place until a plant is open, suppliers supply parts, Who is the designer? . EM pays a company to design their elios. That means EM is a client of a designers company. So who designed the P3, 4 and now the 5. They Probably charge a bundle also. The answer will surprise you..try to find it...if you can't i'll tell you on Friday.

 

[goofyone]

What the elf...I always look at the big picture. yesterday a face book comment popped up and today it is gone. EM is a manufacturer, techno sports is an assembler basically taking EM's place until a plant is open, suppliers supply parts, Who is the designer? . EM pays a company to design their elios. That means EM is a client of a designers company. So who designed the P3, 4 and now the 5. They Probably charge a bundle also. The answer will surprise you..try to find it...if you can't i'll tell you on Friday.

I doubt it will shock many people to find out that the company that provides the design and engineering expertise to Elio Motors is none other than the engineering firm founded by Paul Elio, ESG Engineering in Tempe, AZ. If you visit their home page, www.esgeng.com, you will find a drawing of a very familiar looking vehicle and if you click on the image you will be directed to ElioMotors.com. If you click the 'About ESG' link at the top you will see Paul Elio listed as CEO and a short bio.

While I am sure ESG, and Mr Elio, are enjoying a tax write off benefit from providing services to Elio Motors I highly doubt he is really charging his other company a bundle of cash at this point.

 

[outsydthebox]

I doubt it will shock many people to find out that the company that provides the design and engineering expertise to Elio Motors is none other than the engineering firm founded by Paul Elio, ESG Engineering in Tempe, AZ. If you visit their home page, www.esgeng.com, you will find a drawing of a very familiar looking vehicle and if you click on the image you will be directed to ElioMotors.com. If you click the 'About ESG' link at the top you will see Paul Elio listed as CEO and a short bio.

While I am sure ESG, and Mr Elio, are enjoying a tax write off benefit from providing services to Elio Motors I highly doubt he is really charging his other company a bundle of cash at this point.

Wow, that IS impressive. Especially since I just read that he Paul is nothing more that a "car salesman"....sounds kind of "slanderous"... IMHO.

 

[whattheelf]

What the elf...I always look at the big picture. yesterday a face book comment popped up and today it is gone. EM is a manufacturer, techno sports is an assembler basically taking EM's place until a plant is open, suppliers supply parts, Who is the designer? . EM pays a company to design their elios. That means EM is a client of a designers company. So who designed the P3, 4 and now the 5. They Probably charge a bundle also. The answer will surprise you..try to find it...if you can't i'll tell you on Friday.

As a few have just mentioned, it isn't too unusual, say if you own an engineering firm, to try and flesh out an idea by launching a company to try and put some legs under your idea, by bringing in the other pieces/people you need, etc etc., secure some intial seed funding, etc., I've been through these gyrations directly more than a few times.

That said, Paul is an absolutely terrible front man and sales person, his persona is of being a capable but yet typical engineer with a dream, he is not the kind of guy when you hear him speak that you immediately believe in, he is sort of an underwhelming spokesman, typical first impression would be he is the unimpressive dweeb in the room, such is how perception works, like it or not, even if he is a great guy personally. EM is trying to go to war against the big automakers, and the politicians/lawyers in the pocket of them, but Paul is just a 2nd lieutenant in this theatre.

He is however, the guy you need to carry the ball (design) to the 20 yard line, and he will get paid well to do that, and so will his firm, because he has developed all the IP (intellectual property). Then once the design is frozen, headed to launch, they MUST bring in a whole new level of talent that can march this ball downfield. So, for now you have an engineer faced with playing quarterback in a whole different arena than just running an engineering consulting firm, a COMPLETELY different ballgame. How long the board lets him play quarterback will be very telling.

Make no mistake however, having been through several startups and explorations/ideas, in an area here in MA rife in startups, with many of my friends still in them, the principle founder/s of the company are usually setup even in the intial funding stages that even if EM fails, Paul himself likely gets to walk away with 3-5M for the effort, success OR failure, quite a payout you say for him failing, but this is commonplace. So he and his firm gets paid during and getting to the 20 yard line, and he gets a sizable payout one way or the other. Only in America as they say.

Paul wins nomatter what, even the reservation monies get returned, and Paul still retains credit for what could of been. Paul retains his firm and carries on, and few end up collecting unemployment.

Its a great idea to try and reinvent better transportation, but its nearly impossible to accomplish without 3X Tesla level money and then some, even if you are a big automaker, and none want to chase low margin business. I remember listening to particularly charismatic AND capable Dean Kamen profess and paint a vision around how entire cities would be built around the invention of the Segway, which had 1000X the press and interest of the general public over the Elio, and look how that never really happened, and its only been relegated as a curious footnote in history, after all that hype.

 

[pj rogers]

Remember 20 year backs when all the luxury cars had "designer" cars..A well know designer or celebrity had say 10,000 xxxxxx with their name on it and extra, expensive options? Time to go find Jay Leno and Donny trump, and Steinfield, some of the rappers, and get several million from each and begin limited production ASAP. Of course, the designer elio would sell for at least $20,000 or more.
But, owning two companies is totally legal, and makes sense for Mr. Elio to contract out the design of the new P5, the P6 and any more to come..to himself. Hey, I would sure like to continue to get paid from my design company and also get paid to be the CEO of EM also..
I want a double dip sir!
If I wanted to keep the excitement going, I would give my reservist a once a week sneak peek of the new P5, Now that would be some thing for us to show our friends and family, again, operating money to build those 18 prototypes needs to keep coming in. A 125,000 for each one is no small change right? On, and my design company needs to make those small necessary tweeks so I can build another p6.

 

[Ty]

I'm assuming you mean "Paul also said they aren't using reservations to FULLY fund the company"?

You would think that the reservation funds should go to funding the company. If not, then what are they for? (serious question)

You are correct. They can't touch the refundable deposits but I don't believe there are many of those anyway. Most people would assume if the company were to fold, the money would disappear anyway so they .aye as well get a better spot in line.

 

[pj rogers]

Well if they read his own words in Pontiac Michigan which said elio motors would sell over a 100,000 vehicles in the first year, why was any one worried about a place in line?...I wasn't and I would not, from a lot of experience, buy one the first 10,000 to 20,000 elios off the line any way..that is just looking for the problems to surface. Hey Ty, I guess the way you just said your piece, a little bit of doubt is beginning to creep in..its ok...it will get worse, not better when the P5 doesn't meet the goals and the attorney generals from a few states step in and say, like they did about the fuel mileage, change the words EM, or show us the facts.

 

[outsydthebox]

Well if they read his own words in Pontiac Michigan which said elio motors would sell over a 100,000 vehicles in the first year, why was any one worried about a place in line?...I wasn't and I would not, from a lot of experience, buy one the first 10,000 to 20,000 elios off the line any way..that is just looking for the problems to surface. Hey Ty, I guess the way you just said your piece, a little bit of doubt is beginning to creep in..its ok...it will get worse, not better when the P5 doesn't meet the goals and the attorney generals from a few states step in and say, like they did about the fuel mileage, change the words EM, or show us the facts.

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