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Jalopnik Claims Elio Has Only $100k In Bank, $123 Million In Debt

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Thomas Malkin

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The ATVM loan has been withheld for years now. The ATVM people slammed the company a horrible blow by changing the loan requirements just as Elio Motors had reached the finish line last June (2016). If the two hundred million or so had been released then, they'd be constructing the assembly line right now for production test runs in midyear 2017. Everything would have been ready for version 1.0 by then, and we'd have seen the autocar by fall or winter, barring meteors.
I'm of the opinion now that one or some on the ATVM board are ideologically opposed to loaning the money, perhaps a brace of Randians, who are not uncommon in government now.
They've delayed the process indefinitely now. Now, we've a Trump admin, whom I will posit will kill the ATVM loan program on ideological grounds. Not that they were about to lend money to anyone, anyway.
(edit) The killer here is the delay is costing tens of millions of dollars of company capital (and debt) every damned month. If the loan magically popped up now, they'd not only need to tool up, but cover the massive debt they've built up keeping the company going as they waited all these years - which will tickle the agent in the ATVM process who wants them dead anyway. Proof the government doesn't work! Which is *definitely* gonna happen if you have to force it to fail by drawing a salary and sandbagging your applicants. Win-win for the bugger(s) who are killing Elio.
 

Ekh

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This is a repost from another thread. Just in case you missed it.


Elio is not closing the doors.


Elio Motors is not going out of business any time soon. Aside from personal assurances I have received, here are objective reasons not to believe the rumor. And it is a rumor.


1. They are in the Detroit auto show.

2. No officer has sold any stock, including Paul Elio. Stock sales by officers must be reported, and there have been none.

3. This whole thing is based on the SEC filings, written by lawyers to cover all possible contingencies. The filings do say (and I’m paraphrasing) “if any of these [funding related] things should fail to occur, we might have to constrain our operations.” At no time has Paul Elio said he was closing the doors, or even that that was a risk. And what the SEC filings do not say, and IMO should say, is HOW LIKELY is it that the company won’t get its funding.

Jalopnik and his evil cousins have taken the probability to be very high, and are trumpeting that around the nation. But the SEC filing does not say anything of the sort. This is malicious mischief, not reporting, by a small group of Elio-haters. We should not be sucked in by this.

4. We have not heard of any suppliers cutting their ties with Elio.

5. They have not sold any prototypes. That is a lie.

6. Paul Elio is one of the most stubborn men on the planet. He is also not underhanded or sneaky.

7. I have been utterly unable to find any “interview” or “meeting” or other event where Paul Elio said anything about shutting down. Not one trace of it.


So – might Elio eventually fail? Yes, of course. Any company can fail. Is closing down the operation on any visible horizon? No. Is it immediate? Absolutely not.


This is a challenging period for Elio. They are so close to getting it done, but the hill is steepest just before the summit. That’s where they are, and they are not quitters. They are not frauds. They are incredibly hard working and very honest people who are deeply hurt by allegations of fraud and dishonesty.


So, let’s just stop this. Stop it now. And when you find people who have heard the attacks, tell them what I’ve just said in this post.
 
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Ekh

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The ATVM loan has been withheld for years now. The ATVM people slammed the company a horrible blow by changing the loan requirements just as Elio Motors had reached the finish line last June (2016). If the two hundred million or so had been released then, they'd be constructing the assembly line right now for production test runs in midyear 2017. Everything would have been ready for version 1.0 by then, and we'd have seen the autocar by fall or winter, barring meteors.
I'm of the opinion now that one or some on the ATVM board are ideologically opposed to loaning the money, perhaps a brace of Randians, who are not uncommon in government now.
They've delayed the process indefinitely now. Now, we've a Trump admin, whom I will posit will kill the ATVM loan program on ideological grounds. Not that they were about to lend money to anyone, anyway.
(edit) The killer here is the delay is costing tens of millions of dollars of company capital (and debt) every damned month. If the loan magically popped up now, they'd not only need to tool up, but cover the massive debt they've built up keeping the company going as they waited all these years - which will tickle the agent in the ATVM process who wants them dead anyway. Proof the government doesn't work! Which is *definitely* gonna happen if you have to force it to fail by drawing a salary and sandbagging your applicants. Win-win for the bugger(s) who are killing Elio.

I suspect you're largely on track with this. However, a couple of things have changed. Elio was able to get through to the lower-level program managers and impressed them with how much the company had accomplished WITHOUT gov't help. They agreed to communicate this information upward. So that's one bottleneck taken care of. But I'm pretty sure you're right, that one of the two senior managers (one for ATVM, and his boss, who is responsible for all DOE loan programs) really doesn't think these loans are for start-ups, but rather are to fatten the Big Three.

I am hopeful that it's the ATVM guy, and not his boss, who is the block. If that's the case, if we can get through to T-rump or to Perry, or make a sufficient outcry about why DOE won't even conduct due diligence on the company, then the dam can be dynamited.

I think you're exactly right about the capital burn rate, and it's now causing significant problems in terms of operational cash flow for the company. Interestingly, while they are not objecting to private efforts like ours, the company itself has not "gone public" with the need to hammer DOE. But since that's the case, it's up to US to do the hammering.

Keep those letters going to the Transition Team. If any one has better access or contact information, now would be an excellent time to share that with the group, by PM if necessary. TIME IS SHORT to get this done.
 

Rob Croson

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... why DOE won't even conduct due diligence on the company, then the dam can be dynamited.
It has been often stated here that the ball is in Elio's court, not DOE's. Until EM proves, at the very least, their mileage claim, they are not eligible for the loan. The entire loan process revolves around EM's claim that they can beat the required 75 mpg target. Has EM produced those results, and informed the DOE, and we just don't know it? Someone else said that EM can't do that right now, because EM needs to certify a production (or production-equivalent) vehicle, and EM can't do that, because they don't have a production-equivalent vehicle. They will need to finish more of the E-series tuning before that can happen.

So I'm curious as to why you have now switched sides, and are claiming that the DoE is now stonewalling EM on the loan process?

Interestingly, while they are not objecting to private efforts like ours, the company itself has not "gone public" with the need to hammer DOE. But since that's the case, it's up to US to do the hammering.
And again here, you have flipped your stance on grass-roots movements and letter-writing campaigns. You used to claim that EM had asked people to NOT conduct letter-writing campaigns. That it was counter-productive, and could hurt EM's position. Why have you suddenly flipped your position on this?
 

Ekh

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It has been often stated here that the ball is in Elio's court, not DOE's. Until EM proves, at the very least, their mileage claim, they are not eligible for the loan. The entire loan process revolves around EM's claim that they can beat the required 75 mpg target. Has EM produced those results, and informed the DOE, and we just don't know it? Someone else said that EM can't do that right now, because EM needs to certify a production (or production-equivalent) vehicle, and EM can't do that, because they don't have a production-equivalent vehicle. They will need to finish more of the E-series tuning before that can happen.

So I'm curious as to why you have now switched sides, and are claiming that the DoE is now stonewalling EM on the loan process?


And again here, you have flipped your stance on grass-roots movements and letter-writing campaigns. You used to claim that EM had asked people to NOT conduct letter-writing campaigns. That it was counter-productive, and could hurt EM's position. Why have you suddenly flipped your position on this?

I can't answer your points fully without burning a source, which I won't do. But here's what I can say:

As to your point 1, DOE has admitted that Elio meets the technical requirements for the loan. While formal mpg testing cannot take place until a production-ready, fully loaded car is available, the simulations and anecdotal evidence appear to have been sufficient. (I'm the one who posted the requirements for formal mpg testing).

As to Point 2, Elio does not want us going after DOE directly. However, they have said they do not discourage writing to the Trump Transition Team, Mr. Trump, or Rick Perry, about-to-be Secretary of Energy. Another good person to contact, if someone has the access, is Jan Brewer, former Gov. of Arizona and friend of Trump. Since Elio is incorporated in her state, she might be inclined to help -- again, it's a matter of how to get through to her.

Trump or Perry could create 1500 jobs with one phone call. Moreover, even though they don't like government support for private industry in principle, the fact is that they also don't like inefficient gov't, and DOE has plainly not been doing their job, but is sitting on $30 billion. Also, the Elio burns gas, a plus in their eyes.
 

AriLea

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I'd like to add.. Trump has had a few rankles with the auto industry(as well as the green party). He might be inclined to enable EM just to show up the big three, that "Yes Dorothy it CAN be done." Well mostly he needs to show the autoworkers some table scraps, and Elio has all the right attributes for Republican compatibility, except for the actual gov loaning part. Sooo, we'll see.
 
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