L.a. Auto Show...gimme Input

[Ekh]

I won't be the least surprise! It starts to dawn on me that while EM is trying very hard to save as much money by innovating, but will quality suffer? Quality cost money- add to that expensive American labor and $6,800 seemed too good to be true. And if what they are claiming "half the car , half the cost holds true", then we're all recipient of the lowest priced American made enclosed trike! It remains to be seen how EM will pull this off and while my faith in them are on shaky ground and my patience is running thin, I need to give EM "A+" for effort to get to this point, changing the laws, etc. My hope lies on the final prototype P5 with it's new engine- it'll be placed on a microscope, scrutinized, and tested hopefully by the very people that will fund this project all the way to the finish line. Fingers crossed.

Quality doesn't cost money, it saves you money in the long run. Automotive quality shows up in safety, first of all. Then it shows up in fewer warranty repairs. Finally, it shows up in customer satisfaction and credibility of the brand. There's a ratio that holds true a scary amount of the time: catch a problem in the design phase, that's $10. Catch it in manufacturing, that $100,000 bucks. Have to do a recall? That's $10,000,000. So quality is not only cheap, it's free.

Elio is working for quality by use of proven parts, by exhaustive prototype testing, and by using very, very experienced people to take charge of manufacturing set-up. My best guess is that we'll see our Elios for $7,300 and that they will deliver 81 to 83 mpg in standardized testing, and will actually get up to 100 mpg driving through the back lands of Montana, where the road is straight and level for a hundred miles. (Straight and level, no traffic).

 

[RUCRAYZE]

Here, scrutinized is they key to every crumb of real or imagined bit of "news". With really nothing productive to offer (through no fault of us, 1000's of posts as to color, gas filler, Paul's tie-in w/ Starbucks- small -large tall latte, funding, expected delivery time, the trips, luggage racks/, squeezing your mate into the back seat etc. etc. Then there are the motor heads ready for turbos, swap outs for a V6, and eager to look at a picture and critique the size and location of a specific bolt. It's all very entertaining as we march in place waiting. good luck to us all.!!

 

[3wheelin]

Quality doesn't cost money, it saves you money in the long run. Automotive quality shows up in safety, first of all. Then it shows up in fewer warranty repairs. Finally, it shows up in customer satisfaction and credibility of the brand. There's a ratio that holds true a scary amount of the time: catch a problem in the design phase, that's $10. Catch it in manufacturing, that $100,000 bucks. Have to do a recall? That's $10,000,000. So quality is not only cheap, it's free.

Elio is working for quality by use of proven parts, by exhaustive prototype testing, and by using very, very experienced people to take charge of manufacturing set-up. My best guess is that we'll see our Elios for $7,300 and that they will deliver 81 to 83 mpg in standardized testing, and will actually get up to 100 mpg driving through the back lands of Montana, where the road is straight and level for a hundred miles. (Straight and level, no traffic).

Proven quality parts does not come cheap, exhaustive prototype testing cost money and hiring very very experienced people gets paid more than the least experienced like american car workers whose been around assembling cars so I just can't see quality being FREE. Well trained technicians/assemblers gets paid well doing what they do best, catching problems before it occurs. It's the very reason one prototype cost mucho money because of these experience workers' eye for detail- again with quality in mind. The use of metal frame also comes to play, alloy, aluminum or regular steel that's not resistant to rust but cheaper to use-

 

[Mike W]

I think the idea of quality being "free" is you either pay a bit for quality upfront or pay a lot more for the lack of quality down the road. Yugo anyone?

 

[CBXBob]

Very good chance I'll be going too Senior ticket is only $10.

 

[Coss]

Very good chance I'll be going too Senior ticket is only $10.

Ummm What?

 

[3wheelin]

I think the idea of quality being "free" is you either pay a bit for quality upfront or pay a lot more for the lack of quality down the road. Yugo anyone?

My point exactly.

 

[Ekh]

Ummm What?

Forgive the man. He only responded to the actual topic of this thread.

 

[Gizmo]

Quality doesn't cost money, it saves you money in the long run. Automotive quality shows up in safety, first of all. Then it shows up in fewer warranty repairs. Finally, it shows up in customer satisfaction and credibility of the brand. There's a ratio that holds true a scary amount of the time: catch a problem in the design phase, that's $10. Catch it in manufacturing, that $100,000 bucks. Have to do a recall? That's $10,000,000. So quality is not only cheap, it's free.

Elio is working for quality by use of proven parts, by exhaustive prototype testing, and by using very, very experienced people to take charge of manufacturing set-up. My best guess is that we'll see our Elios for $7,300 and that they will deliver 81 to 83 mpg in standardized testing, and will actually get up to 100 mpg driving through the back lands of Montana, where the road is straight and level for a hundred miles. (Straight and level, no traffic).

Been trying to explain that to people at work for years. Every corner we cut now saves no time and no money because it'll take us at least double the time and double the money down the road. Too many short sighted people these days.

 

[Ekh]

The best examples ever are covered in a book called RUST. Very readable. You don't have to rebuild bridges if you build them right in the first place! Galvanizing (which is cheap) and absolutely clings to paint triples the life of a bridge. Etc.