My Elio Alternate Project Is Underway.

[RSchneider]

1/ I believe 18,000 depositors paid the $1,000 option? That's pretty good numbers for a low volume manufacturer, gee whiz, what I could do with that cash .... but I don't think people want to take a chance on a double whammy :-)

2/ I don't agree. I feel it was imperative for Elio to have a bespoke Autocycle class in order to get the large orders through clarification of what it is. If you had to wear a helmet, I doubt Elio would have gotten 30% of the orders he got, so I would rate that as his major coupe. A cynical person might suggest it was all part of the plan to get more money into his own pocket ...

3/ Sure, I don't want to afford the cost of crash testing, and neither do the customers want it tacked on to the end price either. I do have decades of race car prep experience and safety cage building, I believe I have demonstrated that I do care about roll over protection and side impact strength, the doors will be OEM from a car that has the legal side impact requirements built in and proven in crash testing.

But there is more than just crash testing, a car that dynamically drives better, has good forward and sideways vision, comfortable driving position, etc is always going to be a safer car due to the ability to avoid accidents.

And of course, people still choose motorcycles, an Autocycle is always going to be massive step up in safety over a motorcycle.

1 - Elio got just over 21K to put down $1K and commit to buy. By how much they raised, the bulk were $100. I mention again, it took 52 months to get to 65K. When you look at the SEC filings, they garnered approximately 44K reservations the first two years they took them. So, when you look at a production number to reach the price point (which Elio mentioned many times), thinking you were going to sell 10X of that per year, it was a stretch. Especially for a company with zero experience at car manufacturing, let along high volume. Look at the "manufacturing hell" that Tesla went through with the model 3. They were experienced at making cars, yet it bit them in the butt even though they hired some really good people to run that program.

2 - Remember, the slingshot came out in 2014. Vanderhall in 2016. Both are low volume and people seemed to not have a problem buying them and thus, the sales never went through the roof for the work Elio did. Elio was to go in production when the Slingshot did (2014). So, get the product out there and then change the law. Elio spent way too much on marketing and lobbyists. They raised $110M, spent $36M just on the car. The remaining on everything else. Trust me, lobbyists make huge amounts of money. I know from experience.

3 - Building racecars is one thing. Building street cars is another. So for safety, a third party would test it and determine if it's actually safe according to that countrys' safety standard. This is why cars like a Porsche 992 GT3Cup has a completely different safety system as opposed to a street 992 GT3, yet Porsche makes both of them. So, it's OK for low volume but as soon as it goes big, the BEX will be tested by someone like the IIHS. At this point, we can only go by your word that it'll be safe. Here in the US we have what they call PE's (Professional Engineers). They have to be licensed and sign off on projects that mostly deal with safety. Not just the US has this (PE's) but it's a check and balance to keep people honest. Its not perfect, but works most of the time.

As for autocycle, what has been mentioned here many times over the years, they choose autocycle because they are getting too old to operate a motorcycle safely. Then, they could drive a car as an autocycle is just a car missing a wheel. Then it becomes, being different and the fan base ensues. Maybe you need to have a survey to ask about the age of your respondents. You might be in for a surprise.

 

[JEBar]

for all of our armchair quarterbacks, this isn't Elio we are dealing with ... we are extremely lucky to have an experienced, creative builder who is getting close to bringing an enclosed, reverse trike to production .... something that none of us has proven to be capable of doing .... with that being the case. lets not get into telling him how to go about his business .... I hope that is enough enough said

 

[Mark BEX]

for all of our armchair quarterbacks, this isn't Elio we are dealing with ... we are extremely lucky to have an experienced, creative builder who is getting close to bringing an enclosed, reverse trike to production .... something that none of us has proven to be capable of doing .... with that being the case. lets not get into telling him how to go about his business .... I hope that is enough enough said

It's cool, RSchneide and Ari actually know what they are talking about. I don't have to agree with all, but doesn't mean they don't know what they are talking about and have valid information. I appreciate you speaking up

Maybe you need to have a survey to ask about the age of your respondents. You might be in for a surprise.

Well aware :-)

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[RSchneider]

As you know, what you need is some feedback. Last thing you need is for having a bunch of cheerleaders that accept everything you say. Then that leads into a situation where it's like a company that has "yes men" who work for you. I've watched this happen over the years and in the end, it never works out well. I also have found out that if you are critical in this day of age, people ban you or think you are a troll when it comes to the online community. Since that's the only way we can pretty much all meet, it's a problem that I do not see going away anytime soon.

 

[Jambe]

Elio got just over 21K to put down $1K and commit to buy.

Actually, Elio got more than 22,573 $1000 reservations. Not that it matters, just nit-picking.

 

[RSchneider]

Actually, Elio got more than 22,573 $1000 reservations. Not that it matters, just nit-picking.

I'll nit pick too and use what Elio Motors reported on their SEC filings:

As of December 31, 2017, the Company had received 65,463 total reservations, of which 36,597 had received the locked price of $7,300 and 21,195 had made a binding purchase commitment and had received the locked price of $7,000.

As we can see, 21,195 are in a binding purchase agreement to buy the Elio at $7K. They are required to buy the Elio no matter what they offer. The leagalese goes both ways. Non refundable means non refundable. Binding agreement means binding agreement. There are 36,597 that locked in the price of $7300. So Elio cannot change them a penny more. Out of the 65,463 reservations, 21,195 are required to pay $7K and rest have an option to pay $7.3K. In the end, 57,792 agreed on a price. The rest are refundables.

Back on topic, Mark has never asked you for a penny. He has a plan and is measuring public interest. Filling you in on his progress and you can judge him from there. Elio never did that. It became claims that you needed to believe in by throwing money at him.

To be honest with you, I'd change this site to "bexfans.com" and use Elio as a sub thread. because the Elio will never happen and the BEX has a much better chance.

 

[Velhartice]

It's cool, RSchneide and Ari actually know what they are talking about. I don't have to agree with all, but doesn't mean they don't know what they are talking about and have valid information. I appreciate you speaking up




Well aware :-)
View attachment 25672

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Looks like i’m a part of the minority age here.

 

[Jambe]

I'll nit pick too and use what Elio Motors reported on their SEC filings:

So, you still believe what Elio says! Ha, ha. The following were self-reported SIL numbers.

	22214	Andrew Millner	Bogart	GA
	22355	Brian West	Laurel	MS	z
	22573	Richard Landry	Colorado Springs	CO	z

 

[Mark BEX]

To be honest with you, I'd change this site to "bexfans.com" and use Elio as a sub thread. because the Elio will never happen and the BEX has a much better chance.

The forum owner was kind enough to run that past me, I declined on the basis that I have no product to offer currently, and so we settled on this sub-forum for the BEX, which I am humbled and grateful for.

 

[RSchneider]

The forum owner was kind enough to run that past me, I declined on the basis that I have no product to offer currently, and so we settled on this sub-forum for the BEX, which I am humbled and grateful for.

That works. I guess what it shows is that people have moved on because they know Elio is done. I would think that it has to make Paul a bit depressed to know that the last place that was supporting him, has decided to move their interest elsewhere. There might be one or two that will not give up but I'm guessing that anything Elio produces (which comes in press releases) will not be believed.

Good thing is, people get to see how much work and the timeframe it takes to produce a three wheeler using off the shelf parts. It sounds easy but as you know, it's not and still requires lots of engineering and fabrication of custom parts. Lately I've helped a few guys building kit cars. Even though you start with a donor, the bulk of it is custom made. Then if you want the creature comforts, that's even more work.