Paul Elio Presentation And Questions

[Jeff Porter]

Some thoughts:

If they want to really sell a lot of cars then they need to get some on the road. For every person willing to take a chance and order an Elio sight unseen there are probably 10 who want one but are adopting a wait-n-see attitude. Seeing them running the streets will only generate interest and hence sales. Remember the old saying, "Out of sight, out of mind."... not want Elio wants.

When I finally get my Elio this is what I expect will happen. For the first year I anticipate being constantly approached by people wanting to ask questions about it. If I have time I'll talk to them and if I'm too busy I'll politely refer them to the internet. This will happen to all of us. Now, what Elio Motors needs is for all us owners/drivers to be able to tell people what a great car it is; fun to drive; economical, etc. The worse thing that could happen is if we have to tell them about all the problems we've had and that we would never buy one again. Depending on the way these conversations lean, they will go a long way to deciding if Elio is a success or disaster. Word of mouth is the best advertising.

I would seriously doubt the one day delivery will happen.... just too many things that would have to fall perfectly in place for it to work. Two or three days or even a week would not be a problem for most people. I don't think we should worry too much about it.

These are just my opinions and if you disagree then you're wrong.

Good to hear your thoughts, Trusting.

To clarify, I'm not worried about them delivering the next day, I'm as you say fine with 3 days or even 1 business week to deliver it. Their goal is next-day delivery, so I was just thinking out loud how they would achieve that.

Sorry, don't mean to obsess on this, but it's a slow Friday afternoon... On average, 8 marshaling centers for 60 stores means each marshaling center would handle about 7-8 stores. Maybe each marshaling center would have a min of 20 of each of the 14 base types. Once below 20, a shipment of some number could be requested from Shreveport. So yeah, maybe 300-400 vehicles at each marshaling center that are ready for options to be installed. That would only be around 3k vehicles nationwide on avg sitting in all the marshaling centers.

 

[TCBronson]

I guess I am confused. Are the accessory/options being installed at the Shreveport factory or at the the Marshaling locations? Paul states that orders will be taken until 9pm and then they build until midnight and ship out for next day delivery. I was also wondering if Pep Boys will have accessory/options that an owner could add at a later date after taking delivery and installed by Pep Boys?

 

[Smitty901]

Until there are workers in the plant, parts in the racks ELIO's being built . All just more of the same we have been hearing all a long. Talk no results.

 

[BADBOY]

I just sent email to EM website for clarification. I have always received answers to other questions I submitted.

 

[Rickb]

Until there are workers in the plant, parts in the racks ELIO's being built . All just more of the same we have been hearing all a long. Talk no results.

Not much can happen until the P5 roll out in a few short weeks.

 

[Adamant]

For every person willing to take a chance and order an Elio sight unseen there are probably 10 who want one but are adopting a wait-n-see attitude.

This is me. I'm waiting until they release before I commit. Basically, I want to hear all the pros/cons people have with the car, then wait to see if Elio can fix them relatively quickly, before I buy.

I've made up my mind that I'm getting one. That's not the issue. I'm just not going to get one right out of the gate.

You guys remember the Xbox 360? People were having so many problems right off the bat, the people who waited a couple of months got much better consoles because the company was able to correct all the release bugs. Ever since then, I told myself I would never buy anything significant right out of the gate without waiting a bit to make sure all the kinks were worked out.

Most likely we'll have plently of Pros/Cons, reviews, videos, etc, within a month of release. I can hold out a month.

 

[Keith Stone]

Some thoughts:

If they want to really sell a lot of cars then they need to get some on the road. For every person willing to take a chance and order an Elio sight unseen there are probably 10 who want one but are adopting a wait-n-see attitude. Seeing them running the streets will only generate interest and hence sales. Remember the old saying, "Out of sight, out of mind."... not want Elio wants.

When I finally get my Elio this is what I expect will happen. For the first year I anticipate being constantly approached by people wanting to ask questions about it. If I have time I'll talk to them and if I'm too busy I'll politely refer them to the internet. This will happen to all of us. Now, what Elio Motors needs is for all us owners/drivers to be able to tell people what a great car it is; fun to drive; economical, etc. The worse thing that could happen is if we have to tell them about all the problems we've had and that we would never buy one again. Depending on the way these conversations lean, they will go a long way to deciding if Elio is a success or disaster. Word of mouth is the best advertising.

I would seriously doubt the one day delivery will happen.... just too many things that would have to fall perfectly in place for it to work. Two or three days or even a week would not be a problem for most people. I don't think we should worry too much about it.

These are just my opinions and if you disagree then you're wrong.

Well said

 

[pistonboy]

I agree with you guys, and I think there's some mystery assumptions or hidden information that Paul has in his mind. Possibilities, again these are just guesses from my feeble mind, no facts:

• Maybe they've done some forecasting and predicting, and feel that once production officially starts, hundreds of orders per day will start coming in (basically what Ty said)
• There are several thousand reservations for fleet sales, that are not shown in the reservation public total of 44,556 currently; (some months ago on Facebook, Elio Motors said that "some" of the fleet sales do show in the reservation total, who knows how many)
• We assume 250k cars produced means 250k reservations; we must remember that they have to build up inventory to sell at the stores; just some super wild guesses: 60k reservations before production starts + 20k fleet sales before productions starts + 100k orders during first 6 months of production + 70k for national inventory once stores open = 250k cars produced during first year

Thanks for your comment "some months ago on Facebook, Elio Motors said that "some" of the fleet sales do show in the reservation total, who knows how many". This supports what I posted in post 1 of http://elioowners.com/threads/fleet-deliveries.6356/. I read later in a different post that fleet sales were included in the 44k reservations. You have clarified matters indicating that only "some" fleet reservations are included in this number. I suspect a great many more fleet reservations are not included. In the early days, the fleet reservations were probably included in the 44k numbers. Then they apparently decided to count fleet reservations separately.I suspect far more companies are taking a wait and see attitude and will place reservations once they see Elios produced. I wish Elio Motors would say how many fleet reservations they have.

 

[Jeff Porter]

I guess I am confused. Are the accessory/options being installed at the Shreveport factory or at the the Marshaling locations? Paul states that orders will be taken until 9pm and then they build until midnight and ship out for next day delivery. I was also wondering if Pep Boys will have accessory/options that an owner could add at a later date after taking delivery and installed by Pep Boys?

Yes, the options will be installed at the marshaling centers. But for awhile, the Shreveport factory will also serve as a marshaling center too. So until the marshaling centers get established, equipped and employees at them are ready to go, Shreveport is where the options will be installed. One would think there'd be some time of overlap between when the marshaling centers are up and running, and Shreveport stops installing options.

The end goal is to have Shreveport create 7 colors x 2 transmissions, disperse them to the marshaling centers.

For Pep Boys installing options, I believe the answer is yes, eventually. I think the scenario went something like: I've ordered an Elio with leather seats and cruise control. I have it for 5 months, and then I think MAN, I really want a front chin spoiler. I believe Pep Boys is where I'd go to get it done.

 

[W. WIllie]

"front chin spoiler"..................Is that the same as a Goatee?
Sorry I couldn't resist.
Willie