Saddened In Spokane

[CRUZR]

Scott, the "dealerships" are going to be company own only. The VP of Sales said he thought there would be three stores in the Seattle area. Sorry for the bad news...

 

[olddog1946]

Scott, the "dealerships" are going to be company own only. The VP of Sales said he thought there would be three stores in the Seattle area. Sorry for the bad news...

Dealer owned is one thing, but any store requires Chief's and worker bees. Buildings and bees cost money, lots of it. I would think an Elio franchise would be better suited for a start up company. But, I'm just an old fart, and subject to hallucinations, or maybe sometimers disease.

 

[goofyone]

Dealer owned is one thing, but any store requires Chief's and worker bees. Buildings and bees cost money, lots of it. I would think an Elio franchise would be better suited for a start up company. But, I'm just an old fart, and subject to hallucinations, or maybe sometimers disease.

We will have to see how all this plays out as Elio Motors wants to do something different loosely based on the way Tesla is selling cars. The Elio plan is not for traditional large dealerships with a lot of room for inventory and lots support people but instead for small stores in strip mall type locations. The stores would be very compact and would only have a few vehicles on hand which would be used for test drives. The plan is for customers to place their orders for a new vehicle customized the way they want it and then come back 24 hours later to pick up the vehicle.

This model Elio Motors want to use makes the individual stores much less expensive to operate than a traditional dealership as you have an inexpensive location and only need a small staff of salespeople to keep the store operational. Now what is different is the fact that there has to be a regional distribution center where the inventory is kept and where technicians are working to prepare vehicles for delivery. This system would theoretically save money over the traditional sales model as instead of each individual sales location/dealership needing to be self contained with a lot of land and a lot of support personnel instead there is only one big expensive traditional dealership sized location which supports numerous smaller sales locations.

 

[outsydthebox]

What makes sense to me, since the Elio is/will be classified as a motorcycle, is for existing motorcycle dealerships to add "Elio" to their existing, "thriving" locations. So, a Honda - Yamaha - Ducatti dealership, will soon be: Honda - Yamaha - Ducatti - Elio Dealership.
Startup costs would be minimal...Franchise fees, and a sign out front. They already have a sales staff, mechanics, and floor space! Squeeze the bikes a little closer together, make room for 1 or 2 Elios in the showroom, another one out near the street WAY UP on a platform, & buy a little air-time from the local radio stations. People will flock in just to SEE this unique "oddity". A good number of those who DON'T buy the Elio, WILL put $$ on a regular bike. My 2 cents

 

[olddog1946]

What makes sense to me, since the Elio is/will be classified as a motorcycle, is for existing motorcycle dealerships to add "Elio" to their existing, "thriving" locations. So, a Honda - Yamaha - Ducatti dealership, will soon be: Honda - Yamaha - Ducatti - Elio Dealership.
Startup costs would be minimal...Franchise fees, and a sign out front. They already have a sales staff, mechanics, and floor space! Squeeze the bikes a little closer together, make room for 1 or 2 Elios in the showroom, another one out near the street WAY UP on a platform, & buy a little air-time from the local radio stations. People will flock in just to SEE this unique "oddity". A good number of those who DON'T buy the Elio, WILL put $$ on a regular bike. My 2 cents

Honda dealers are now becoming second cousins to Harley dealers. Honda is now wanting their dealerships to be a ONE brand outfit, selling bikes, lawnmower, generators and other assorted HONDA only goodies. At least this is what I was told when I went to a now defunct honda motorcycle shop ...new owners, now no honda.

 

[Scott Miller]

Ugh, my sadness continues. If I want service at Pep Boys...Its a 300 mi trip. Classic. Obviously I won't be making that trip so Elio service will be interesting in Spokane.

 

[goofyone]

Ugh, my sadness continues. If I want service at Pep Boys...Its a 300 mi trip. Classic. Obviously I won't be making that trip so Elio service will be interesting in Spokane.

Elio Motors has said that Pep Boys was only the first link in the service chain. They are working on more service solutions for those people who are not within reasonable distance of a Pep Boys.

http://eliomotors.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/elio-motors-and-pep-boys-5-2-14/

What do I do if I don’t have a Pep Boys close to me for service and warranty work?
This is the most common question this week. The Pep Boys partnership is the first major step and will reach 90% of our customers. We are working on several solutions that we will share later these later this year. We realize that service is a big piece to the puzzle and will put together a great package for our customers.

 

[Scott Miller]

Well that is a relief.

 

[olddog1946]

Hang on your undies, I'm sure they'll have some kind of program that will allow warranty work without a 300 mile drive.