Squashed like a bug.

[JohnJ]

Every day the Elio makes more and more sence, yet there is no sign it will make it into production. It seems the issue is raising the $300 million it will take to get up and running. That may seem like a lot of cash, but in the world of automobile manufacturing it's small change.

So, why haven't they been able to get the money? The Feds were supposed to help finance ventures that would be energy saving for the country. Elio is that. The Feds were going to guarantee loans for those business that proved they had a marketable product. Elio proved that. So why no help?

I may sound like a paranoid conspiracy theorist but, I think it's because of "Special Interests", who do not want to see the Elio on the market because a car like that will eat into their porfits. They use their political and economic power to squash it. The last thing they want is for us to stop buying expensive gas guzzling cars. Remember what happened to Tucker. This is the same thing, just being done more quietly... and they're getting away with it.

 

[Made in USA]

I don't think the Elio was squashed by anybody. If anything, it has been Paul Elio's refusal to lose any "control" over his company. An outside investor would want some say in how the company was run. The government also won't give money to him because he isn't in a financial position to be successful.
Even though the Elio is a good concept, major investors want a decent profit. Not much profit in the Elio.

 

[3wheelin]

Every day the Elio makes more and more sence, yet there is no sign it will make it into production. It seems the issue is raising the $300 million it will take to get up and running. That may seem like a lot of cash, but in the world of automobile manufacturing it's small change.

So, why haven't they been able to get the money. The Feds were supposed to help finance ventures that would be energy saving for the country. Elio is that. The Feds were going to guarantee loans for those business that proved they had a marketable product. Elio proved that. So why no help?

I may sound like a paranoid conspiracy theorist but, I think it's because of "Special Interests", who do not want to see the Elio on the market because a car like that will eat into their porfits. They use their political and economic power to squash it. The last thing they want is for us to stop buying expensive gas guzzling cars. Remember what happened to Tucker. This is the same thing, just being done more quietly... and they're getting away with it.

I don't think the Elio was squashed by anybody. If anything, it has been Paul Elio's refusal to lose any "control" over his company. An outside investor would want some say in how the company was run. The government also won't give money to him because he isn't in a financial position to be successful.
Even though the Elio is a good concept, major investors want a decent profit. Not much profit in the Elio.

I couldn't agree more. And it didn't help trying to sell it for 7K. Now, they think they can make an ELIO EV and sell it for 14K (starting price). Dream meets reality.

 

[JohnJ]

I don't think the Elio was squashed by anybody. If anything, it has been Paul Elio's refusal to lose any "control" over his company. An outside investor would want some say in how the company was run. The government also won't give money to him because he isn't in a financial position to be successful.
Even though the Elio is a good concept, major investors want a decent profit. Not much profit in the Elio.

Reminds me of what my dad told me when I was just a teenager. "Banks only want to lend money to people who don't need it."

 

[Rickb]

Reminds me of what my dad told me when I was just a teenager. "Banks only want to lend money to people who don't need it."

The reality is banks lend money to people or businesses submitting low risk loan applications with the ability/intention to pay it off.

 

[dbacksfan81]

Every day the Elio makes more and more sence, yet there is no sign it will make it into production. It seems the issue is raising the $300 million it will take to get up and running. That may seem like a lot of cash, but in the world of automobile manufacturing it's small change.

So, why haven't they been able to get the money? The Feds were supposed to help finance ventures that would be energy saving for the country. Elio is that. The Feds were going to guarantee loans for those business that proved they had a marketable product. Elio proved that. So why no help?

I may sound like a paranoid conspiracy theorist but, I think it's because of "Special Interests", who do not want to see the Elio on the market because a car like that will eat into their porfits. They use their political and economic power to squash it. The last thing they want is for us to stop buying expensive gas guzzling cars. Remember what happened to Tucker. This is the same thing, just being done more quietly... and they're getting away with it.

I don't believe there ever was a conspiracy against Elio. Start ups burn through cash. They started with and built a couple of tube frame vehicles and then realized the cost for that type of production would be more than the target price so they redesigned to a stamped steel unibody construction. Those two events burned a lot of cash.

They tried to build their own engine to achieve close to the 83 MPG projection only to find that it wasn't, as far as is known, any better than an off the shelf 3 cylinder engine from any manufacture. That burned another pile of cash.

Elio wanted to go full scale production and got involved in the GM plant in Shreveport without ever having run a small production for proof of concept. Burn another pile of cash.

Elio lobbied for a change to the laws concerning the classification of an autocycle and to remove helmet requirements to drive them. This helped other potential manufacturers but for Elio, throw another bundle of cash on the fire.

Pop up and car show campaigns are necessary to get eyeball exposure and get it out for the public to see. Yep, add another pile of cash.

A comparison of Elio and Tucker is an apples and oranges for me. Like I said, I don't see a big conspiracy by the auto manufactures in the US against Elio. US manufactures have enough to worry about just trying to keep themselves alive let alone go after a niche manufacturer like Elio.

 

[Sonoran Sam]

Pop up and car show campaigns are necessary to get eyeball exposure and get it out for the public to see. Yep, add another pile of cash.

If I could expand upon your post. Elio also did some television advertising (not a lot, but I saw the add a few times on TV). It cost money to make the commercial (production, editing, etc.) and the advertising cost to air the commercial. So yet another pile of cash.

 

[Made in USA]

So in the end, Paul Elio didn't want to share his company with a big investor. So I wonder if he is happy now with nothing, instead of only 10-20% and his vehicle actually being made?

 

[Mark BEX]

Just terrible management, he expected to go into full scale mass production with only less than 50,000 true orders on the books, if that.

Toyota sell about 300,000 Corollas a year, Honda Civics about the same, along with others, but the numbers are not directly comparable as just saying 5 or 6 times as many, because Toyota, Honda etc have resources to cover their other millions of cars they make, robot tech, suppliers, presses, suppliers, etc etc etc ...

Trying to get an investor with just those small numbers on the books was never going to happen with the large scale intended ......... if was ever really intended.

Elio needed to, and still needs to start small, or initially offshore and assembled locally (Made in USA can come later), get it underway in limited numbers, and build from there. Looks like Acrimoto are doing just that for example, and shock horror, some people now own them, and drive them in the real world. I know Acrimoto are slowly investing in robot tech, and other ways to build up and establish higher rates of production. You eat an elephant one bite at a time.

... and Elio had plenty of cash to go that way, and some of you, but not all, would have been driving around today.

 

[Made in USA]

Just terrible management, he expected to go into full scale mass production with only less than 50,000 true orders on the books, if that.

Toyota sell about 300,000 Corollas a year, Honda Civics about the same, along with others, but the numbers are not directly comparable as just saying 5 or 6 times as many, because Toyota, Honda etc have resources to cover their other millions of cars they make, robot tech, suppliers, presses, suppliers, etc etc etc ...

Trying to get an investor with just those small numbers on the books was never going to happen with the large scale intended ......... if was ever really intended.

Elio needed to, and still needs to start small, or initially offshore and assembled locally (Made in USA can come later), get it underway in limited numbers, and build from there. Looks like Acrimoto are doing just that for example, and shock horror, some people now own them, and drive them in the real world. I know Acrimoto are slowly investing in robot tech, and other ways to build up and establish higher rates of production. You eat an elephant one bite at a time.

... and Elio had plenty of cash to go that way, and some of you, but not all, would have been driving around today.

One of the things that bugs me the most is Paul Elio's lack of communication. Not just with people who put money down for a spot in line but especially the shareholders.