Rob Croson
Elio Addict
You cant compare the two without some huge qualifications. You're ignoring the fact that Tesla is already a high profile manufacturer of well-known vehicles. They are producing, essentially, normal cars. A four-wheeled, five passenger car that everyone is familiar with, and can understand. And then you have the added bonus that it's a tree-hugger-friendly electric, too. And, holy crap, it's fronted by Elon Musk, practically a household name, and darling of the media. He comes across as a normal guy, with a quirky sense of humour. His car has a "Ludicrous mode". And he named his cars the Model S, Model 3, and Model X. (Get it? "S3X"? That's freaking awesomely hilarious! He's joked about an upcoming Model Y, too.) Hell, he's personally funding his own space program! The reservation program is marketing gold for Tesla. They don't *need* it. It's just another hype thing. That's why they set the bar for entry so low.
The target market for a Tesla Model 3 is also a more affluent person, who is more likely to have the money laying around to tie up on the reservation of a vehicle that they may not see for another 2+ years.
The Elio, on the other hand, is a three-wheeled ... thing. It only had two seats, and the passenger seat is *behind* the driver? Wtf? And it's powered by a tiny three-cylinder engine. It's being manufactured by a startup that hasn't actually ever built *anything*, and whom no one has ever really heard of before. They publicly admit they don't even currently have funds to build their "autocycle". The front man is a geeky-looking engineer who can't put down that silly Starbucks cup, and starts off every sentence with "So...". (I think Paul is a very smart man, with a great idea (I bought into it!), but I think someone really needs to help spruce up his image a bit.) And you may have to get a motorcycle endorsement to drive it, and wear a helmet! (Until recently, that is, when lots of laws have been changing, but that old, inaccurate info is still floating around.)
The target market for an Elio is really the less affluent person who probably can't afford to put away up to $1000 on the *hope* that some day they might get a, "autocycle" in return.
So, I don't really think your point holds much water. I think the fact that they got 50k+ reservations is awesome, and shows the massive potential this idea has. Once they start rolling off the production line, then you'll see the sales figures. The reservations for Elio v2, if they go the reservation route, will be much greater.
