There’s really no way of knowing if it’s a scam, an optimistic dreamer’s dream, or a business that’ll succeed. Personally, I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt and I hope he succeeds.
Personally, I think it’s a plan with a potential 99+% failure rate. It’s all designed to suck in money based on grandiose promises and other than the scale of things it sounds just like Persu; formerly VV1.
VV1 kept the BS rolling for year after year up to the point where the cheerleaders (who were crucifying any who questioned the sincerity of the company) started asking questions about the constant delays. With the heat ratcheted up they shut their forum down, the head guy bailed, and they continue on with a new name and a “reserve yours, can you send a grand deposit” format…
We’re supposed to believe that with no prototype built and engineering allegedly unfinished that a full production model VV1 was going to be available to the public in 8 months time along with a dealer network.
As to Elio, they’re allegedly going to use Pep Boys as a dealer network…that should work well.
Biofuels seems to be a grand scam in my region currently. Local and state political leaders here are eager to get their picture taken at a ground breaking for any new potential employer and they eagerly sign away tax assessments for many coming years and build roads and infrastructure in anticipation of the new business. When locals see what appears to be a grand opportunity they throw in significant sums from their nest eggs and it’s amazing how quickly the money flows in and gets spent. There have been quite a few seemingly lucrative corporations here that have quickly peaked and folded. Several years ago there was even a perpetual motion machine that took in a few million. The developer had a working model that he demonstrated and investors rushed to get in on the ground floor. He’s gone and so is the money. Imagine that.
Me too, mountainbike.
The devil is in the details…Getting in and out may require some acrobatics…How well does the heater and A/C work? Is the vehicle stable under heavy braking? Also, price…By the time these concepts reach the showroom floor, the price is usually double the original estimate…
I think the safety standards make innovation and progress in affordable and efficient personal vehicles almost impossible.
we are able to make sound decisions without the nanny state s all powerful, all knowing control.
not to mention the hypocrisy. they allow motorcycles, but an inherently safer 3-4 wheel enclosed vehicle is regulated to the point of its being out of reach of the people who need it most.
they are forced to buy old, undependable, less efficient cars.
a modern, no frills, inexpensive folks wagon would sell.
The similar VV1/Persu was projected to retail for around 25 grand. That’s a bit much for a 2 seat, helmet mandated toy.
Odds are the much cheaper projected price on the Elio is BS to keep the investment excitement up and if any production models for retail are actually ever built I would suspect there will be a night and day differerence between the theoretical price and the real world one.
Kind of like the Ford GT which I think was projected to be about 80-90k before the release and it ended up more like 140k.
Funny, I never considered the likelihood of Mr. Elio receiving government funding. I thought only private investors could get skinned. Now, It’s Personal!
Elio Motors applied for an Advanced Technology Vehicle loan from the US Dept of Energy a couple of weeks ago. The amount requested was $185 million to set up a factory in Shreveport, LA. This is similar to the loan given to Tesla Motors to start their factory in California.