Elio Motors

The stock has finally fallen into the sub-penny range.

Suppose a company started out with a business plan featuring a simple-to-implement design which sidestepped much red tape due to a carefully chosen configuration.

Suppose a gang put the bite on the owners in a deceptive and roundabout way. Suppose, for example, they demanded a security deposit under the guise of some community organization until the management proved the company was serious about staying in the gang's community. That is just a random guess. I don't know all the ways a gang could put the bite on a company.

Suppose they had the car re-engineered to work with conventional car stamping equipment because the community had people who knew how to use it. Suppose despite their efforts the deadline for getting their deposit back kept getting pushed back.

Suppose institutional investors got wise that the management did not have the savvy for operating in environments which were less well regulated than, say, Manhattan.

Suppose the same happened with the officers of ATVM.

I have no insider information on any car company but I do not see how Elio could blow through hundreds of millions creating five prototypes and take 13 years doing it.

What an ugly car.

Needs a link. www.eliomotors.com...

Looks like a modern version of the mini cars made during the recovery from WWII in Europe. Still classified as a motorcycle in the USA by the number of wheels, technically not a car.

Elio was originally designed with a welded tube frame and a three wheel chassis.

The beauty of three wheels, besides not needing four for the tandem layout, was that the car did not have to meet the same certification standards for crash safety and exhaust emissions as a car because it was legally a motorcycle.

There is nothing inherently unsafe about a welded space frame. Saturns used them. The Pontiac Fiero used a welded space frame and it had an excellent record for crash safety. However, the company would not have to have dozens of cars crash tested by the DOT in order to certify the design.

Startup costs and lead times would probably be lower than having to buy equipment and create stamping dies for a stamped and welded steel unibody, but after creating space frame prototypes, Elio re-engineered the car for a unibody. That was truly odd and if it were adequately explained, I did not become aware of it by following the company site.

a reply to: BeyondKnowledge3

The website is just as ugly and non-functional as the car.

originally posted by: Ohanka
a reply to: BeyondKnowledge3

The website is just as ugly and non-functional as the car.

That’s what I thought too😏

originally posted by: DingbatNYer
What an ugly car.

It sure is.

It almost seemed like their efforts became unrealistic and unconvincing at some point. The color choices for example. Not even one for middle aged or older buyers.

They claimed at some point they were dropping the Geo-derived 3 cylinder engine and going with an OEM derived engine from an unnamed OEM manufacturer which offered about twice the power. That was another truly strange move. Could you double the hp into such a small car and give it to teenagers and fleet buyers? The company had said it expected a large fleet market. Plus, it sounded like it might turn the car into a nose-heavy monster.

originally posted by: Ohanka
a reply to: BeyondKnowledge3

The website is just as ugly and non-functional as the car.

It's been years since the site, the blog, or the facebook page was updated.

Click on the "Elio G" tab if you want to see the earlier site before they started to claim they were going to develop an EV. There was a blog and news updates.

a reply to: Ohanka

The grammar is absolutely atrocious. It's like a 12 year old with a C- in English wrote most of it out.

The car (and company) itself is a joke, I remember well over a decade ago seeing this as a regular, gas powered prototype with mileage that, at the time, was comparable to a Lotus Elise. Then it's claimed MPG was upped to what a Mitsubishi Mirage is currently capable of. Now it's apparently electric and still not actually going anywhere.

a reply to: Magnivea2

Then it's claimed MPG was upped to what a Mitsubishi Mirage is currently capable of.

And that's atrocious considering that thing weights less than a Mirage.

a reply to: Solvedit2

Good points, especially about the crash test. If someone hits you sideways in that thing, good luck. Tube frame or conventional frame, does not matter. There's no way it can deform enough to take up the energy from a crash into the side and not turn into a blender. There isn't enough room and "meat" to make that happen. I even think it is not heavy enough to allow for a lot of deformation. It will either topple to the side or bounce off and these are the two things that kill people with high probability.

The whole "we make it three wheel so we can circumvent a lot of certifications" reeks about not giving a # about safety at all. I was about to comment to just use a motorcycle with a cabin instead of this one, safety wise, it's about on the same level.

Imagine what happens when this thing get's rear ended and shoved into the car in front. If it takes in energy collapsing, it's a blender, if it folds outwards at the cabin area where the persons sit, opening up during a crash, correct me if I am wrong, it will not be able to pass any of the crash tests.

Then the engine is sitting on the front axle, or somewhere around that line. With half the grip level on the rear, because it's three wheeled, the handling of it is bound to be terrible at higher speeds and steering angles, too.

a reply to: Solvedit2

I dont know why, but this thing reminds me of this.



unsolved.com...

Hehehe.

originally posted by: ThatDamnDuckAgain
a reply to: Solvedit2

Good points, especially about the crash test. If someone hits you sideways in that thing, good luck.

My point was, they carefully chose what design to use in order to simplify getting it approved for the road.

It was believable that they were going to be in production in 2014.

Then they decided to redesign it to have a stamped steel unibody.

Why not sell some tubular chassis models and make the stamped steel body into the second generation? Assuming it paid a safety or expense dividend.

Quoting from eliomotors.com from the blogs tab under the Elio-G tab: (I was following the company and this is when it started to feel like they might be dragging their feet.)

One of these improvements is in the Elio’s frame. According to Jeff Johnston, Vice President of Engineering for Elio Motors, the original design of the Elio, which called for its frame to be of tubular frame construction, has evolved to a unibody design. The change, precipitated by discussions between the supply and development teams, shifted to this known technology for a number of reasons.

Enhanced Safety – Johnston said utilizing unibody construction allowed the Elio engineering team to tune the crumple zones that are designed into the vehicle in order to maximize safety. Because protecting occupants in the event of an impact or collision is the most important job of the vehicle’s frame, crashworthiness is paramount.
Improved Fit and Finish – To ensure that your Elio looks its best from delivery throughout your ownership experience, the switch to unibody will help to ensure uniform tolerances in each vehicle’s dimensions, both inside and outside your Elio. A tighter, more consistent frame will mean less variation, which Johnston said is the bane of manufacturers, whether they’re building a vehicle or an electronic device like a mobile phone or a tablet. This not only helps make the door, hood, trunk and body panels of the Elio fit properly, it also helps ensure that components don’t squeak, rattle, leak air or water, or allow in any excess noise.
Better Handling and Performance – This also ties back to the “Uncompromised Safety,” Must Have, in that better handling enhances the safety of yourElio in the event you need to make an evasive maneuver or encounter unexpected road debris.
Better Manufacturability – According to Elio Motors’ manufacturing guru, Gino Raffin, who is Vice President of Manufacturing and Product Launch, ensuring good design is paramount for functional manufacturability, which delivers higher part accuracy and quality-to-the-end product. “This process will help us keep high build quality in our low-cost vehicle.” Couple good design with a robust architecture and manufacturing processes, and you end up with a solid product.”
Raffin said that an additional benefit is reduced welding in the build process, which leads to a better environment for our technicians and addresses our number one operational responsibility: team safety.

Ugly. Unsafe. Unrealistic. Undoable.

If you're used to driving standard cars, shifting to a three-wheeled vehicle can pose risks due to the difference in handling. The combination of handling, weight, and speed makes these types of vehicles more prone to flipping or rolling over during collisions and hard turns.

Yeah, another stupid idea that wasted crowd funding and customer deposits. Although, I could see these working better in China or India where large masses of people drive. But hey, it sounds like a bargain at under 8k. Oh wait, now it's 15k. And they've taken deposits and haven't delivered one car. At this point, I don't see how they can be taken seriously. Good luck getting your money back.

Waiting for Elio
Since it began accepting customer deposits in early 2013, start-up automaker Elio Motors collected at least $28 million in deposits from more than 65,000 reservations but has failed to deliver a vehicle to customers despite repeatedly pledging that production would begin.

www.usatoday.com...#:~:text=In%20early %20September%202021%2C%20the,expected%20to%20begin%20in%202022.

Elio Suppository

Assuming that’s the name of that POS

a reply to: Solvedit2

Three wheeled vehicles have a stability issue.

originally posted by: chr0naut
a reply to: Solvedit2

Three wheeled vehicles have a stability issue.

Various sources online claim the Top Gear Reliant was modified to make it easier to tip over. One site even quoted Jeremy Clarkson as saying so.

Besides, a three wheeler with the single wheel in front has much less roll resistance than a three wheeler with the single wheel in back.

The issue in my speculative opinion was the company did not understand its own business plan.

Perhaps the staff they hired knew how it was typically done in the automotive industry but lacked the insight to translate it into a working solution for their specific set of circumstances?

They should have just brought back the yugo.
Remember those?
‘Everybody needs a Yugo sometime’
Only $3,990
m.youtube.com...

originally posted by: Vermilion

They should have just brought back the yugo.
Remember those?
‘Everybody needs a Yugo sometime’
Only $3,990

m.youtube.com...

They wanted 90% North American parts content.

If built here, the Yugo would probably not have been significantly cheaper than any other compact.