Posted on 02/05/2014 6:06:08 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Paul Elio wanted to bring affordable transportation to drivers and create jobs for American workers. The company is planning to release vehicles for sale in the first quarter of 2015. The car is planned to use 95% American parts and American labor, vitally important to Paul.
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
The company says that the vehicle will cost $6800, achieve an 84 miles per gallon fuel economy, and they anticipate a five star NHTSA safety rating. The eight gallon tank will theoretically allow a driver to go 672 miles on a tank of gas. Top speed of the Elio is said to be over 100 miles per hour.
http://www.eliomotors.com
Vehicles will be built in the abandoned Shreveport Louisiana assembly plant. Elio will sell the vehicles themselves at specialized retail centers in the top sixty markets across the United States. Eight different colors are all hip, now and named things like Licorice, Sour Apple and Rocket Silver.
Elios come with standard equipment - a reinforced roll cage and airbags for safety, radio, air conditioning and power windows for comfort. Most of the components of the Elio are already in production, allowing the vehicle to keep a low cost and hopefully low insurance premiums. Because most of the components can be purchased at a corner auto parts store the carmaker is expecting low maintenance costs.
The small front mounted engine in the Elio is 70 horsepower, 1.0 litre, three cylinder device that resembles a Geo Metro more than a standard Chevrolet or Ford offering. Two seats are available in tandem configuration, or the driver can go solo and stow gear on the fold-down second seat.
The Elio is incredible because of its massive ambition. It's hard to think of another automaker starting out like this on such a large scale with such a radical product. Massive marketing campaigns aren't hitting venues like the Superbowl but the vehicle was featured last month at the Consumer Electronics Show, the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction, and the Sundance Film Festival.
Even with heavy funding in place, a location secured to build the product, and suppliers on board for production there is a heavy question in the air of whether or not the Elio can become a fully realized product. Obtaining a five star crash rating will go a long way toward winning consumer confidence and once production begins it will be exciting to see how popular the vehicle is with American consumers.
The newest prototype shows fender skirts covering the wheels and they look more like motorcycle skinny wheels than the prototype shown in the 1st post that has car wheels (which looks more like a Prowler than a 3 wheeled Citroen). How would you jack this thing up to rotate tires or replace a flat tire?
That looks like a newer version of the blue 3-wheeler that Mr. Bean is always running off the road in his TV show.
Easy, start engine, select gear, let clutch out slowly, done!
Regards,
GtG
Let me rephrase my question....
Good MPG, low price, probably fun to drive, not gimmicky, just basic engineering with a standard motor.
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Haven’t read all comments yet. Might suit me well, as most of my driving is on errands and around 10 miles round trip. I’m 71 and don’t plan to have any long driving trips in my future. Now driving a 2001 Impala with nearly 18,000 miles and it has been a great car, but just don’t need all that power (3800) and the little car would give me more room in the garage. ...I might consider buying one after researching more.
Back in the day, we had three-wheeled starter jeeps to provide auxiliary power for helicopters on the Princeton. They were a blast to drive and they turned on a dime. Most fun were the races down the flight deck!
I just spent the whole day a Singularity University lectures, one which focused on Moonshot Projects. ‘
It was interesting. The group conscience seems to have lost confidence in guvmint projects like Apollo in favor of the Ansari X-Prize space project which was so successful with someone like Burt Rutan at the forefront.
This caused some problems IIRC with the Heinkels/Issetas with a front entry door and no reverse gear due to UK tax laws. Don't park facing a wall...:^)
The Isseta -
I had one of those in blue. Had a great time with that thing.
sooo,
you were that one person in Georgia to buy one of these turds?
Why not go all out and just get a Yugo?
It has a reverse gear according to the FAQ.
No, they’re a lot less. They start in the mid teens and go up to mid 20s, depending on model and options. I guess if you went crazy you might get up towards $30k.
People deride the Pinto but I had two and did well with both. Lost the first when I got rear ended (no the car did not explode) ran the second for 150 K miles before selling it. You could even work on the with common hand tools too
I was under the impression crash test ratings are based upon the class of the vehicle. 5 star rating in a subcompact has little to compare with 5 star rating in a pickup.
Will this be a 5 star rating in a motorcycle class?
Those guys are selling nearly 10 times the price of Elio. They are not after the same market.
So did I.
I know, hence my “complete lineup” comment. They can have the cheap commuter car, and the flagship performance car, and even (with the Spyder) a no-frills sports car a la the MG.
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