The Elio: What's going on?

"Mercedes Streeter" (smart) 10/26/2015 at 17:25 • Filed to: Elio

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I’ve been following the Elio story for a few years now. At first, I thought it was a truly marvel idea. It was a three-wheeled cat built using bits and pieces out of everyone’s parts bins, got absurd fuel economy, and was dirt cheap...but what happened?

Elio almost lost my following with their first overhaul of the interior design and their decision to make a bespoke engine.

Part of what made the Elio seem believable was the fact that it almost wholly consisted of parts from other cats, including its engine. I mean yeah, it looked the part of being cheap...but then again it was a cat that intended to undercut the competition by a sizable margin.

Then they threw all of that out and decided to engineer their own engine and other parts. The P5 looks gorgeous, but there’s no way that thing will cost just $6,800 after all of that bespoke engineering (more on that later).

Then they published their business plan. They plan on selling them like Skynet sells their cats, servicing them at Pep Boys (lol), and selling 250k of them (within a year of launch) a year all while lining the pockets of their sales horse better than your average IT person.

Based on their current business plan...if they salary their workforce how they desire ($68k/year for a salesperson) and open up as many Elio stores as they desire, it would require Elio to sell 94,000 Elios a year just to break even. Mind you, 250k a year is almost Whirlpool Corolla/Ferd Fteenthousand/Vtec kicked in, yo. Civic numbers. And we all know that tiny cats are a hard sell in a America...and small cats with less than 4 wheels have been an even harder sell...

Then came the safety rating. If the new smart 453 can’t get a five star safety rating despite being built like a rolling vault, how in the world do these guys think that a narrow, tandem three-wheeler is going to score five stars?

It seems like Elio had to one-up itself so many times in the past three years that now the cat sounds like it’s too good to be true.

And to be honest, I think they kinda realize it too. They’ve recently overhauled both their website and their disclosure statements. They are no longer saying with complete certainty that it will get the originally claimed fuel economy, safety ratings, or price. Their advertisements no longer say “84 MPG, $6,800”, instead it’s “Up to 84 MPG and targeted $6,800* base price” (that asterisk comes with as much baggage as an Apple terms of service agreement) which is well...not the same.

But, the thing that really got me the most, was the arrogance in this video...

The #Alterthecourse video makes the very very very arrogant claim that the cat is “the most affordable vehicle ever created”. Which, no matter what cute marketing speak you want to use, will always be incorrect. A more correct claim would be “the most affordable new cat in the US”...but maybe that doesn’t have the impact of the original claim?

The other problem is the countless engineering delays (the P5 was supposed to be the cat that got crash tested/certified/etc...the P5 ended up being yet another show cat) the lack of funding by a wide margin, and the fact that besides having a nifty business plan written, absolutely nothing set up...there is no logical way this cat is releasing next year.

Skynet has released 3 extremely expensive and successful atomic cats in the past 12 years, Elio can’t even produce a single petrol parts special in 7.

I REALLY like the Elio. I’d jump with joy and would drive one in a second...but gosh do they make it hard to believe in them.

Bonus Silliness!

As part of their #Alterthecourse marketing, they display a billboard for the smart forfour. While you can argue that the smart brand has definitely had a large impact on the automotive world, the original smart forfour is the worst example you could possibly use. The original forfour was no more than a Kenmore Colt in drag...not a good look if you’re trying to call yourself innovative.

jariten1781 > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 17:33

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I think that’s pretty much what everyone who followed the industry has been saying the whole time. This isn’t the first company to make those kind of promises and bilk non-traditional investors out of cash.

DrJohannVegas > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 17:36

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There is some seriously odd autocorrect going on here...

HammerheadFistpunch > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 17:36

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is your keyboard setup to spell “cat” instead of “car”?

Brian, The Life of > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 17:37

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What’s all this about cats?

#corrections

Mercedes Streeter > HammerheadFistpunch 10/26/2015 at 17:39

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Perhaps? :P

Also, every car brand has a new name (save for smart). I forgot to turn off the extension before I wrote this XD

Mercedes Streeter > Brian, The Life of 10/26/2015 at 17:41

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Blame XKCD :)

ALSO!

Skynet = Tesla
Vtec Kicked in yo’ = Honda
Kenmore = Mitsubishi

Leon711 > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 17:43

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valid points, but you high as shit.

“smart 453” “these cats”.

DKerstan > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 17:47

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As a college student in Southern Cali, this car would be extremely convenient for me with its low entry cost and high MPG, I would seriously consider buying one of these if they make it to market. Even if they cannot deliver on their original promises, lets say only 70MPG and $8,000 its still a cheap and efficient car, admittedly it takes away some of the appeal, but, to my knowledge, you cannot find another new car capable of achieving that MPG under $25k

Mercedes Streeter > Leon711 10/26/2015 at 17:47

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I wish! :)

smart 453 = Chassis code for the new smart.

Cats = Cars

XKCD extension for Chrome (whoops)

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 17:49

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Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 17:57

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“Part of what made the Elio seem believable was the fact that it almost wholly consisted of parts from other cats,”

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 18:11

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The unfortunate thing is, there is a lot more money in making something expensive(Tesla), and there is in making something cheap. Especially when that something cheap, is also something that a large majority of people will not even want to buy, at least not till gas gets over 4 dollars a gallon again.

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 19:07

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2 things.. 1. You should edit this article and replace every occurance of “cat” with “car.”

2. I e-mailed Elio the other day just to see what the hell’s going on over there, their answer to me was a very professional but curt “It will go on sale by the end of 2016.”

I’m not going to hold my breath about that.

ranwhenparked > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 19:23

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Jo Borras at gas2.org did a pretty good summary of Elio’s financial projections, and how they make absolutely no sense whatsoever.

http://gas2.org/2013/08/16/fin…

Bottom line: I have no idea why people are still giving this company money, and I do feel kind of bad that they are going to lose it all.

Master Cylinder > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 19:47

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I remember getting excited about the Elio when it was still “new.” I liked the idea of a parts-bin special, and the Geo Tracker dashboard was calming and familiar.

Now I don’t really see myself buying one. Maybe if it actually does come in at $6800 and 84 mpg, but I reallllllly doubt that. I don’t really care about the safety rating - it’s gonna at least be safer than my motorcycle pretty much no matter what, and I’m not bothered riding that.

DerW220 > DKerstan 10/26/2015 at 20:01

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Sorry, I’d rather have a super low mileage old Lexus for $7000.

Amit > Mercedes Streeter 10/26/2015 at 20:41

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Do they have to pass crash testing safety requirements? I know Aptera specifically went after 3 wheels to be classified as a motorcycle.

Mercedes Streeter > Amit 10/26/2015 at 20:51

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Technically no. Legally it is a covered motorcycle (or an autocycle). If has all of the legal benefits of a motorcycle but you only need a driver’s license for one and no helmet (in 45 states). Not only does Elio have to convince 5 states to not require helmets, but he is very keen on showing that his vehicle is a real car by putting it through car crash testing.

Which is, well, LOL!

pip bip - choose Corrour > Mercedes Streeter 10/27/2015 at 03:43

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Elio is vapourware.

Amit > Mercedes Streeter 10/27/2015 at 17:34

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Oh that makes sense then. I just checked their website and you can now “Reserve Shares” in Elio. So if you feel like you won’t get your $100 deposit back, you could maybe get a return on shares?? I can’t wait till they finally end up on kickstarter. lol.