I'm assuming a few of you have heard of this thing... 2 seater, 3 wheeler, 5-star crash rating, supposed 84 MPG car that is supposedly to be sold at $6,800 dollars starting in Q1 2015. The marketing is a bit over the top. Maybe in a good way, maybe in a condescending way - I haven't yet decided. They have over 9,000 units reserved for when these things start rolling off the line. Just wondering how you guys feel about it? Ugly? Sweet? Too good to be true? Ridiculously stupid? Me personally, I'll wait until at least half a year after they've started rolling and see how smoothly these things go. But I might seriously consider throwing down some cash for one as a fun 3-seasons vehicle. My car will be payed off by then, so it'd be a fun second ride. They have an interesting retail model that is essentially what Tesla aims to do, as well. They say they will have at least 60 major markets covered at time of roll-out. They've bought up an old GM factory (I think it was a Hummer factory) outside of Shreveport and will make everything here in the good ole US of A. It's a very ambitious, potentially big boom business model. Supposedly, you'll be able to customize it like crazy (all the regular options of normal cars...moonroofs, cruise, steering wheel mounted controls, etc.), and they say that if you order one at a local dealership, they'll make one and have it shipped to your dealership from the factory within 24 hours. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/gI-RikOJ43w?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Tags: 2015, business, cars, fun, gold, stupid, ugly, youtube lol. Ugly as hell. Interesting concept....made me think of Mr. Bean.
Condescending is a great approach when what you're selling is a fraction of the cost of every other offering in the marketplace.
Not a chance I'd ride in the "back seat" of that thing. I've got mild claustrophobia and I got nervous just watching that guy climb in.
"Q: Will I fit in the vehicle? Yes! Most everyone will fit in the Elio. We designed the vehicle to fit a 6’1” 220 person and have had many larger and smaller people try it out and loved it! Tallest so far… 6’8”, largest so far … 6’3” 365, smallest … under 5’ (weight not asked!)." This is awesome. I am 6'5" and have a horrible time car shopping. I'm tall but not super tall and I couldn't comfortably fit in most sedans I test drove.
VW Rabbit, dog. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RAk8tnvPEak" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Haha I feel like that every time I get out of my car. I ended up buying an Accord coupe because it (surprisingly) had more head and leg room than almost any other car I drove.
The computer-generated images of the car driving around look like stills from The General Insurance commercials.
I've been following this for a while now, and they STILL haven't said when it will actually be released, and as far as I know, they haven't even got the ACTUAL engine they are planning to use actually put into one of these things and driven it around. Supposedly they just built the very first one about a month ago, but that was a hand-made custom job, so it's not actually in production yet. Every test drive I have seen has been using an old Geo Metro engine. I would gladly fork over a hundred bucks to reserve one, but it still all looks like it's in the 'planning' stage (kind of like EarthQuest Houston LOL).. and they are 'PLANNING' all these dealerships, and planning this and planning that. It still looks like the whole thing could end up as vaporware. That would be a shame, because I actually like what I have seen so far. But man, only being able to get them serviced at Pep Boys, and who knows about the durability or reliability.. This seems to me to be the kind of thing to jump on if you have 7k lying around that you aren't afraid to ultimately just throw away.
