Elio Motors
 

Has anyone here been following this development of an affordable high mileage personal car, constructed with as many obtainable off-the-shelf American made parts as possible, to sell for $6800? Websearch it.
Supposed to be made in Louisiana, it's beginning to look like Tucker all over again with a Good Thing sabotaged by industry skullduggery.

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I first heard about it last summer. Last I heard (end of January) they were in good shape, and taking deposits for production.

An established industry rival has supposedly just co-opted the proposed factory site out from under them.

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Its NOT a car. Its a 3 wheeled vehicle that is treated differently by the Dept of Transportation and your local DMV. Since the Elio product is only 1500 lbs. and has 3 wheels they are, in legal terms, motorcycles. That means they don’t have to meet the same safety and emissions standards as cars, aren't subject to the same industry standard testing, etc. That's why they can sell it for under $7K. It may also mean that operators of an Elio might need to wear a helmet in many states that have mandatory helmet laws.

http://www.eliomotors.com/wp-content...PM-676x406.png

They expect to get a max safety rating for its safety cage framework. 3 wheels does get it classified a motorcycle tho fully enclosed.
It is all the car most folks need for local transport not involving more than two people.

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By the way, don't get me wrong: I hope Elio kicks ass, takes names, sells lots of products, creates lots of jobs, massively exports to other countries and makes its owner a filthy rich 1% type. Its just that the product should not be mistaken for a car, and they will have an issue with the possible helmet requirements.

I ride a motorcycle and would consider this a 3-wheeled motorcar, but it's by present regs a motorcycle which could be advantageous, helmet or not.

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I wonder if the insurance industry will rate it as a motorcycle?

That's a pretty cool looking vehicle. :)

A third classification in the future? I don't see many motorcycles that are fully enclosed with steering wheels and air conditioning.

Dave

I did some more due-diligence followup on this and it appears that the factory site buyout may have been an unverifiable rumour. I hope so, I'd like to see this take off as the Tesla for the rest of us.

At least the single wheel is in the back

http://youtu.be/QQh56geU0X8

My belief is that this arrangement is far more stable in turns that the simpler single-fore tricycle arrangement.

As the former 'pilot' of a Geo Metro during rush hour for years: if you get in an accident you WILL be killed, to the point of extreme deadness and even possibly lack of life.

That said if I was still doing that kind of commute I'd be interested in one.

Pete

Did you happen to catch the video? Its one of my favorite Top Gear segments of all time.

Never seen the show but catch wind of it occasionally on Autoblog. TG Is notorious for abusing Reliant Robin 3 wheelers for general amusement when they're not dropping pianos onto Morris Marinas.

Wikipedia;
"The BBC2 motoring show Top Gear has featured several Morris Marinas, all of which have been destroyed. A running gag throughout the series involves dropping a piano on a Marina every time the car is featured. The first Marina was set on fire after Jeremy Clarkson raced it against a Lada driven by James May in the Communist Cars episode. Next, following complaints from an online Morris Marina web forum, the presenters claimed that they had bought their own Marina to restore. They ended up dropping a piano on it, which they claimed new delivery firm "Careless Airways" was responsible for. In the Rear Wheel Drive Challenge, May was forced to drive a Marina after his own Ford Capri broke down, during this episode Hammond, who was following May described the Marina as an "Entirely Beige, Wilfully Awful Pile of Misery". It was entered in an ice race against Clarkson in a Porsche 944 and Richard Hammond in a Nissan 300ZX, not to mention several professionals such as Frenchman Olivier Panis. Although the Marina ultimately came first among the three presenters' cars in the ice race, another piano was dropped on top of it. In the Lancia Challenge, a Marina (driven by Hammond) raced against a Lancia Beta HPE (driven by Clarkson). The Lancia caught fire and the Marina broke down. Hammond had strapped a piano to the roof of the Marina to prevent another one landing on it, but another one was dropped anyway. In his DVD Duel, Clarkson was about to race an Aston Martin V12 Vantage against a Marina (driven by The Stig) in a 24-hour endurance race, but the race was canceled when a piano was dropped on the Marina. In the Top Gear book Crap Cars by Richard Porter, the Marina was named 4th worst car of all time."


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Agreed Mike, it's one of their absolute best!

Pete

Didn't they also drive a Peel P50 thru an office cube farm or something?

I'll stick with my 11mpg Ford Super Duty and Chevy Diesel. You have to go through a bunch of motor to get to the occupants of those two trucks.

Elio is sending out newsletter updates and things appear to be going good for them so far, they are still taking orders.

"When they found Stanwyck, he was either dead or the sleepiest man on earth."

-Irwin Fletcher (Chevy Chase)

Yeah. If you've got Netflix or Hulu check out Series 14 Episode 2 - it's great too.

Pete

LOL!

You gave me a great idea for the viewing at my funeral, no coffin, but a bed :D

Pete