Elio Motors Update: Latest Prototype Shown, Lease & Contracts Signed, Factory Stores Announced

Since we last looked at Elio Motors, the startup that plans on selling an 84 mpg, $6,800 tandem reverse trike to people looking to replace 15 year old beaters, there have been a number of developments involving the company. To begin with, the start of production has been pushed back until the beginning of 2015. Though Elio had originally announced that production would start in Q4 of this year, there were delays in finalizing the real estate deal for the former General Motors assembly plant in Shreveport, Louisiana where Elio plans to build their vehicles, including assembling their own engines (whose preliminary specifications have been announced). There have also be some changes to the car’s design as it gets closer to production, with a fourth prototype being introduced. Finally, Elio has announced how they will market and service the vehicle. Like Tesla, they will be setting up factory owned stores to sell directly to customers. Those stores, though, won’t be providing service.

Read more
  • Jeanbaptiste I know this will never be seen, but the real answer is NO Government mandated tech. The reason why is that when the government mandates something, we miss out on signals that the free market will give to weather or not people actually want this or that this tech would actually help. It's like mandating AM radio for cars when people could just buy a $10 am radio if they really like am so much.
  • 28-Cars-Later $12K? I needed a good laugh.
  • EBFlex Wait...the feds are claiming that inflation was not FJBs fault 6 months prior to an election where he is massively losing in the polls in every single category?Eyebrow raised.
  • MaintenanceCosts Most of the article after the blockquote is Posky laboring mightily to somehow blame this clearly anticompetitive and oligopolistic conduct on the big bad government.I look forward to some of the usual commenters explaining to us that, actually, the oil industry is a cuddly teddy bear and the real villain is people trying to sell us cars that don't use oil.
  • Bd2 A modest price bump for one of the better if not the best vehicle in it's class. And it's a very good deal still considering the Front wheel drive competition over at Lexus to name one. These Genesis vehicles are more like BMWs of the 90s but with better styling.