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Right, the suspension struts can be streamlined, but the driveshaft is a bit more of a challenge. There were other changes (like outside mirrors), but when the Aptera went from rear wheel drive to front wheel drive, adding the rotating driveshaft exposed to the air, the Cd jumped from 0.11 to 0.15. The Edison2 Very Light Car has a Cd of 0.164 and it has 4 outboard wheels, and it solves this exposed mechanicals by moving the suspension into the wheels and the wheel fairings so the mechanicals can be enclosed in a faired housing.
The other big unknown with outboard wheels is interaction between the main chassis and the wheel fairings. Both the Aptera and the Edison2 had asymmetrical wheel fairings and both were fully tapered to a crisp trailing edge. The bluff fairings on the Elio are very likely to have strong wake turbulence. What they avoid though is a really tight clearance to the chassis at full steering lock, and steering "bump" from side winds.
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