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Originally Posted by ecomodded
No product can please everybody so the Elio is bound to displease some. And make others scratch there head but that will not determine its success, the people who LIKE the Elio will determine its success or not.
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Hum, I'm going to have to disagree with you a bit here. I like, nay love, the VW Microbus in all its many incarnations. As a lover of this vehicle I am also a member of a very large, global, and reasonably well funded cadre of people who enjoy driving underpowered bread boxes and loves of bread. Yet, somehow, Volkswagen sees content to leave this design buried in the dusts. "Why?" we enthusiasts cry with great wads of cash held out, "Why won't you retool some disused portion of a manufacturing plant in Bezirk Wolfsberg and make for us that which we desire?"
"Units," replies the ghost of Ferdinand Porsche.
In a bid to drum up more investment capital Paul Elio has released his company's financials. And, while I believe that motor journalists such as Jo Borrás could have perhaps toned down their vitriol for the vehicle (the design has its flaws, but it's certainly not a virginity shield) they have a point, the business plan that predicates production makes absolutely no business sense what so ever.
Paul Elio Releases Elio Motors' Financials: the Numbers Don't Add Up
But hey, perhaps Elio can conjure something from nothing? It wouldn't be the first time it has happened, that's for sure. But if they're relying on their current marketing strategy to carry the design and perhaps support ridiculous business plan than I'd wager against success. And like, love and absolute religious devotion aren't going to play a part in resolving this mess.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ecomodded
The Stage is set perfectly for the Car to be released, thanks to Gas prices.
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Not really sure I agree with you here either, here is why. In 2007 my wife and I bought a house on the east side of the Cascades in Washington state. At the time, we both held jobs on the west side of the mountains, but given the price of fuel at the time we were able to budget for a combined commute/tele-commute relay that included two to three hundred miles a week. Then came 2008 and on the heals of the housing bubble collapse huge fuel price inflation. In the space of little more than a month our monthly expenditure for the commute increased some 75% (despite driving a very efficient SAAB 9.5).
We turned our little SAAB around and bought a Prius. We ended up waiting nearly six months for the Generation II vehicle to be built and shipped. Hundreds of thousands of others must have found themselves in a similar situation. We moved to the east side for the sunshine but also for the cost of housing, which was much more reasonable. But after the dual action of devaluation of property (our house was now worth significantly less than we had just paid for it) and the increase of operating expenses we needed the economy of a few more miles per gallon to afford the basics.
But here is the funny part of all that. In the moment it caused my family much pain, anxiety and frustration. We jumped through our own asses time and again hoping that the price of fuel would just drop a little. Eventually it did. Briefly in the fall of 2008. But here is the thing a lot of people don't realize, by 2010, only a year after the supposed fuel bubble popped, fuel prices were already nearing their 2008 maximums for the same period. By 2011 the average price per gallon was equal to or above the 2008 peaks. And since that year fuel has been pegged to that 2008 peak with only minor seasonal variation.
Historical Gas Price Charts - GasBuddy.com
All told the pain that caused people to run to Toyota and Honda dealerships for a new hybrid during the first price spikes of 2008 never left the market. So we should wonder then why are those automakers, or manufactures of hybrids in general, are not today selling nearly as many units as they were in 2008? If consumers hadn't become inculcated to the price of fuel than I believe we should expect to see an aftermarket for the Prius which boasted gun racks for the rear window and ample space for cowboy hats. Yet, as I drive across this two cow, hick town, the only vehicles I spy sporting cast iron bull balls consume their petroleum daily by the drum.
Sure, those in bread, ill-educated morons might not "like" the price per gallon, but they're still paying it. Believe me when I say, they don't know how to ease off the hammer to save a few pennies at each stop light let alone do they care about the Cd of that lifted Ford built in the 20th century.
It's not that I think you've overestimated the effect the price of fuel has on people's behavior, although there may be some element of that involved. Rather, I think you have underestimated the grip culture and habit play in the majority of American lives.