Elio motors likely won't make it to a full production with their current business model.
They are trying too hard to fly before they can even walk good. Biting off FAR more than they can chew right at the start-up!
First of all, they have working prototypes, but none that seem to be running good on their proprietary engine - at least none that I've seen in operation.
They have ZERO Production-Based CASH FLOW.
As far as most new manufacturers are concerned, they need to begin the company, the design, and the production progressively as time goes on...
FIRST, they have to get the design development nailed down.
SECOND, They need to do initial production cost estimates based on LOW PRODUCTION BATCH SIZES. Due to low scale, there is no "economy of scale" and costs will be closer to $10,000 to $15,000!
They need to START PRODUCING & SELLING these products AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, and selling them at the $10,000+ mark to start generating cash flow and more importantly to PROVE there is market demand.
Once they start PRODUCING, there will be more investors willing to jump on board - generating more income to ramp-up production and improve production economy by larger scale production!
What does this mean? It means they likely will have to begin production with an earlier prototype engine - from a different supplier, and THEN move to their more in-house proprietary supplied engine design as investment increases, and production capacity improves.
Only then will it likely become commercially viable, and only then will Elio be able to take off (after reducing their per-unit cost via economy of large scale production).
Numerous other manufacturers started out this very same way.