A few short years ago, automotive enthusiast Paul Elio sized up the prevailing status quo of personal transportation. He saw the soaring costs of the vehicles we drive. He saw fuel prices spike to record highs almost daily. He saw Americans struggling with an economy that was taking too much and giving back too little. Paul Elio decided that the world was ready for something radically new. The result? A three-wheeled masterpiece of automotive brilliance that bears his name.
Paul set out from there with a clear-cut mission statement:
To provide a fun-to-drive, super-economical personal transportation alternative, that’s affordable, safe, and environmentally friendly. We are committed to the
American dream, creating American jobs, and bringing American automotive ingenuity to every vehicle we build. This is, and will remain
our mission at Elio.
For students the vehicle would offer a safe and reliable means to move around campus. It would allow families with minivans and SUV’s to add an economical
commuter vehicle to the driveway. For pure enthusiasts, it would deliver on flat out fun – with a potential for customizing as unlimited as imagination itself. Paul
Elio envisioned a vehicle that’s truly for everybody, and its inflation-defying targeted $7,450* base price, sticker price ensures that nobody
will be left out.
As noted, Paul Elio’s vision also included providing vital American jobs. This meant of course that he would tap the best of America’s automotive know-how on all levels of design and manufacturing. Paul Elio has never wavered from his mission. And the result is a three-wheeled expression of automotive brilliance that bears his name.
Elio is an idea whose time has come – and that time is now!
In a nutshell, Elio is a stand-alone solution for today’s generation of drivers. Gas prices are constantly spiking. Cars themselves cost more than houses did a few short years ago.
And in case you haven’t noticed, the world, and personal space along with it, is shrinking. We simply need to evolve to more efficient and practical forms of transportation. We need a new way to get around. And Elio is that new way. Never has different, sexy, and fun tagteamed so well with serious, practical, and smart. Consider:
The positive impact of Elio ripples well beyond personal owner benefits. It will generate thousands of jobs while setting a whole new standard for environmental friendliness. So, why Elio? A better question might be “Why anything else?”
It starts with a vision of what a vehicle should have…what it MUST have. Amazing fuel efficiency… uncompromised safety…high quality…and designed and manufactured in the USA. How’d we fit all that into one revolutionary vehicle?
There is no one simple answer. We looked at everything - from multi-million dollar savings from how we are organized, down to $17 per vehicle in how we designed our hood latch.
We did it with the big stuff, like:
We did it in the small stuff, like:
Building a low-cost vehicle doesn’t come from one single solution. For Elio Motors, it is a variety of engineering and business decisions, both big and small, that add up to significant cost savings.
Less “Stuff” = Less Cost
Nothing is Too Small for Engineering Innovation
A traditional hood opens forward, requiring two latches. If the first latch fails, the second latch keeps the hood from popping up and blocking the driver’s sight line. But, a second latch means more equipment and adds more than $20.00 to vehicle cost. On an Elio, the hood is engineered to open the other way. If the latch fails, the wind will blow the hood down rather than up, so a redundant latch is not required. The Elio latch costs just $3.00. Hundreds of these cost-saving designs add up to … or more accurately, it adds down… to targeted $7,450*.*MSRP excludes destination/delivery charges, taxes, title, registration, and options/installation.
Simple physics. Wind drag has a negative impact on fuel economy. But, half the vehicle pushes half the air. Elio gets up to 84 MPG highway because of its unique design. Gas mileage is determined by how much wind resistance there is on a vehicle. Because Elio is half the width of a regular car, it gets twice the mileage.
About $1,500 a year in fuel savings. That’s a great start. Say you get 22 MPG and drive 12,000 miles. At 4 bucks a gallon that’s roughly $2,100. Ouch. With an Elio, 12,000 miles at $4 per gallon only costs about $798 per year.
Bottom line, your Elio pays for itself… or more accurately, your local gas pump does.
It means saving billions of gallons of gas. And cuts down on billions of pounds of CO2 emissions.
At up to 84 MPG, you’ll be passing gas pumps all day long. Which also means you’ll be putting far less pollutants in the air. When we hit our sales targets, America could save almost 3.5 billion gallons of fuel per year, and CO2 emissions by about 69 billion pounds.
Oh, and speaking of passing gas, our in-house science geeks inform us that Elio will emit even less harmful emissions in the atmosphere per year than the average flatulent cow. Pretty impressive.
It starts with world-class leadership. Our board includes leaders with proven business and automotive leadership and success.
By any measure, the Elio Board of Directors makes for an impressive roster of industry icons. We invite you to click on and read their bios.
Just about every supplier company we’ve shown the Elio to responds with an enthusiastic “Count us in!” So it’s no surprise that we’ve gathered the support of the industry’s top suppliers. Our supplier partners are as enthusiastic about the vehicle as we are, and have embraced our technical and business approach to bringing it to market.
Here’s our impressive supplier roster so far. Click on any one to learn more.
The Elio is designed to meet the highest safety standards for cars. Its Safety Management System includes three airbags, a unibody frame, Anti-Lock Braking System, and 50 percent larger crush zones than similar vehicles.
Prior to production, we will run several prototypes through a battery of crash tests as we strive to make the Elio among the safest vehicles in the industry.
Paul set out with a clear mission:
To provide a fun-to-drive, super-economical personal transportation alternative, that’s affordable, safe, and environmentally friendly. We are committed to the American dream, creating American jobs, and bringing American automotive ingenuity to every vehicle we build. This is, and will remain our mission at Elio.
The vehicle is great for minivan and SUV owners who want an economical commuter car…for students looking to get around campus…for “clunker” owners who’d like an affordable new vehicle under warranty…for pure enthusiasts, who just want something new and fun. At targeted $7,450* base price, the Elio works for just about everyone.
We are building the Elio by targeting utilization of 90 percent North American content. That creates jobs and strengthens our manufacturing base. Why is that important?
The auto industry is one of the most important industries in the United States. It contributes 3 – 3.5 percent to the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs more than 1.7 million people.
Approximately 4.5 percent of all U.S. jobs are supported by the auto industry and people in these jobs collectively earn over $500 billion annually.
But, manufacturing jobs have been disappearing for two decades. Nearly 16.8 million people were employed in manufacturing in 1993. By 2013, that number had dipped to below 12 million. Much of this decline has come in the auto industry.
That’s why it’s so important to build the Elio targeting utilization of 90 percent North American content. We will create 1,500 direct jobs in Shreveport and 1,500 at our supplier partner companies. These will create 18,000 spin off jobs across the country. It is estimated that upwards of 1,500 will be directly employed at Shreveport facility plus an additional 1500 from the supply base, Elio Motors corporate, sales and service once full production is underway, plus approximately 18,000 indirect jobs nationwide are projected to be created or sustained.
Learn how our retail and service operations are uniquely organized to provide convenience and value for our customers.
To provide a fun-to-drive, super-economical personal transportation alternative, based on a list of consumer focused “must-haves” that keep our vehicles affordable, safe, and environmentally friendly.
We are committed to the American dream, creating American jobs, and bringing American automotive ingenuity to every vehicle we build.
This is, and will remain our mission at Elio.
Just about everyone we’ve shown the Elio to responds with an enthusiastic “Count me in!” So it’s no surprise that we’ve gathered the support of the industry’s top suppliers. Which in turn pretty much guarantees a product that will come off the line innovative and new, and at the same time proven in all areas of technology and engineering. Getting the bugs out before they ever get in – looks like another automotive first for Elio. Our supplier partners are as enthusiastic about the vehicle as we are, and have embraced our technical and business approach to bringing it to market.
Here’s the rest of our impressive supplier roster so far. Click on any one to learn more.
