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Elio Motors has locked in the base price of $7300 for non-refundable reservation holders for their 84mpg 3-wheel "autocycle". Reservations can be made for as little as $100 or as much as $1000 with higher values getting priority delivery when they go into production. The price is above the $6800 target that had been quoted for the last few years, but those who are willing to make a binding commitment to purchase a vehicle can sign an additional online form to knock their price back down to $7000. The locked-in prices will be available until they reach a total of 65,000 reservations (~57,000 have been made to date).
The startup car company is attempting to disrupt the auto industry by producing an efficient, affordable vehicle similar to what VW did with the $1699 Beetle in 1968, but at an even more affordable price (the Beetle cost $11,768 in 2016 dollars)
The vehicle itself, while technically a motorcycle under federal law, is controlled like a car with a steering wheel and pedals. Most states have enacted legislation exempting such vehicles from the extra license endorsements or helmet requirements that motorcycles and trikes normally need. Standard features of the base model include an enclosed cabin with A/C, heat, cruise control and power windows & door lock.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @01:46AM
As a personally-responsible self-owning individualist (one might even say: wildly individualistic), I'm very interested in vehicles like this as a transporation tool.
- Not a motorcycle (I don't have one and don't want one)
- Enclosed cabin to keep the elements out
- High fuel efficiency to keep transporation costs low
- Doesn't appear to come with much of the garbage found in late-model cars (phone-home OnStar type stuff, wildly-overengineered and fragile "media consoles") with few exceptions (airbags and anti-lock brakes)
- Price point close to reasonable for a second vehicle for a small household (I'd prefer to own a truck to do my own heavy lifting but can't justifiy my one vehicle being a truck. With a ~$7000 3-wheel car, I could potentially justify the cost of owning two vehicles with the 3-wheel car doing 95% of the transportation with the truck being used for the 5% heavy work.)
If the market for new vehicles of this sort pan out, I salivate at the thought of what the market for used vehicles of this price point will enable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @03:02AM
Kinda worried about upkeep and parts availability.
Here's to hoping the build quality/engineering is high enough for it to operate more like a transportation appliance than a kit car. Even mundane things like getting the vehicle on a lift becomes complex being square peg.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday August 17 2016, @01:01PM
Doesn't appear to come with much of the garbage found in late-model cars
I found this easy to avoid about two years ago. Simple non-modal mechanical controls I can manipulate by touch while keeping my eyes on the road, no gimmicks and stuff.
Basically sounds like you want a Yaris for a Yugo price. Good luck with that.
Apparently the current model Camry has one of those hideous multifunctional tablet things in the dash, but the HVAC is an intermediate UI of buttons and dials and a panel. I prefer the HVAC UI of my Yaris to either the intermediate UI on the Camry or once of those hideous touch screen controlled UIs.
The old days of a BMW having the worlds worst tablet interface such that it takes 5 minutes of endless eyes off road clicking to turn on the air conditioner are over, thankfully.