May 14: What the Elio?

A bicycle built for two was a popular idea back in the late 1800's, but something called an automobile came along and relegated this idea to novelty status. But every once in a while someone comes up with an idea that will be ground breaking and might even save the world. The latest one?

The Elio. Part motorcycle and part car. It has three wheels like a trike, but has features like airbags and power windows like a car. According to Elio Motors, this little (that's probably over stating it) car-lette will seat two normal sized people, one behind the other. What is normal you ask? Well they say 6'1" and 220 pounds, although larger people have apparently also fit in the Elio.

A fun concept for city and highway driving, that will come in a variety of light up your life colours. Just look at this promo material......

Of course if I was driving the Elio, I'd sure want it as bright as possible, so that everyone could see me. As you can see from the pic below, this is not exactly a, well shall I say, a "big" small car.

Selling features? The price is #1 at a proposed $6800 and the mileage at an estimated 84 mpg highway using US gallons and an 8 gallon tank. Fill it up every couple of months?

This feel good little car-lette is scheduled to hit the highways and biways in July, 2014. You can reserve one right now if you live in the US. Canadians will have to wait a bit before they can Elio their way across the country. Elio Motors predicts sales of 250,000/year. That sounds perfectly reasonable for a dreamer.

We in North America haven't seen much in this type of vehicle, but in Europe there are quite a few of these little wee cars running around the big cities, but seldom on the motorways. Here's an example.......

Why park it when you can take it with you?

My thoughts? Well, I'm usually a sceptic, especially when a company starts throwing out big production numbers and lacks some hard facts (see their website). So, I'm a sceptic in this case as well. Does the Elio have a future? Sure, as a novelty type vehicle with small yearly sales. Producing a new car or trike or whatever takes big bucks, so usually the dreamer wakes up before it becomes a nightmare (nicely put Barry).

We shall see. Stay tuned.

Until next time.......