I wonder if my gloomy outlook will really be helpful?
Still, I'll go ahead and say it.
I'm sorry, folks. But you might as well kiss Elio goodbye.
I may be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. Heck, I'll buy one myself if they ever get it to market. But I don't think I'm wrong.
You can only promise how great your product is going to be for so long. If the deadline passes without something solid introduced, then you're finished. I think Elio has reached that tipping point. When production slipped from 2014 to 2015 it didn't necessarily mean the end. "Unforeseen" supply or engineering delays are a realistic hazard when developing a new product.
This new production delay can mean only one thing. They were under-capitalized from the start. Venture capitalists won't invest and banks won't loan once they've come to realize this.
(One other possibility is that they had adequate capital, but terrible management. But the result is the same.)
Paul Elio said that he's optimistic that he can get the financing that he needs. But that means absolutely nothing because he dares not say anything else.
The only thing that can save them now would be for someone like Google or Elon Musk (maybe one of the auto companies?) to step in with enough money to get that thing into production. Get those things on the road where people will see them. And get a revenue stream started.
I had doubts about them when I realized that they were asking for money up front to 'reserve' an Elio. That was an obvious sign that they didn't have enough money to get things rolling. Maybe that scared away loans and investment. Or maybe the loans and investments had already been scared away and this was simply a desperation move.
Maybe someone will rescue him. I suppose the price that Paul Elio will have to pay is, in effect, losing control of the company. But that's better than losing everything.