Elio T-shirts debut; a three-wheeler later (maybe)
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A company called Elio Motors has revealed plans to reopen the former General Motors plant in Shreveport, La., where it will build three-wheeled vehicles that it says will get 84 mpg and cost $6,800.
Elio hasn't given out many more details, but a four-minute video on the company's Web site calls the vehicle a "fun and frugal revolution in personal transportation."
The video shows a green Elio cruising through suburbia and blowing through several stop signs, which makes us wonder whether the $6,800 price tag means brakes are an optional feature. At one point, an attractive young woman crossing a street in front of the Elio stops to flirt seductively with the driver. "People will be looking at you with what will soon be known with Elio envy," the voiceover says.
Assuming that you, too, would like to pick up lonely women from crosswalks and make them sit alone in the tiny rear seat, Elio is asking for nonrefundable reservation deposits of $100 to $1,000. In exchange for this leap of faith, Elio promises a T-shirt, bumper sticker and a proportional discount on the car when it arrives.
Elio acknowledges on its Facebook page that placing a reservation carries some risk.
"We are aware of past issues where people have placed 'refundable deposits' only to lose them outright. We chose to be very honest and transparent with you in that the reservation money you give to us is going to be used in the production of the Elio vehicle."
Elio says it plans to start building vehicles in Shreveport in mid-2014. But if that doesn't happen, you can at least be the first in your neighborhood to own a $1,000 T-shirt.
