Elio Motors sputters again, will miss promised job deadline

As if Elio Motors hasn’t had enough setbacks, now Paul Elio, the company’s owner and founder, says he’ll miss the deadline for the hiring of 1,500 jobs he promised for workers to staff the fledgling company’s manufacturing plant in Shreveport, Louisiana.

A report in the Shreveport Times, the city’s newspaper, details that Elio still plans to build this three-wheel vehicle in the former General Motors plant. But he’s also running up against a possible financial per-job penalty from RACER Trust.

The financial company was appointed to run the GM plant in 2011 by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, according to the newspaper.

Elio Motors hasn’t begun production of the public vehicle. But it has touted prototypes for years at cars shows and company visits to cities around the country.

Elio Motors in January announced it had delayed production of its three-wheeled road vehicle again, from late 2017 to 2018. News of that delay came two months after Elio told the Louisiana House Commerce Committee that production would begin in Shreveport by the end of 2017.

The Elio Motors’ website lists 65,325 reservations for the futuristic-looking vehicle. It’s promoted as achieving 84 mph with a top speed of 100 mph. The price was originally advertising as $6,800. But it’s now listed at $7,450.

Late last year, Elio Motors reported a loss of more than $123 million in its filing with the Security Exchange Commission (SEC). In the filing, Elio further reported his company’s future is in jeopardy without additional funding.

One pending Elio vehicle owner filed a lawsuit for a return of his deposit claiming Elio has not kept any of its promises to deliver a vehicle it claimed would change to the automotive industry.

To review all of TheWeeklyDriver’s coverage of Elio Motors, visit: ELIO MOTORS TIMELINE