I think my eyebrow went up as soon as I saw the silver Elio (named after founder, engineer and CEO Paul Elio) tucked into its comfortably tight space at CE Week because I thought it was yet another electric car trying to capture some of that Tesla thunder. Of course, my eyebrow did a back flip when I found out it wasn’t a car at all, but more like a very sturdy American made gas-powered single door, two seat tri-wheeler that’s coming sometime next year for the ridiculous price of $6,800. Yeah, you read that correctly.

As an affable Joel Sheltrown, Elio’s VP of Governmental Affairs walked myself and The Other View’s Terry Lewis through his pitch, my initial wariness about the Elio vaporized as I realized that the company was trying to revolutionize the transportation market not with a luxury model only a few could afford, but an affordable ride for the masses that’s going to solve quite a few modern problems for almost anyone who wants one…

First of all, it’s the mileage, folks. 84 MPG (Highway)/49 MPG (City). Let that roll around in your head as you kick your own current car’s tires a bit harder. That insane fuel economy is due to the size, weight and shape of the vehicle. The Elio is small and slim, but has a long wheelbase and weighs about 1200 pounds. That single door opens up to a cockpit that’s actually comfortable for two thanks to an adjustable driver’s seat. Granted, this may be an everyman ride, but nope, not every man or woman will fit into an Elio, as it’s a vehicle designed to fit people of an average size (about 95% of the population) in a frankly speaking fatter than ever before America. Interestingly enough, every Elio rep at the show, short to tall was more than fit enough to fit into that car and it was nice to see the mix of shapes and sizes in those suits at the show.

Another thing about the Elio is it’s been road tested in varying weather conditions. Each one will come with a 3-cylinder engine, front wheel drive and an anti-lock braking system (ABS), making it fairly simple to drive. The rolling video demo showed some nice snow driving (shot in Michigan) on paved roads that had a light coating of plowed snow. Handling around a turn looked stable, but I’d gather you won’t be attaching a big truck-sized snowplow to the front and clearing the road in a few feet of blowing flakes in the winter or towing a houseboat in the summer.

 
Sheltrown pointed out that the Elio isn’t made to replace your current car, but will be more of a go-to second vehicle if you’re commuting into the city on a daily basis or heading to the store to grab some items to toss in the trunk or back seat instead of taking that much-lower mileage main car out for that short haul there and back. The amount of attention from passers by made for some interestingly humorous moments when I was trying to take a photo of Terry sitting in the Elio. Between someone’s beard getting in the shot to me catching a gentle elbow to the ribs from another guy who backed into me (no pain, no gain!), it was definitely one of those “show moments” that sticks with you for a while.

In terms of power, while not the fastest ride off the block (that 55 horsepower engine gets you 0-60 in under 10 seconds), a top speed of 106 MPH is nothing to sneeze at. Yes, you get an airbag and Sheltrown noted the Elio is expected to score well on upcoming crash tests, so if that all works out, it’s a big step towards seeing these babies rolling out across the country and becoming a popular option over time. Currently, there are over 22,000 orders taken from people around the US and while that’s a relatively tiny amount compared to what current cars sell, it’s a decent enough start for the small start-up. Of course, in this internet age of axe-griding and soap-boxing, there are some people down on Elio for any number of things from being gas-only (currently) to not having car sounds in their videos (the current prototype isn’t the final version at all) and so forth and so on.

I’m gathering most, if not all of these issues noted and not noted (because my eyeballs were falling out reading some of the forum debates on a few sites spiral way off topic) will be dealt with between now and when consumers who get to test drive and/or buy start sending in actual feedback to the company.

The important thing is to let Elio get their little wonder out and see how it sits with the general public, not just bash it into scrap before it has a chance to shine. I poked around online looking at coverage of the Elio on some big sites and saw a lot of pessimism and variants on the word “weird” used a lot. Typical for click-baiting readers who are automatically skeptical, but not at all kind reporting to something that may be more impressive than a quickly written article or nicely shot video reveals.

 
I was so floored by the wealth of info I was being hit with that it didn’t strike me to mention that there’s a way to market the Elio to a certain audience who may want to test drive it without plunking down a deposit at all. Someone at the company needs to find out how to contact one or more of the game developers at Polyphony Digital, Turn 10 Studios or perhaps even some of the smaller indie developers out there and get them interested in putting their vehicle into one of their upcoming games (or in a current one as DLC). I’d definitely love to see an Elio in a Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport game (or both) and I’d bet Polyphony Digital would love to get their hands and cameras and game artists into and around that car for a spin on a real race track.

Speaking of racing, I can also see some sort of amateur or professional Elio racing scene taking off if it can get whatever it needs to get rolling. The company may as well target auto/vehicle/motorcycle enthusiasts on a few fronts from collectors and builders of models to gamers to those weekend racers looking for the next big thrill. That’s all a great deal of work, but I think if anyone can pull it off, it’s this company and their nifty new way to get around on a shoestring…