The plant was bought by the Caddo Parish Industrial Development Board and Elio is going to go forth with the plans to rent the 139,000 square meters space. Paul Elio, CEO and founder of Elio Motors said; ‘This has been an extremely exciting week not just for me personally, but for the entire Elio Motors team. We’ve had an incredible amount of momentum, which has led us to a new plant that will be the foundation for building the new vehicle. Plus, we also raised over $7 million to help us move forward. My dream has been to build a new kind of safe, reliable, fuel-efficient vehicle here in the United States. Acquiring this plant and all of the equipment in a fully operational state will allow Elio Motors to thrive right off the bat once commercial vehicle production begins in 2015.’
Elio speculated that it will be the source for 1,500 new jobs for the people living in Shreveport area. The recruitment drive will begin later this year and shall be completed by late 2015. Elio has plans to begin production of the vehicle in the first quarter of next year.
Time to hit the specs for Elio, don’t you think? Well the engine is a whooping 55-hp, 0.9 liter inline three-cylinder. It comes with a claimed 84-mpg economy in terms of fuel on the highway. Top speed for this vehicle is 161 Km/hr. The range which this car allows you to travel is 1,081 km. The price for this three-wheeler is $6,800.