Elio Motors -- Emasculating or Genius?

[MachineGhost]

What's everyone else think?

http://www.eliomotors.com/

[dualstow]

Cool. Is that the car from the movie, A.I.?

I never understand the "emasculating" joke about small cars.

[Mountaineer]

Cool. Is that the car from the movie, A.I.?

I never understand the "emasculating" joke about small cars.

Have you tried to get in a really small car?  It can be a real ball crusher if you are not careful. 

... M

[MachineGhost]

Cool. Is that the car from the movie, A.I.?

I never understand the "emasculating" joke about small cars.

Really?  So you don't recognize all the rampant anti-masculinity, pro-feminist propaganda that's been increasing over the decades?  Commercials and sit-coms are now anti-male and almost all jokes are at their expense (fat, dumb, stupid, lazy, slob, drunk, etc.).  I'm not saying we should still live in a Mad Men era, but the pendulum has swung so far to the other side, that Millennial men think nothing about wearing skinny jeans and driving small, feminine cars.  It's reflecting gender confusion.

But, maybe I am just all a humble product of corporate advertising propaganda.  Even the Marlboro Man was B.S., but does that mean you just bend over in real life and shouldn't aspire to something great and idealistic in terms of masculinity?

Imagine if Trump drove a car like this.  He would get no respect nor credibility because cars are an objective fashion statement of the image you want to portray.  OTOH, someone like Sanders would be completely comfortable with it because he's less concerned about individuality (a scary thought in and of itself, but I digress).

[Greg]

I'd buy it. If it's anything like the Pizza that is (note: I realize the spelling difference)

[l82start]

Steve Urkel was an early enthusiast

[Pointedstick]

I'd buy a car like that too! Need at least a four-seater, though.

Oh, and masculinity emanates from within, not from your choice in consumer products. That's just silly.

[dualstow]

Cool. Is that the car from the movie, A.I.?

I never understand the "emasculating" joke about small cars.

Really? 

Really.

So you don't recognize all the rampant anti-masculinity, pro-feminist propaganda that's been increasing over the decades?  Commercials and sit-coms are now anti-male and almost all jokes are at their expense (fat, dumb, stupid, lazy, slob, drunk, etc.).

Whether that exists or not is a separate issue. I don't automatically think someone who buys a large firearm has a penis problem, and I don't think someone who drives a smart car is a wimp.

It's like PS said above: masculinitley comes from within.
EDIT: typo only

[MachineGhost]

Lack of masculinity emanates from within as well, which is why you see gender confusion when it comes to buying certain products.

[img width=800]https://theoverunderblog.files.wordpres ... =599&h=629[/img]

Like it or not, we are all judged by appearances.  I can pretty much predict that a driver of an Elio is going to be overwhelmingly Democrat instead of a Republican.  A Republican wouldn't want to be making a personal statement like that; they want to be driving a Ford F-150 or something meaty and substantial.  Yee haw!

It is what it is.

But hey, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong!

[l82start]

i think the "softer types" and environmentalists is the market they want to sell to, if they wanted to sell to mainstream consumers or the average guy the car would look more like a ford focus, if they want to sell to manly men and status seekers it would look like a combination of a formula one and a Lamborghini.  (with some of the same performance characteristics)

[Pointedstick]

Like it or not, we are all judged by appearances.  I can pretty much predict that a driver of an Elio is going to be overwhelmingly Democrat instead of a Republican.  A Republican wouldn't want to be making a personal statement like that; they want to be driving a Ford F-150 or something meaty and substantial.  Yee haw!

What I think you are trying to say is, "I judge people based on their consumption decisions." That's really something you want to advertise?

But it's true, our choices do say lots of things about ourselves. For example, driving a pristine crew cab F150 to pick up some groceries tells the world, "I make significant financial decisions based on cultural pressure, habitually waste money and natural resources, and unnecessarily endanger others without giving it a second thought."

[k9]

Ah America

French citizen here. There's a saying there that your Hummers and all other cars are a sign you have something to compensate for.

Would you say a man like Putin is emasculated or that he doesn't care about his virile image ?



Would you tell our French rugbyman Chabal he is a sissy because he makes commercials for small cars ? I mean, in front of him ?



As for your remark about democrats being wimps, I suppose you forgot George "I was almost killed by a bretzel" Bush was a Republican. Turkeys don't know anything about politics, I suppose.

[Pointedstick]

Hey its not all American men! At least some of us are secure enough in our masculinity to drive sensible, compact, efficient vehicles!

[Mountaineer]

Hey its not all American men! At least some of us are secure enough in our masculinity to drive sensible, compact, efficient vehicles!

PS, I always envisioned you in black Ford Excursion, with a gun rack, and a Confederate Flag on the back window, with a bumpersticker that says "piss of a liberal, buy a gun", and those blue LEDs shining from underneath. 

... M

[Xan]

Hey its not all American men! At least some of us are secure enough in our masculinity to drive sensible, compact, efficient vehicles!

PS, I always envisioned you in black Ford Excursion, with a gun rack, and a Confederate Flag on the back window, with a bumpersticker that says "piss of a liberal, buy a gun", and those blue LEDs shining from underneath. 

... M

I think he's doing all that, but with a Fiat 500.  Which would be awesome, by the way.

[l82start]

Hey its not all American men! At least some of us are secure enough in our masculinity to drive sensible, compact, efficient vehicles!

  and many if not most of us (all of us compared to the Europeans) have big manly jobs that require moving large bits of manly (and heavy) equipment across vast pieces of open landscape... none of that wimpy, cooped up in a micro car in bumper to bumper traffic, in crowded city's, with narrow roads, that is so popular in a few parts of the US and most of the rest of the world.. (not that there is anything wrong with that)

[MachineGhost]

What I think you are trying to say is, "I judge people based on their consumption decisions." That's really something you want to advertise?

I'm not ashamed of using convenient heuristics to categorize people.  It's called situational awareness.

I just find it so pathetic how predictable people are.  Even back in 2000 during the contested election, I remember seeing how all the Republican supporters were squares wearing suits while all the Democrat supporters looked like a sloppy version of today's hipsters.

Libertarian types like to think they live in a silo and never need social justification or approval.   BULLSHIT, I say.

[dualstow]

Hey its not all American men! At least some of us are secure enough in our masculinity to drive sensible, compact, efficient vehicles!

Mine is so compact that it doesn't even exist.

[Pointedstick]

What I think you are trying to say is, "I judge people based on their consumption decisions." That's really something you want to advertise?

I'm not ashamed of using convenient heuristics to categorize people.  It's called situational awareness.

I just find it so pathetic how predictable people are.  Even back in 2000 during the contested election, I remember seeing how all the Republican supporters were squares wearing suits while all the Democrat supporters looked like a sloppy version of today's hipsters.

Libertarian types like to think they live in a silo and never need social justification or approval.   BULLSHIT, I say.

So wait, you are simultaneously criticizing people for not visibly conforming to advertising-influenced versions of of traditional social and gender roles, and holding them in contempt for doing so?

It's very difficult for me to understand what you're trying to communicate.

[MachineGhost]

So wait, you are simultaneously criticizing people for not visibly conforming to advertising-influenced versions of of traditional social and gender roles, and holding them in contempt for doing so?

I guess that's why I'm in the middle!  I guess we have to decide which is worse, advertising reinforcing existing biological based innatism that is bigotrist or advertising turning Millenial men into submissive pussies.  You decide!

Anyway to bring this back on topic, I'm still extremely skeptical about Elio making it all the way, but I put in a reservation for the minimum.  It is determining interest to raise funds via the new Regulation A+ (JOBS Act Part II, not the big enchilada one yet).  I could be wrong and people these days could batshit love the concept.  $6800 is cheaper than a motorcycle.

In a nod to Desert, they have not done any crash testing yet.  I think those results will be critical.  A crossover SUV driven by a soccer mom worried about being seen driving a soccer mom van could crush it like a bug.

[sixdollars]

What does everyone think about this as a potential VP move?

[l82start]

its a one person commuter vehicle, if it was built to be a crossover between the motorbikes that zip through traffic between lanes during rush hour, and the little sports cars that zig-zag in and out between cars at high speed that i see on my commute, i think they would really have something..
performance + comfort + some fuel efficiency = win.
sacrificing performance and safety for efficiency and dressing it up like a nerd is a tougher sell... hard to see it going mainstream until gas costs start getting in the "your children's kidneys" range or they ditch some of the nerd styling and efficiency in exchange for some Adrenalin junkie commute warrior features..

[Kriegsspiel]

Recent threads about Elio on ERE and MMM initially got me very excited for a cheap 'people's car.' Then other posters outlined some of the problems with Elio. I will wait until (if) the early adopters get the ball rolling.

[barrett]

The Twizy has been out in Europe for nearly four years. It's (barely) a two-person car.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Twizy

I saw some of them in Italy this past summer... mostly down in Rome in areas like Trastevere where there are lots of tiny streets. In cities like NYC parking can be a nightmare and these cars solve that. But most folks need/use a car for more than picking up a few groceries. I did wonder if someone couldn't just pick a Twizy up and throw it in the back of a pickup, but I see it weighs 450 kilos.

[Cortopassi]

If it is cheap enough, I would buy one for my back and forth from work car (4 miles).  I bike sometimes, but here in IL only fun a few months out of the year.  I had a 125cc scooter for a while, but again, can't do it in winter.  This would solve those issues and not have a concern of a $25k vehicle sitting in a parking lot most of the time.

I would love to ditch owning cars altogether, and just call one up when needed.  If any of you have been keeping up to date with driverless cars, they are coming much faster than anyone thinks.  I am fully confident by the time I retire I won't have to worry about losing my license due to age related issues, I'll just call up an autonomous vehicle.