Who is the target consumer for this thing!
-
While wandering around the San Jose fancy pants mall last Saturday I came across this thing.
This same mall had Tesla, Lucid, Polestar and VW EV booths/stores but this was hanging out by the food court.
Their pitch is an interesting choice in this country that celebrates nothing quite as much as excess.
I can get behind their idea, and hell I'm even their target consumer. I love small cars, am looking for a cheap EV, don't carry too much shit around and I work in tech. Yet this thing is so fucking small, the top of it is like 2' below a super duty bed height.
I appreciate what they're trying to do, but man I do not think they'll be able to sell hardly any of these outside of fleet operators like parking agents.
The Messerschmitt KR200 is also exactly what I thought of when I saw it.
Former hoarder of motorcycles, recent CA transplant, nerd.
-
@jminer People who never, ever, ever, in a million years, ever have to carry one passenger or drive outside their immediate city center and are OK paying the price of a normal new car for a vehicle perfectly tailored to that usage and nothing else
The weird thing is, if they made the cabin the same width as the fenders, they could have two seats, and the length is enough to squeeze in a third rear seat, the packaging just seems poor
-
@jminer If they sold it for $15000 and it had 2x or 3x efficiency of a larger, "normal" car, I can see it being handy. But, like Smart cars, they'll never work and sell well in USA.
-
Is this thing a production Elio?
-
@jminer If it was super cheap, ~5k, and I lived in a city, then maybe. Would make for a pretty good DD then, since it'll be too much money, there really is no point. Honestly, I don't get the point of tiny cars in the US, things are just too spread out for a tiny car to make sense for everything. Would you want to be in that car next to two 18 wheelers doing 75 MPH?
-
@jminer I sat in one of those, oddly enough in a food court in a mall down here. Maybe even the same one. On the inside it really reminded me of a Civic. It's nice enough, seemed to have a quality build and I could see these going into fleet services of various types. Delivery fleets etc. I'm not so sure any one besides motorcyclists are interested in one person only transport, and they are going to buy the bike every time, not this thing.
-
@jminer Solo! Vancouver based company. I dunno, there's a decent number on the road here (for what it is). It's a high density urban vehicle.
I went to their Christmas party 3 years ago in the normal times. Neat company.
-
1984, Dominos partnered with Tritan A2 near Ann Arbor to test these out. The 'Nos I worked at got one for a month...
-
@jminer Nobody. It's just another three-wheeled commuter car startup, and it's going to fail just like all the other ones.
Oppo decals & more here -> etsy.com/shop/GenVibe
Blown Vibe | Caprice PPV -
@KITT222 It's actually doing fairy well fyi. It's a production vehicle and it's been around for years. This is it's second gen
-
@jminer I see Messerschmitt, I upvote
-
@jminer for people that like driving a Solo cup
-
@jminer At $18,500 it just feels like you sacrifice too much sacrifice too much compared to getting a real car. I can't imagine this thing every being more than a niche vehicle, but hey if they can make money in that niche, more power to them.
-
@facw Maybe they're licensed, taxed or insured differently than a real car? That edge case where the Reliant Robin made sense?
-
@jminer Interesting idea, but it seems intended for high-density urban cores that just so happen to not have good public transit. The pricing also would only work if tax schemes penalized larger vehicles so people would have an economic incentive to opt for the smallest vehicle they are willing to live with, instead of the current trend of picking the largest vehicle that they can afford.
As for me, I'd prefer an Aptera.
"I drank what?" -- Socrates
-
@aremmes I'd like to buy a Nobe. The range is pretty impractical for almost all of my usage, but they don't take up much room, and I might be able to swing the price as a 3rd car to just have, for style reasons. Then I'd go out of my way to plan out situations and places where I could drive it for the hell of it
2022 Ioniq SE
1964 Corvair Monza -
me
gib me zippy e-cart
-
@theturbomrt I assume they are motorcycles in the eyes of the law (hopefully with an exception for helmet laws). Traditionally that has been used to dodge safety and emission laws, but for this much money I'd hope you'd get decent safety, and clearly emissions aren't an issue.
-
@ranwhenparked At just a hair under $40k it's pricey, but it looks fantastic and would be worth the money if the creature comforts and build quality match match it.
-
@theturbomrt I can't say 100% but I think since it's 3 wheels it taxed and licensed as a motorcycle.
-
@aremmes I know exactly where that pic was taken. There is a nude beach at the bottom of those cliffs.
-
@jminer I'm still waiting on my Elio
2020 Gladiator Rubicon, 1956 F100 project, 1993 Eagle Summit race van
-
@Zaphod-s-Heart-of-Gold that's why I'm not giving Nobe any money, unless it's for a finished car that's verified as in stock and ready to ship
2022 Ioniq SE
1964 Corvair Monza -
@jminer it's not cheap, though. Don't those things retail for like, 18k? You could get an i3 REX for that!
-
@jminer When you can buy an electric bicycle or scooter for a couple of thousand dollars this does not make any sense. It's in decent used car territory.
