SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) -
The new tenant at the former General Motors plant in Shreveport could be a startup auto firm called Elio Motors.
KSLA News 12 has learned from a reliable source that the company will make Shreveport its manufacturing home in 2013.
The Caddo Parish Commission and representatives of the RACER Trust are expected to make the announcement at Noon on Thursday at the site of the former GM plant.
The trust was set up and tasked with cleaning up, maintaining and selling 89 former GM plants in 14 states in the wake of the automaker's bankruptcy.
The last truck rolled off the assembly line at GM Shreveport on August 28.
Citing a confidentiality agreement, Caddo Commission officials and RACER have declined to identify the new tenant before the announcement is made.
At Wednesday's Caddo Parish Commission work session, parish assistant administrator Randy Lucky revealed that the new tenant will be a manufacturer, and that it's expected to bring 1,500 jobs by April.
Lucky confirms it will be an auto manufacturer, but not one of the "Big Three" (Ford, General Motors and Chrysler). In fact, Lucky says this will be their first time manufacturing cars on a large scale.
Lucky says it will be a U.S.-based company that will be paying $37.50 per hour for manufacturing jobs on the assembly line. Lucky says the unnamed company is not affiliated with a union at this point.
According to the company's Facebook page, Elio Motors was founded in 2008. On its website, the Phoenix-based company claims to be "the next big thing in transportation" and features a small,
3-wheeled vehicle that runs on regular unleaded gas capable of getting 84 miles per gallon on the highway.
According to the company's website, they expect to deliver the first Elio, retailing for $6,800, in July 2014.

Copyright 2012 KSLA. All rights reserved.

 

looking into my crystal ball I see government support for a poor business plan followed by a (re)shuttered car plant

 

There's lots of hype today, but before I drop a reported $6,800.00, I want much more information!

Here's another story from the Detroit Free Press...

The trust responsible for selling and cleaning up former General Motors properties has reached an agreement to sell the shuttered GM plant near Shreveport, La., to a start-up carmaker that plans to hire 1,500 new workers.
An ultra-small carmaker called Elio Motors signed a deal to buy the former GM Shreveport Assembly and Stamping plant in Caddo Parish from the Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response (RACER) Trust.
The deal was heralded by Louisiana politicians as an economic victory for a community devastated by GM’s contraction. The state was expected to provide incentives for the project, but details were not immediately available.
RACER said Elio plans to use 1 million square feet of the 1.8 million-square-foot property to manufacture three-wheeled vehicles. Officials said production would start in mid-2014.
A Shreveport TV station quoted a local politician saying the plant would not be unionized.
On its website, Elio doesn’t list information about its investors but describes its $6,800 vehicles as “the next big thing in transportation.” The company sought to raise $10 million in a fall 2011 offering, but only raised $150,000 initially, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The company’s cars, which will have two wheels in the front, will get an average of more than 60 miles per gallon and will come with three airbags, according to the company.
“There were three driving factors in the purchase of the plant: The business-friendly economic environment; the quality of the local experienced workforce; and our unwavering commitment to build Elio vehicles in America, with American workers,” Elio CEO Paul Elio said in a statement. “We can’t wait to begin our journey in Louisiana.”
GM, which most recently made the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon at the plant, stopped making vehicles there in August. The company gave up the property in 2009 as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and then leased it back from the trust until it stopped production last year.
RACER declined to reveal details about the transaction but said it has now sold 25 former GM properties for $27 million.
The trust, which was assigned responsibility for 89 former GM properties in 14 states, is still trying to sell several high-profile sites like the Willow Run powertrain plant in Ypsilanti Township and the Buick City properties in Flint.Contact: Nathan Bomey at 313-223-4743 or nbomey@freepress.com. On Twitter, follow @NathanBomey or @freepautos.

Here's a video from the Elio Motors website...http://www.eliomotors.com/videos/

 

They must think they can sell the h*ll out of those fugly things!
At $37.50 per hour per hand, good luck with that.

 

At this point in time, I would trust a Cam-Am Spyder first. http://www.spyder.brp.com/usa/build-your-spyder

All Bombardier have to do is enclose their Cam-Am Spyder, install seat belts, air bags, add a heater and A/C, etc. and crash test it a few hundred times!

I wonder why Bombardier didn't do this first? Hmmmm... Maybe Bombardier has done their homework?

 

Yeah I was thinking they looked a little
like a Can- Am knock off.

 

isn't that what gold member drove in the last Austin powers movie?

 

This almost makes a Smart Car look smart. $37.50/hour is very good pay for non-union workers in Louisiana. I doubt this deal will ever produce one car. I wonder how much money our government will throw at this ill fated deal.

 

Probably getting government subsidies but this cars sales wont take off. Another failure coming.

 

I'm sure $37.50 is the total package. When you figure in government mandated health costs, unemployment insurance, workmans comp, FICA, etc, etc, etc the worker will see $20-$25/hour at best. Still not bad money but not nearly as good as the press release makes it out to be

 

I didn't realize that Buick City was forfeited in the GM deal. So Oldsmobile and Pontiac are gone, the place that used to build Electras and Centurions is sold for scrap, Buick now makes econo-boxes that only China wants, and we get a new manufacturer of rolling dust-busters called Elio. It's like watching America become a third world nation in front of our eyes. All just my opinion, I understand I'm in the minority.

 

looks like nothing but a CAN-AM knock off.

 

Elio...no make that Eljer....They need to stamp Kohler, Eljer or American Standard on them and supply a spare wax ring in the "trunk". On second thought leave the American Standard off of it. If you make "it" no matter how butt ulgy "it" is they will buy it.....geesh! Where to mount the flush handle? Is their a stand up urinal in it somewhere or should I Pi** in the tank?

 

"Quote has 3 air bags". Imagine being hit by a full size truck in that bugger, you will need a fourth bag (body).

Pat

 

I guess I find the concept interesting? It looks far better than a smart car, to me?

I do not think traditionalists like us are quick to accept new ideas?. That was my thought when I read a piece about cars being driverless in the future. Seems to me that driverless cars shall result in no attachment to/affinity toward motor cars in the coming years?

 

No one has a crystal ball for the future, but you never know.

If ya think about, peaple have thought we'd be flying our own personal choppers by now...

What ever the future brings I hope it still has exciting things vs the doom and gloom chicken little thoughts.

 

I agree that Buick seems to be targeting China, but I certainly don't know how you can call their cars "econoboxes." The cheapest is, what, about $25,000, and they get easily to the $30,000 to $50,000 range without much effort.

 

I pulled my tent out of storage, and will be camping out front to get the first place in line for those beautys!!!

Sarcasm, by the way.

 

At 16 mpg I wouldn't call my Enclave an econobox.

Buick is more than targeting China. China is the only reason Buick is still alive

 

They may be expensive, but they strike me as bean-shaped econo-boxes. Like I said, just my opinion.

 

The pay looks great - wish i lived there! However I would not want anything to do with building something that fugly...

HAHA!! Nice - thanks for the good laugh!

 

Agreed.

How many times have you heard some local 'Economic Dev Council' (or whatever its called in your area) crow with great fanfare about how their tax credit scheme, in conjunction with 'government loans', is bringing hundreds (or thousands!!) of new high paying jobs for some fantastical factory ? (You know...they kind of company where you thought WTH? Who thought up that business plan ??)

There's the anticipation and excitement !
Followed by the concern and brow furrowing by the EDC.

Then silence...

And then, some time later there's a tiny article in the corner of page 12 of your newspaper about how the company disolved and all the players scattered to the wind ....

In Indiana, one of ours is .. http://www.carbonmotors.com/ .. which I think falls into the 'brow furrowing' category at this point.

You may be in the minority, but you are not alone.

 

This is starting to sound like the story of the yugo. Has anyone ever read that book the rise and fall of the yugo. I think thats what it was name pretty good book. neat story behind it.

 

Getting closer now: http://www.autoblog.com/2016/03/11/e...liveries-2017/

 

Well, at that MPG and price, the wife can drive the 8 miles one way to Walmart every day. But she would have to go every day to get the stuff one trip a week can fit in her vehicle now.
Might make a interesting toy to modify and have some fun with.

 

Been talking for years ... still waiting on any proof that it's a viable product. Unlike Tesla, there's no billionaire backer waiting to refund deposits when it all goes **** up.

 

Apparently no one remembers the Corbin Sparrow, announced in 1996, production in 1998, tango uniform in 2003.

 

http://corbin.com/motors/

The Sparrow flies again.

 

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

I'll add that in five years of production, Corbin built a whopping 289 Sparrows.

 

Is that a bullet hole in the door...and wheres his man-bun!

 

I saw one of those Polaris Slingshots the other day. Another worthless endeavor

 

Oh, but it's so much worse than that. Corbin Sparrow was bought by ... http://www.myersmotors.com/index.html

you can't really blame Corbin tho ... he didn't actually expect anyone to buy it ... and when they did, sending him millions, he had to scramble to try and put it together. http://www.wired.com/2012/02/corbin-motors-sparrow/

 

I saw a guy driving one in a down pour. He looked ecstatic.

 

This company has some big names within it though. Nice list of suppliers: https://www.eliomotors.com/about-elio/#suppliers

 

We see this all the time in the space business. Some no-name startup puts up a web page with a list like this, thinking it give them credibility. It's meaningless. Unless these vendors have skin in the game, a page of logos proves nothing.

 

I'm surprised that with all the Corbin Sparrow posts, no one has yet mentioned Austin Powers.

 

Well this does represent that the company has working relationships to provide materials or other items in regard to the design, manufacturing, and testing of the car. This isn't a no-name startup like the cases you mentioned. And in this case, I do find the list meaningful. With the publicity this company receives, any of the companies listed on that page would undoubtedly send a quick C&D letter to them if they were representing relationships that were non-existent. They have even announced vehicle service at Pep Boys...(well I know there is a lot to be desired there, but it is still nationwide nonetheless...)

I think a lot of people hold this vehicle to "car" standards. This is not meant to be a replacement vehicle to a car, except maybe in urban scenarios. With the price tag, a lot of the buyers will be using this as an extra fun vehicle. Buy a dirt cheap convertible or get one of these, or buy a used Honda motorcycle or get an Elio. I do see a purpose for it. People are always looking for something different, something to stand out. Look at the craze over the Isettas. Folks like small, different, and economical. Especially if the cost of gas does skyrocket.

 

Or...

It means that these companies agree to provide parts and services if and when they get paid...

We'll disagree on this.

You'll notice that the smaller unknown companies all have "LEARN MORE" links on their logos. The real companies (Roush, Continental, Lear) do not. Trust me, this is EXACTLY what small companies do. Get a token consulting agreement in place to let you use the big guy's name. None of these big companies have invested their own money, and as suppliers they certainly aren't going to turn down money coming in. I think you are reading waaaay too much into this - which is exactly what this page is supposed to do. This is the classic bootstrap - generate buzz so the project becomes self-fulfilling. That rarely works. Companies like Tesla did it by investing hundreds of millions of dollars.

As will the government... I'll also point out that every previous attempt to sell a low-cost, low content vehicle has failed (see Yugo). The Polaris isn't cheap.

Isettas were built before government safety and emissions standards. They wouldn't exist today. Licensing this thing as a motorcycle gets you out of some of the requirements, but not all of them. The market for a vehicle like this is small. Heck, sales of Smart Cars have gone right in the toilet. All the fans who wanted one got one. No one else wants them - and the Smart Car is a real car compared to this thing.

 

Decades old previous failures aren't necessarily good indicators of current demand trends. There are many Tesla wanna-be owners out there who simply can't afford the car and would love to have something different and efficient in their garage. As a matter of fact, many Honda FCV and Toyota FCV wanna be owners also.

Could you imagine if this got product placement in a big name movie? Or some kids start modding them and making them into street machines? What about this as a substitute for neighborhood golf carts, which can get quite pricey. Surely they defined their target market before starting this venture, but I'm seeing how it could evolve.

 

How'd that work out for Corbin?