Moto in the USA, Wal-TF, In for an Elio
Jeremy is considering a new cell phone. One of the models he is considering is the Motorola Moto-X. You probably have seen the commercials for the Moto-X. They focus on the customizations you can do with the phone, changing the color combinations of various parts of the device many ways. However this is not a large selling point for Jeremy, nor would it be to me.
What I found interesting is the Moto-X supposedly is assembled in the USA, the only cell phone that can make this claim that I am aware of. Of course almost all of the components come from other places but still, having it made in the US carries some weight with me as I assume it would for others.
Well here is the weird thing. The TV commercials for the Moto-X don’t mention the “made here” message at all, you can only find this on their website. I scratch my head as to why this would be? It seems like someone in the Motorola advertising office is missing out pushing a big selling point to the masses.
So you may or may not have heard about the chaos going on at Walmart.com yesterday. Their website all of sudden was filled with ridiculous prices for many, many items. Deal sites like Slickdeals.net immediately pounced, spreading news of the crazy prices like wildfire through the internet. Thousands of people swarmed on the site, “buying” items at prices 90% or more less than their normal price.
Now of course, this was a mistake and of course, Wal-mart is cancelling all of these orders. Today they sent out a WOOPS email to the people hoping to get something for next to nothing. It basically said “Our bad, here is a $10 gift card for our screw up”
So I officially reserved an Elio. I did so yesterday via their website. I don’t recall if I have talked about the Elio in the blog but I know have on Facebook. The Elio is a 3 wheeled vehicle that is hoping to come into production in mid-late 2014.
The car has proposed MPG numbers of 49 in the city and a whopping 84 mpg in highway driving thanks to it’s light weight and aerodynamic bullet shape. It has a unique 1+1 seating arrangement where the passenger seat is positioned behind the driver seat instead of next to it.
Despite it’s size, the they are predicting it will also boast a 5 star crash safety rating. It will also include a 3 year / 36000 mile bumper to bumper warranty. Nice.
The Elio will be American made and built in Shreveport Louisiana at an abandoned GM plant, providing thousands of jobs both directly and indirectly.
Oh did I forget to mention that the price of the Elio is projected to be $6800??? Yes, that is correct.
I currently average around $450 a month on gas expenditures. I would be able to pay for an Elio and still save a nice chunk each month on gas savings alone. It would be a PERFECT commuter vehicle for my 46+ mile daily round trip commute.
So anyway I plunked down a $100 reservation on an Elio. For that $100 you are put on the list to be one of the first people to get one once production begins. They also give you back 150% of your reservation price via a discount off the vehicle. Oh, and you also get a t-shirt. 🙂
Now of course, many things could happen between now and late 2014. Getting a car line off the ground is an incredibly difficult and expensive process. There is a chance Elio dies on the vine although they seem to be doing a great job of building buzz and interest. Regardless, I am willing to roll the dice on it. I like everything the car represents and am ok with putting my money where my mouth is to prove it.
I picked up the girls on the way home last night. They will be hanging with me till Tuesday morning. Night one went ok although I need to make sure to pull myself out of bed on time so I have time to do the dog breakfast prep which takes longer than my own.
I will be quite hungry tomorrow at this time. I am having blood work done for my insurance plan. It is a fasted test meaning nothing but water from 9PM on tonight, yay.