This week, Elio Motors, Inc. (OTCQX: ELIO) announced it has appointed former manufacturing executive of General Motors (NYSE: GM), Doug Frick, as plant manager for its Shreveport production facility.
Frick, who has been dubbed as Elio Motors’ first plant manager, is a 20-year auto industry veteran. He was an industrial engineering supervisor and manager for General Motors at the site from 2000 to 2012. Recently, Frick was working at the facility as a project manager for Elio Motors through Hunt, Guillot, and Associates.
Frick will be responsible for Elio Motors’ production startup at the plant for its three-wheeled Elio vehicle, which will have a targeted base price of $6,800 and is engineered to attain a highway mileage rating of up to 84 mpg. Frick will oversee site development and production line installation, facility management and staff hiring as production draws closer.
Paul Elio, founder and CEO of Elio Motors, stated:
“We’re building an experienced manufacturing team to assemble our Elio vehicles here in Shreveport, and we’re honored to have Doug as our Plant Manager and unofficial team captain. Doug’s knowledge of the plant, the local workforce and the ArkLaTex area will be crucial to the successful configuration, staffing and startup of this critical manufacturing facility.”
The appointment of Frick comes just a couple of weeks after Elio introduced its new vehicle, E1A, during the E-Series event. Elio previously stated:
“This is another banner day in Elio Motors’ history, as we continue to achieve important objectives, one after another. The completion of the first E-Series vehicle signals the launch of another critical phase in our journey. The real-world performance data that we gather through the E-Series testing will allow our team to make final adjustments prior to tooling up for production. This is a giant step forward for the company and our Elio reservation holders as we continue to progress.”
The company reported it plans to build a total of 23 E-Series testing and validation vehicles to test for safety, aerodynamics, and durability. Following the testing phase, Elio will begin to build 100 pre-production vehicles at its Shreveport manufacturing facility.
Elio previously raised approximately $17 million on equity crowdfunding platform StartEngine. The mini-IPO type offer was available to anyone -not just accredited investors. The securities also became immediately transferable under the Reg A+ rules. Shareholders purchased shares at $12/share. Elio worked diligently to list their shares on the OTCQX, the market reserved for the highest qualify companies listing on the OTC platform. The E-Series completion was notably funded in large part by the crowd-funded stock sale the company completed earlier this year.
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