It WAS a good idea...
From Fox News:
"A United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing reveals Elio Motors had just $101,317 in cash on September 30, 2016. That's a rounding error at best for a car company. Worse yet, the same document declares recurring net losses caused an accumulated deficit of over $123 million. The company explained it's uncertain about what the future holds.
"If we are unable to continue to obtain financing to meet our working capital requirements, we may have to curtail our business sharply or cease operations altogether," wrote Elio Motors in the SEC filing. More recent information about the company's finances hasn't been released to the public."