The 10-day domain name auction attracted 30 bidders with over 100 bids.
It looks like the official Elio Motors X account was closed and whoever runs their website failed to renew their domain name in time, effectively closing their site as we know it.
My blog post also mainly went over what Paul Elio’s been up to since he began paring back on Elio Motor’s web presence, which is buying salvaged cars, reconditioning them, and selling them at his used car dealership in Phoenix.
And, if this latest auction is any indicator, ElioMotors.com either might be gone for good or bought by someone who might use it to resurrect the brand soon (or someday.)
A little over two weeks ago (Feb 8) I noticed ElioMotors.com, the domain name itself, was auctioning off for sale via GoDaddy.com.
GoDaddy, estimated the value of the domain name being around $1,300 given that the name had “motors” in it.
Like most auctions, the last few days of the auction saw new bidders appear, ramping up the price of the current winning bid.
When the dust settled earlier yesterday (Feb 18), and after 126 bids from 30 bidders, the domain name ElioMotors.com garnered a final winning bid of $21,250.
It’s worth noting included in the auction listing were traffic stats for the site. Over a 45-day period before the site closed (iirc) ElioMotors.com was only getting 3,759 views a month, which is practically nothing in today’s internet world.
Then again, interest for Elio Motors’s three-wheeled car is all but non-exsistent.
They also list that ElioMotors.com was created in 2009, this year being 15 years since it was registered as a domain.
While we don’t know who won ElioMotors.com or what their plans are with it, we do know the domain name went through an auction and obtained a final bid of $21,250.
For all we know, Paul Elio bought it back from himself as, according to GoDaddy, expired domains are automatically listed for auction 26 days after expiring (ElioMotors.com expired on or around Jan. 14. Feb 8 is exactly 26 days after that expiration date (counting the day itself.))
I’ll be curious to see what becomes of ElioMotors.com as, for now and since the beginning of January, it’s been 404 Not Found.
