Lackluster sales of cars like the Smart Fortwo have illustrated that the market for really tiny cars still doesn't really exist in the U.S, but elsewhere things are quite different.
In some European or far-Eastern cities, size--or lack of it--is everything.
Those are the markets the T25 and T27 city cars are aimed at, and their designer and engineer, Gordon Murray, has now found a buyer for the tiny three-seaters.
Murray is best known for his work as a Formula One race car designer and the man behind the McLaren F1 supercar of the early 90s, but in recent years he's turned his attention to urban transportation and streamlined production processes.
The T25, a three-seat, sub-Fortwo-sized city car, has been on the drawing table for several years. The electric T27 joined it more recently, while 2011 saw the unveiling of the TEEWAVE AR.1 sports car--a small electric roadster with a carbon-fiber unibody.
These vehicles were to be constructed using an innovative low-energy production process known as iStream--with much lower full-lifecycle impact than any other car could offer.
Murray never planned to make the cars himself. Instead, his aim was to sell the plans to other companies--either automotive or otherwise. On the Planet Murray blog, Murray reports that the T25 and T27 concepts have now been sold to a customer, and could hit the road in 2016.
He also says that contracts for four other iStream products have been signed, and two non-iStream projects are also in the works. So now, the real speculation begins--who might have taken on Murray's T25 and T27 city cars? Major automaker, or another company altogether?
"It’s a pity that in most cases we cannot mention customers by name or to talk publicly about the projects at this time, but I am hoping that we’ll have some exciting products and programs to share with you very soon" says Murray.
The cars themselves might not appear in the U.S, but we're certainly intrigued to discover just how effective iStream is out in the real world...
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