microcars
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Microlino, the maker of scooters and kickboards is ready to launch an electric microcar in Europe. Run by two Swiss brothers, the company unveiled its recreation of the tiny single-door BMW Isetta at the Geneva auto show two years ago, and has now partnered with with boutique Italian coachmaker Tazzari to build up to 10,000 copies of the car a year. At a price of $13,600, Microlino says it already has 7,200 orders for the car. Microlino's design stays pretty true to the original Isetta, with a single hinged door at the front, with the steering column attached. Once the driver tucks into the...
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Minicars And Microcars: How Small Could Lexus Go?
The Lexus LF-SA Concept that made a first appearance this past month at the Geneva Motor Show definitely pushes the brand into unexpected design territory—and down to an unexpectedly small size. At just 136 inches long, 67 inches wide, and 56 inches high, the concept that Lexus described as...
Bengt Halvorson -
A Brief History Of Three-Wheeled Cars
What do the Elio, Aptera, Toyota i-Road concept and the spectacularly awful Zap Xebra have in common? They--and many more small-volume economical vehicles and concepts besides--all use one fewer wheel than the norm. Yet giving fuel-saving cars just three wheels is not a new phenomenon, stretching...
Antony Ingram -
Toyota i-Road Trials Start In Tokyo: Another Electric Not-Quite-Car
Toyota is to start real-world consumer trials of its unique i-Road urban electric vehicle in its native Japan. Like its European equivalent, Renault's Twizy, the i-Road aims to combine the comfort and safety of a car with the ease-of-use and convenience of a scooter or motorcycle. While the Twizy...
Antony Ingram -
Honda Electric Micro Commuter Car To Begin Testing In Japan
America's wide open spaces have never been conducive for small car sales success, but the story is quite different elsewhere. We already know how popular the tiny kei-class cars are in Japan, for example--but some automakers are exploring even smaller vehicles to meet future transportation needs...
Antony Ingram -
Toyota i-Road Electric Urban Minicar Swarms The Roads (Video)
There's a lot to like about auto shows. Seeing new production models can be truly exciting, and chatting with industry insiders offers new perspectives on the automotive world. But for many folks, the best part of any auto show is the abundance of concept cars. Like haute couture clothing, concept...
Richard Read -
The annual Geneva Motor Show is a haven for weird and wonderful concept vehicles, and one of the strangest this year is the Toyota i-Road concept. The i-Road is described by Toyota as "a new form of transport", designed as an easy-to-maneuver, zero-emissions form of inner-city transport. We've heard that brief before, of course. It's the reason Smart exists, and Renault already has such a car in production, in the form of the Twizy. The three-wheeled Toyota offers some advantages over either of these vehicles though. For a start, it's narrower than the Smart Fortwo. At just over 33 inches...
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Toyota i-Road Concept: Urban Electric Car Appears In Geneva
Unusual urban microcars have been a staple of Japanese auto shows for years, but as electric propulsion becomes more realistic and city landscapes change, most big carmakers have now developed some kind of tiny urban electric vehicle. Latest to debut is Toyota's i-Road concept, due at next week's...
Antony Ingram -
Bruce Weiner Microcar Exhibits Make Nearly $8M At Auction
How much would you pay for a car that could fit in the bed of most pickup trucks? If that car is a 1958 FMR Tg500 Tiger, like a Messerschmitt with four wheels, the answer is $280,000. Well, you might not pay that personally, but somebody did, as hundreds of microcars were auctioned at the Bruce...
Antony Ingram -
Classic Microcars To Be Auctioned On February 15
If you've heard of a 1951 Atlas Babycar, 1954 Cuno Bistram or a 1956 Eshelman Deluxe Adult Sport Car, you've probably visited The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum in Madison, Georgia. Filled with the tiniest, oddest cars you could ever contemplate, the museum was a shrine to the largest collection of...
Antony Ingram -
Honda Micro-Commuter: An Innovative Electric Car, Too Small For The U.S.
How small can a vehicle get, and at a certain point is it better considered (and regulated as) a motorcycle…or some other kind of vehicle class altogether? Although these are questions that we should likely consider in the U.S., they’re issues that Japan is evaluating right now. And...
Bengt Halvorson