Renault Twizy

Production of this two-seater electric vehicle started in 2012 at the Renault plant in Valladoid, Spain. In Europe it's classified as a heavy quadcycle and it has a 100nkm or 62 mile range. Read more on Wikipedia or the Renault UK website

This Twizy belongs to the Château of Versailles and is ideal for driving its 7 ha or 17 acre grounds.

I photographed this Twizy on the Rue de Lisbonne, Paris.

Elio Motors

Elio is not a fling. It is not a novelty.

It is the product of a mobile society naturally evolving to a more efficient and practical form of transportation.

Let’s look at the facts and realities of the world we live in:

• Gas today is at an all-time high
• Space is becoming a smaller and smaller commodity and we’re being crowded off our roads and bumped and dinged out of our parking lots
• Cars cost more than the average house did only a few decades ago

Traditional personal transportation isn’t working like it used to. We need a new way of getting around.

That’s when a car enthusiast, a visionary, a man with a dream named Paul Elio got an idea. A simple, brilliant idea. To create a vehicle for today’s generation of drivers that addressed their transportation needs and the world’s new realities.

Read more here http://www.eliomotors.com/

Nissan BladeGlider concept set for Tokyo Motor Show debut

It may seem like a car suitable for Rick Deckard as he tracks down aliens masquerading as human beings, but Nissan will be taking to this month’s Tokyo Motor Show to showcase the wild and absolutely crazy BladeGlider concept.

The BladeGlider shares a shape inspired by the DeltaWing racecar and Nissan’s own ZEOD RC concept, which will be competing in next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. A peculiar shape it may be, but its lightweight and narrow front track, coupled with the wide rear end, does wonders for reducing drag and considerably improving high-speed and cornering stability.

Of course, it helps to have doors that swing upwards and underbody aerodynamics that help keep the rubber glued to the tarmac. The BladeGlider’s fighter jet-like stance lends to a one-plus-two interior layout with the driver smack-dab in the middle, similar to the McLaren F1. A lithium-ion battery and carbon fibre bodywork help keep the weight down, translating to a 30/70 front/rear weight distribution. Detailed specs haven’t been announced just yet, but Nissan says the BladeGlider shares much of its engineering with the ZEOD RC, packing electric motors at each wheel.

It might be countless years until we see a production version of the BladeGlider, but Nissan wants to make it into a reality. After all, Nissan says it hints at the future of its electric car.

The Tokyo Motor Show opens its doors on Nov. 20.

View Source: driving.ca

Mechanical engineering students building micro car

BANGALORE: Mechanical engineering students of the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology here have designed what they claim is the world's smallest car and are close to completing a prototype. Their KAPPA-47 is a four-wheeled micro car, with a wheelbase of 47 inches, less than the 50-inch wheelbase of the Peel P50 micro car which is widely acknowledged as the smallest car to be mass produced.

A team headed by Prof. Kiran Aithal S comprises final-year students -- Anjum Naveed, Aymaan Ataaz, Prajwal K L and Sachin Pinto. The students had put 14 hours a day for two months on their project in a Malleswaram garage. "We are building a very economical car and it has features like a reverse gear and a rear-end engine which aren't included in the Peel P-50," said Aymaan.

View source.

Microcar Meet will draw quirky, tiny vehicles to Forest Grove this weekend

Mark Hatten, center, sits in his Messerschmitt microcar at the 2012 Great Pacific Northwest Microcar/Minicar Extravaganza. The Messerschmitt is one of two iconic microcar models.


What: 2013 Great Pacific Northwest Microcar Extravaganza
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 16
Where: McMenamins Grand Lodge, 3505 Pacific Ave, Forest Grove, Oregon

For information including registration to participate in Friday and Saturday pre-show events with your car, visit mphspecialties.com or call Mark Hatten at 503-331-7132.

Read more here.

The timeless allure of microcars

Outsize personality

Microcars have held the limelight of late. The world’s largest privately held collection went under the hammer in the Southeastern US state of Georgia in February, bringing more than $8 million in total sales. The heyday of these cars was surely in the mid- to late 1950s, when post-war Europe turned to creating mobility solutions for the masses. The original Mini and Fiat 500 may be the most recognisable machines from this era, but these four-seaters were downright behemoths compared to the two-seat, low-displacement conveyances surveyed here. Powered by everything from tiny two-stroke engines to advanced electric motors, these microcars are the banner-flyers for the breed. (BMW Group)

Source: http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20130419-microcars-timeless-allure

Peel out.

We found this Peel P50 is at the Mistequa Auto Museum in Chewelah, Washington in August 2010.

Keep Your Eyes Peeled

We enjoyed seeing the Peel Trident [top] and P50 [below] at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee in March 2008.

Peel to make a comeback

LONDON — Plans have been announced to reprise a limited manufacturing run and sale of the smallest-ever production automobile, the three-wheeled, single-seater P50 from the 1960s.
The microcar had a cousin, the bubble-top two-passenger Trident [seen above], which will also be offered for sale in resurrected form.
The original little cars were two of the products of Peel Engineering, on the west coast of the Isle of Man in the town of Peel. Other products were the Peel Manxcar and Peel Viking Sport, as well as prototype Minis for BMC.
The original Peel Engineering was the producer of the only motorcars ever built on the island perhaps best known for the legendary Isle of Man Tourist Trophy motorcycle road race first held in 1907.
According to Peel Microcars, a Web site claiming to be "the site for Peel microcars built in the Isle of Man," the original designer was Cyril Cannell.
Car enthusiasts Gary Hillman and Faizal Khan have acquired the company, and the new Peel Engineering, billing itself as "Home of the World's Smallest Car — Since 1962," is accepting orders for both models.
View source.

World’s Cheapest Car, Tata Nano, Gets More Features, Better Economy

BY NIKKI GORDON-BLOOMFIELD

We may have unfairly called the Indian-built Tata Nano “unusually combustible” last week, but there’s no denying that the world’s cheapest car is responsible for helping tens of thousands of Indians get behind the wheel of their first car. Now the diminutive Tata Nano has just undergone its first major revision since its release in 2008, offering an increase of power, more standard features, and a headline-grabbing fuel economy of 59.7 miles per gallon.

Just like its predecessor, the upgraded Tata Nano features a simple 0.6 liter rear-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive transmission. But Tata’s engineers have managed to squeeze extra power from the small unit, harnessing 50 horsepower from an engine which previously only produced 46 horsepower.

Read full article here.

MINI Minor City Car to Rival Smart Fortwo, Toyota iQ?

After introducing a new crossover at the top-end of its lineup, MINI now appears to be readying a new entry-level model – reportedly referred to as the MINI Minor by BMW officials. Designed as a true city car, the new minier MINI would be built to compete against the Smart Fortwo and Toyota iQ models and would be comparible in size. In fact, this would give the car roughly the same footprint as the original MINI Cooper.
According to a report by AutoCar, MINI has long wanted to introduce a more compact model but struggled with how to make it profitable. Solutions to those problems may be had by looking at BMW’s upcoming Megacity car. Similar to the Megacity, the MINI city car would use traditional technology (rather than carbon fiber bodywork). It’s existence may also be the result of BMW’s push to develop three-cylinder engines. Reports have suggested the next generation of MINI Cooper models would use 3-cylinder engines, which could then also be used in a MINI city car, keeping development costs low and helping reduce production costs through economies of scale.
An inside source at the company told AutoCar that the mini car project hasn’t been given the green light just yet, but that a concept model could be shown in the next 12 months.
View source.

Isetta

This Brighton, Sussex built Isetta was spotted at the 32nd edition of the Sandwell Historic Vehicle Show in the West Midlands.

Electric two-seaters are traffic beaters

By Michael Bettencourt - Globe and Mail

Almost invisible among all the flashy hybrid supercar concepts at this year's Geneva auto show was the Smera, a super-skinny electric car from French start-up Lumeneo that underscored a growing presence of such tandem two-seaters at major auto shows this year.
The Smera looks like a Smart given a giant squeeze from both sides - the passenger sits behind the driver, leaving a vehicle that's just a touch wider than a typical front seat.
The idea behind it is also an extension of the Smart's vision - that most cars typically carry only one person at a time, and therefore are much larger than they need to be for commuting.

Read full article here.

Get it right, folks.

Ever watch one of those slide shows your email host promotes and wonder why you bothered?
I viewed one titled "Wacky Cars" on Sympatico and marvelled at how lazy the dolt putting it together must have been. When you get past the missing captions and spelling and grammar errors - there are the glaring mistakes.
The description of this picture says, "There's no way to identify them precisely, but those were seen in England a few years ago. The two drivers are having fun behind the wheel of their electrical cars." Any microcar buff would be to identify the red car. It is a Peel Trident, made on the Isle of Man in the 1960s and is NOT an electric car.
Another slide erroneously states that this modified smart car was created for the Thunderbirds film. It was in fact made for the three part series Red Dwarf: Back to Earth which aired in April 2009.

Tango: Trade Your Boredom for Freedom

The revolutionary Tango combines the speed and agility of a motorcycle with the security of a high-performance sports car.

The Tango's ability to maneuver through traffic is second to none. Being 5" narrower than many motorcycles, it can get through traffic like no other car in history. Where lane splitting is permitted (i.e., driving between lanes of stopped or slow-moving traffic), the advantage can be staggering. In extremely heavy traffic, a Tango or motorcycle can travel in 20 seconds the distance that cars travel in 20 minutes.

Official website.

Impossibly Cheap, Tiny Car Coming To American Market

By Laura Northrup

Back in the early '00s, I saw Smart cars zipping around my neighborhood in France and thought, "Europe is so weird! They'd never sell those in the US." But I was wrong. And the relative success of tiny cars like the Mini Cooper and, the Smart fortwo has led to the inevitable. The world's cheapest car, India's Tata Nano, is coming to America and Europe in about three years.

The Nano sells for about $2,500 USD in India, and will be more robust and safer before it shows up on the American and European markets. But it'll still be tiny, and cheaper than a base-model Hyndai Accent, currently the cheapest new car on the US market.

Read full story here.

Goupil G3

Goupil manufactures a range of light utility vehicles at its plant in Aigillon in southwest France. This "tipper with lambo doors" was photographed while on clean up duty in the centre of Cordoba, Spain. Only 1.1 m (3.6 ft) wide with a 3 m (9.8 ft) turning radius it's ideal for narrow streets in historic European cities and towns.
For details go here.

Casalini Sulky

With its unusual all-steel body work and tubular steel frame, the Casalini Sulky 3-wheeler microcar made its debut in 1975. In 1980 it gained a fourth wheel and was rebadged as a Bretta or David.

The company, founded in 1939 by C. M. Casalini, still operates in Piacenza, a city of approximately 100,000, in northern Italy. The current Sulky has a two cylinder Mitsubishi engine. Find out more here.

Spotted in Lagos, Portugal this Sulky is missing its front bumper and faux grille.
No known relationship to the Casal company.

Aixam and Microcar

Aixam - Mega, founded in 1983, is based in Aix-les-Bains, on the shore of Lac du Bourget in France's Rhône-Alpes region. The Crossline [above] and Super Luxe [below] were spotted in the hill town of Mijas, Spain.



Microcar, founded in 1984, is brand of the Bénéteau Group, a yacht and boat-building company with a hundred year of history, based in Croix-de-Vie, a seaside resort on the Atlantic 70 km west of Nantes. Both of these MC1 cars were photographed at Tavira, Portugal.




Although these companies are at opposite ends of France, they have the commitment to making fuel efficient city runabouts in common. Some Aixam and Microcar models can be driven without a license in some European countries.

For more information see: Aixam, Microcar

Pics by RLT.

Bellier Divane

Spotted at Le Mans, France by RLT. Photo by Colin Marsh.
Bellier Official Website