<
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-04/why-americans-can-t-buy-the-tiny-cars-that-europeans-love>
"If there is such a thing as a minicar safari, I felt like I was on one last
month while traveling through Northern Italy. The neighborhoods I explored were
full of tiny vehicles that I had read about in the US but never seen in the
wild.
A few highlights: While biking through Turin I spotted a Microlino, the
battery-powered reboot of a 1950s “bubble car”; a few minutes later I paused to
snap pictures of a cube-like Citroën Ami, which has attracted a passionate fan
base in Paris. I later made my way to Milan, where I found a bicolored German
Smart ForTwo zipping past a row of on-street parking spots, one of which was
shared by a Fiat Topolino and a motorcycle. Later that day I came across a
Biro, a machine so diminutive that you can drive it on bike lanes in Amsterdam.
The advantages of such minicars are manifold. For one, they can comfortably fit
inside parking spots that would not accommodate a typical sedan, let alone a
hulking SUV. Minicars are also cheaper than a full-sized car; the bare-bones
Ami retails for around €6,000 ($6,600), a fraction of what a typical new
vehicle costs. Their modest weight, low hoods, and small blind spots minimize
threats to pedestrians and cyclists. Their environmental impact is similarly
downsized."
Via Esther Schindler.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
