<
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/30/liuxs-big-microcar-bets-on-sustainability-to-take-on-chinese-rivals/>
"Cars in European cities are smaller than ever. But as Europe’s appetite for
microcars has grown, the cute Italian ‘yoghurt pots’ have largely given way to
small Chinese EVs. Even Smart, the the iconic ultracompact car brand, has moved
manufacturing to China.
Spanish startup Liux thinks it can compete in a crowded market with a tiny
electric car built around sustainability.
Following the tracks of the Microlino out of Switzerland, Liux is trying to
carve out a place in the market with its upcoming microcar, the Liux Big. The
“Big” name is a joke. It is small enough to park at a right angle to the curb;
but the name also reflects the oversized ambitions of a team that rarely takes
the expected route.
“The idea of a European car does not exist,” Liux co-founder Antonio Espinosa
de los Monteros told
TechCrunch. Coming from the CEO of a startup whose cars
are already making headlines for being “made in Spain,” it was a surprising
take — and one that reveals a lot about the company’s priorities.
It is true that Liux opened Spain’s first new car plant in more than 30 years.
But as we sat down in its elegant showroom, Monteros and his co-founder David
Sancho said they had concluded that a fully sovereign supply chain is
unattainable. Instead, Liux is trying to navigate that reality while keeping
sustainability as its north star.
Liux’s batteries are not made in Europe, but they are meant to be easily
replaceable. The car is also meant to be easy to maintain and avoid the faster
obsolescence cycles of modern cars. Perhaps most notably, its fiber body is
made from a novel linen-based biocomposite designed so the material can later
be extracted and recycled."
Via Susan ****
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
