The microcar is doing an electric resurrection

The best ideas often come from outside. Thus, in the 1980s, a successful watch manufacturer came up with the idea of ​​transferring the concept that had made its Swatch wristwatches so popular to a car. A compact city car, that is, a segment that the established order, in the opinion of Nicolas Hayek, neglected too much. But then, completely in accordance with the style of his watches, hip, colorful and highly customizable. Despite his bravado, Hayek was realistic enough to understand that developing and building cars was different from assembling clocks, so he sought a partnership with an existing car manufacturer. This was to safeguard his future market position, so that he as a newcomer would not be crushed between the millstones of the established order. He found that connection with Volkswagen in 1991, but the conception was prematurely interrupted in 1993 when Ferdinand Piëch took office as the new CEO. He was already busy with the future ‘Dreiliterauto’ and saw competition rather than added value in the project with Swatch. Hayek was not deterred by this rejection and, after unsuccessful talks with General Motors, Fiat, Renault and BMW, ended up in a spread bed at Daimler-Benz.

NAFA

The fact that Mercedes-Benz did see good in Hayek’s plan was partly because it still had an idea lying around somewhere that had once led to the NAFA concept car from 1981, which had not reached the production stage. NAFA stood for ‘Nahverkehrsfahrzeug’, German for short-range vehicle, and that matched the idea of ​​Swatch nicely. Together, the two companies set up a joint venture called Micro Compact Car AG, MCC for short. Meanwhile, two new study models were ready, the Eco-sprinter and Eco-speedster, which became the starting point for the development of what would eventually become the City-Coupé. Smart was chosen as the brand name, which was a contraction of ‘Swatch Mercedes Art’. The City-Coupé debuted in the autumn, but Hayek, who had in mind a hybrid powertrain, was not satisfied with the result and SMH (Swatch’s parent company) was bought out, after which Smart became wholly owned by Daimler-Benz.

Robbie Williams

This is how the real life of the Smart brand began, which mainly presented itself as young, hip and dynamic, something we would now call ‘urban’, with freestylers, skateboards and lots of graffiti. The City-Coupé was joined by the equally hip Roadster and Roadster-Coupé and the less hip ForFour (after which the City-Coupé was given the new name ForTwo). There were also variants on the original, such as the convertible and the Crossblade, for which none other than Robbie Williams was pulled out of the closet. In 2007, the first generation ForTwo was succeeded by a new model and with that it passed the barrier of one million built.

The third generation ForTwo, which kicked off in 2014, is now on its last legs and it is remarkable that the new model, of which Smart showed a close to production concept car at the last IAA, is a compact SUV in the B-segment. As a result, we asked CEO Daniel Lescow whether he still believes in the micro-car, but we did not get a conclusive answer to that question, except that he first wants to concentrate on launching the SUV and that by the time there will be that it comes out, more becomes known about one or more other models. Perhaps there will also be a bubble car involved.

cult objects

Indeed, a bubble car, because no matter how progressive Smart was in the late 1990s, micro-cars were there much earlier, although the reason was different at the time. Just after the Second World War, when the world was licking its wounds, a full-fledged car was reserved for only a few. Especially in defeated Germany, life was not a fat one and manufacturers cleverly responded with very small cars for relatively small prices. At the time, they would have had little sex appeal, but today they are beloved classics and cult objects. It’s no wonder, then, that the micro-cars we expect to see in the coming years are often reinterpretations of the bubble cars of yesteryear. In addition to the tight stock markets of car buyers, German industry had to deal with another obstacle. Aircraft manufacturers were no longer allowed to practice their actual business in post-war Germany and turned to cars. For example, there was Heinkel, which built bombers in the dark years before 1945, but broke new ground in the 1950s with the Kabine. BMW also took its lesson of modesty to heart and fully focused on a concept that it had seen in Italy, resulting in the BMW Isetta. Besides its egg-shaped body, it was mainly the construction of the single door at the front that made the Isetta so special; the steering column moved with the opening of that door.

Micro Microlino

The classic Isetta served as an example for a brand new micro-car that has a good chance of appearing on Dutch roads as early as 2022. Swiss company Micro has developed the Microlino, which is unmistakably a smoothed-out version of the Isetta. Special (and very nice) is that Micro has taken over the opening nose of the Isetta. The only difference is that the steering wheel and steering column remain in place with the modern version, which has to do with an old patent, which also prevented a moving steering wheel in the Heinkel Kabine as in the Isetta. Of course, the Microlino is electric. The two-seater comes with a choice of three batteries, with the lightest (6 kWh) reaching 95 km, the middle (10.5 kWh) 175 km and the heaviest with its 14 kWh 230 km. The electric motor supplies 19 kW to the rear wheels, the maximum speed is 90 km/h and Microlino recently told AutoWeek that it might come to our country next year. Recently you could even read a first driving impression in AutoWeek. The European starting price of the Microlino is €12,500.

fear and trembling

Messerschmitt Cabinet Roller

Messerschmitt was another such name that instilled fear and trembling during the war. If you heard a device of that brand approaching, you had to bend down and pray. That is why Messerschmitt was paralyzed by the Allies after the German defeat. The Messerschmitts that rolled out of the factory after the war were a lot less intimidating than the fighters and bombers that wreaked havoc between 1939 and 1945. Nevertheless, some aviation gasoline remained in the veins of Messerschmitt’s engineers, because their Kabinenroller mainly resembled a cockpit without an airplane. That went so far that boarding went the same way. More than 50,000 units of two generations left the factory before the curtain fell for the KR 200 model in 1964.

Messerschmitt KR

Messerschmitt now thinks it is a good time to breathe new life into the legendary Kabinenroller. Little has changed in the design, but all the more in the technology. Remarkably, the new-style KR is also available with a petrol engine, a 125 cc single-cylinder with 7.3 hp and the type name KR 202. Unlike its illustrious predecessor, the 202 has a four-stroke engine. More interesting is the KR E-5000 which, as the name suggests, is electrically powered. With its 5 kW engine and 195 kilos, it reaches a top speed of 90 km/h, just like the petrol version. The 1.4 kWh battery provides a range of 80 km, after which it needs to be plugged in for 4 to 6 hours. For an additional charge, you can extend the range with a second battery pack.

suicide doors

It’s not just newcomers with reincarnations of old bubblecars who are trying to reinvent this market. After all, we’d be doing Renault an injustice if we didn’t mention the Twizy, the fun, daring electric two-seater that amazed friend and foe ten years ago. Meanwhile, compatriot Citroën has taken the Ami into production. They are two completely different cars, yet the Citroën Ami unveiled in Paris in 1961 to bridge the gap between the 2CV and the DS and the Ami you can pull out of the box 60 years later have one thing in common: their extravagant appearance. Limited dimensions also involve a degree of creative limitation, but Citroën wouldn’t be Citroën if it gave in to that. The Ami of our time is a distinctive, even somewhat tough cart with a lot of possibilities to personalize it. It is striking that the passenger door opens in the conventional way, while the driver has realized a suicide. The battery measures 5.5 kWh and with that the Ami should be able to drive 70 km. Charging is done using the old-fashioned home-garden-and-kitchen plug, via a wallbox or the public AC charging station and takes 3 hours. The Ami is limited to 45 km/h, which means that you can get behind the wheel without a B driver’s license, provided you are at least 16 years old and in possession of a moped driver’s license. Then the Dutch importer still has to make the decision to also carry the Ami in our country.

Resurrection

Opel is reaping the electric fruit of the Stellantis amalgamation through its own interpretation of the Ami, under the name Rocks-E. For the technical specifications, we refer to the section above. With other inserts in the body and other wheels where possible, Opel has managed to make something unique out of it. Opel has now announced that the Rocks-E will also come to the Netherlands.

Opel Rocks-e

In addition to these fairly to completely concrete new micro-cars, there are a number of less certain initiatives, which are nevertheless worth mentioning, such as the Uniti One. You can already order it, but whether and when you will receive it, the question remains for the time being: this is how it goes with start-ups and that is the whole of 2021. Uniti is an initiative from Sweden that aims to get us all out of the oil burner. What does it – ever – entail for that? The Uniti One is an extremely smooth three-seater, in which the driver sits centrally. Preparations are also underway in China in this area, such as the Wuling Nano, and the e.Go Life is now on the road in Germany.

With so many newcomers on offer plus the apparent confidence of a giant like Stellantis in the micro-car phenomenon, it could well be that this concept is on the cusp of an electric revival, whose birth year will turn out to be 2022.

This article originally appeared in the AutoWeek annual special 2022.