Thursday, January 1, 2009

City cars, three-wheelers, leaners and future concepts

There are quite a few unique lightweight vehicles on the horizon. Many of these vehicles have motorbike-derived engines for higher efficiency. Some are more practical, some well-suited for commuting duties, any of which would be welcome in my garage.


BMW's Clever (Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transportation), a tandem two-seat leaning three-wheeler. The concept is shooting for a cost around $10-13k. Just about right to offset the Chevrolet Suburban.


Here without the skin, you can see the design a bit closer.

clever_curving.jpg


The NARO project, from the UK. It's a bit like a pair of motorbikes connected as a tarmac-bound catamaran, tandem seating as well.

Carver
The Fiaro Carver is another tandem, leaning three-wheeler. Looks to be very similar to the Clever.

As far as smaller city cars and three-wheelers, I still prefer to have two up front and one at the rear.


Liberty Motors in Seattle, WA has created a classic Morgan-inspired three-wheeler. It runs a modern Harley-Davidson engine for reliability and style, as well as ease of maintenance. They call is the ACE; the American Cycle-car Endeavor. Cycle-cars have been around since the internal combustion engine, though more popular in Europe than the States.

http://cycle-car.com/images/2009/IMG_0961-copy.gif
Side-by-side seating for two in an open-air roadster.

http://cycle-car.com/images/2009/IMG_1119-copy.gif
Simple engineering, classic styling, hopefully this one makes production.

http://cycle-car.com/images/2009/IMG_1017-copy.gif


http://evolution.loremo.com/images/stories/menue_design/large/10_lightbox.jpg
The high-tech Loremo concept, a beautiful two-seat commuter. It's twin-cylinder diesel engine returns 120mpg with style, capable of 100mph.

http://evolution.loremo.com/images/stories/menue_design/large/06_lightbox.jpg

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