Metro Buddy officially launched, will invade Europe
Metro Buddy - Click above for a hi-res gallery
The Metro Buddy was officially revealed at EVS 24, and we now have a gallery of official renderings, as well as pics from the coming out party, to share with you. On hand to lift the cloth from metallic matte orange and green cars were Norway's most famous TV weather personality Siri Kalvig (herself a Buddy owner) and Erik Solheim, Minister of the Environment. As you will see in the photos below, the event was well attended and we hear the cars had lots of camera-toting visitors during their time on display.
This latest Buddy should begin production this October and be available to buyers in December. The company plans on producing 5,000 of the little electric wedges with sales efforts beginning first in Scandinavia. If you dwell in Europe and have a hankering for a Metro Buddy of your own, we are assured that the three-seater will be made available there as well. We suspect that they may have another, slightly larger, variant in the works. We'll let you know if anything comes of that.
Gallery: Metro Buddy
Gallery: Merto Buddy launch
[Source: Elbilnorge]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Zeph 2:03PM (5/22/2009)
Straight out of the movie Idiocracy.
I don't see a need to have green cars be ugly. The IMiev shows that you can easily reengineer a current design (and as such a current factory) into an electric viehicle. Current viehicle packaging and weight distribution across the market is already pretty optimal, which is why cars often look similar over different brands. So to have this ugly duckling be so much uglier than say and electric smart is silly.
If the underlying techology is good there should be some investment on the design. Compare this to a Tesla S and we have one car that makes electrics desirable and one that visually slanders them.
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Matt 2:07PM (5/22/2009)
...and did he mention it's fugly?
Ramesh 12:52AM (5/27/2009)
I completely agree on this. Why can't the design be such that four people can comfortably sit? The rear seats in electric cars for some reason are designed so that only two children aged not more than 5 can sit. There will be genuine demand for such electric cars if it can comfortably accommodate four people and the looks are better and normal.
Throwback 2:33PM (5/22/2009)
Who would pay money for this? Is this a joke?
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hedel 4:24AM (6/24/2009)
Your comments on design and size are very thoughtful... you just forget coupla things. MetroBuddy is approved as a "quadricycle" and therefore has some design, weight and size constraints .....
It's simply not the same market as Tesla and electric version of regular passenger cars...
On the price, average selling price in Europe for quadricycles is around 15,000€ and keeps growing every year : (1) once bought, no more fuel, very limited maintenance, (2) increased level of penaties and license withdrawals by european polices (3) increased level of environment conscience (4) some well-off parents preferring to pay some extra money rather than having their children riding mopeds.....
Taglane 2:43PM (5/22/2009)
Oh look, it's the Miniature Lambo SUV!
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Phil L. 3:02PM (5/22/2009)
Look at some old CitiCar/CommutaCar pictures. It's surprising just how many design cues seem to appear from those models.
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Ernie 3:36PM (5/22/2009)
When people say that electric cars are ugly, they mean this.
Which coincidentally, appears to directly take design cues from the original glorified golf cart, the Citicar. Which is the historical basis for the argument that electric cars suck.
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imoore 5:17PM (5/22/2009)
I like the potential of the car, but the design needs work. It does remind one of the old CitiCar, and it was much better looking. Make it look closer to the think city, and you've got something there.
Siri Kalvig, however, makes the ladies on The Weather Channel look terrific.
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hedel 4:24AM (6/24/2009)
Your comments on design and size are very thoughtful... you just forget coupla things. MetroBuddy is approved as a "quadricycle" and therefore has some design, weight and size constraints .....
It's simply not the same market as Tesla and electric version of regular passenger cars...
On the price, average selling price in Europe for quadricycles is around 15,000€ and keeps growing every year : (1) once bought, no more fuel, very limited maintenance, (2) increased level of penaties and license withdrawals by european polices (3) increased level of environment conscience (4) some well-off parents preferring to pay some extra money rather than having their children riding mopeds.....
Reply