Microcars have been a failure so far – here’s why: Everyone loves them, no one buys them

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It is not easy to find official Swiss registration numbers for small electric four-wheelers such as the Renault Twizy, Microlino, Citroën Ami, Fiat Topolino or Opel Rocks-e. The Swiss Automobile Importers Association does not list these in its regular registration statistics. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t aware of the registration figures for electric four-wheelers, which are officially called light and small motor vehicles in Switzerland.

If you ask importers, for example in Opel, they say: “Our Rocks-e quota, which starts from 9,690 francs, has been exhausted this year.” Sounds good. Only: According to Auto Schweiz, exactly 25 vehicles were newly registered by the electric Opel midget from January 1 to the end of November 2023. At Citroën, numbers for the same Americani model are similarly manageable: just 21 units of the tiny Citroën were sold in the first eleven months of this year, according to Auto-Schweiz.

Special case Switzerland

This shows that despite the big Jöh factor, almost no one wants to buy small electric vehicles from us. One reason for this is, of course, high prices. “The light vehicles we sell usually cost between 16,000 and 20,000 euros. Many young people cannot afford this,” says an Austrian dealer. The situation is no different in Switzerland.

In addition, Opel Rocks-e or Citroën Ami, which are officially defined as light motor vehicles in our country and are limited to a maximum speed of 45 km/h, can be driven with an F category (16 years old) ID card. a yellow plate. However, in neighboring countries such as France and Germany, these vehicles can be registered with a special ticket for the 14 or 15 age group.

A lot of money for a small car

However, there is no microcar boom in these countries. “After Corona, interest in micro vehicles has increased among young people, especially young women,” says the Austrian dealer. But he is quick to warn: “We’re not talking about large amounts.” It sells around 40 new and used Ligier light vehicles every year in its country.

Even for slightly larger and faster electric dwarfs such as the Renault Twizy or the Microlino from Küsnacht scooter provider Micro, demand is not through the roof. According to Auto Schweiz, 479 Microlinos have been registered on Swiss roads so far this year. Secretly, the Ouboter brothers were probably expecting more. The same goes here: if you want a Microlino with decent range, you can easily pay 20,000 francs or more. That’s a lot of money for a relatively small car.

Twizy has two successors

And Renault no longer officially offers the Twizy in Switzerland. “There must be 13 new Twizys registered with us this year, storage or display vehicles,” suspects Renault spokesman Marc Utzinger. Although the Twizy was not the best-selling model we had hoped for, it received two successors: the Duo and Bento models. The two-seat Duo is purely a people mover, while the backpack-like Bento is a small commercial transporter for the city. Both are powered by an electric motor at the rear, have a top speed of 80 km/h and a range of around 140 kilometres. Both will also have variants with a maximum speed limited to 45 km/h; For example, in Germany, it will allow people aged 15 and over to drive vehicles with an AM ID card.

But even this new duo is unlikely to cause our micro-vehicle registration numbers to soar. However, it is not yet known whether the idea will find other imitators and inspire manufacturers. Because one thing is certain: in the medium term, our urban mobility will have to reinvent itself.

Source: Blick