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Size Matters
The
Rise of the Small Car
In today’s
world of high fuel prices, environmental concerns and tight parking spaces
it comes as no surprise to know that there is an ever increasing market
for smaller cars, or the micro cars, as the industry calls them. This
is nothing new, you might say, especially if you cite the various tiny
cars of the late fifties and sixties, the classic mini, the Fiat 500 and
BMW 3 wheeler to name but a few. But the micro car is back with us with
a vengeance, and all the car manufacturers are getting in on the game.
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 Of
course Volkswagen are already there with their sub Polo size Lupo. The Lupo
is VWs baby car but is no child in its performance, and with the Turbo Diesel
version unveiled (see Wheelspin Oct) and a Turbo model just around the corner
it seems VW to not match up their smallest car with tiny engines. Volkswagen,
like all the major European car manufacturers (except BMW) has spotted the
micro market and are determined to fill demand. |
There
are, of course, a whole range of micro cars and small people carriers
out there from VWs rivals, but most of them - especially from Japanese
manufactures are simply too dull to mention. The most obvious new kid
on the block in the micro car stakes is Rover’s mini Cooper S,
due out next year. I’ve already had cause to highlight the new
mini in relation to the car industry’s retro design influences,
but this car is in direct competition with the Lupo (as a micro car)
and the New Beetle (as a redesign of a classic car).
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 Even
Mercedes Benz, who were once synonymous with large corporate status symbols
have got in on the act, firstly by creating the compact A Class people
carrier and then, going further by creating an offshoot company to push
the Smart Car. The Smart Car is a collaboration between Mercedes subsidiary
MCC and Swatch, famous for bright sporty Swiss watches. The attraction
of the Smart is that, by having only two seats side by side it has a very
short length and can be driven straight into the smallest parking space
with its nose to the kerb. Despite its tiny 600cc Turbo charged power
plant it can reach a top speed of 80 mph, but when Jeremy Clarkson reviewed
it, he commented that you wouldn’t want to take this lightweight
on a motorway. Designed purely as a town car what it lacks in room in
makes up in parking and, of course, it’s well within the cheaper
tax bracket. MCC have already showed a roadster variant of the smart at
the Frankfurt Motor Show which may well make it into production.
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 Citroen,
who for so long have been noted for their lacklustre car design, have
now come up with the Xone designed as the spiritual successor to the 2CV,
but borrowing none of its "made out of old corrugated iron"
styling. The Pluriel is Citroen’s convertible concept version of
the Xone and is a compact car designed like the old 2CV to have removable
rear seats to create a storage area at the back and has slight hints of
the 2CVs ridged construction along its sides.
The Italians have always had a market for small cars, and it is obvious
why if you’ve ever seen a Mercedes try and navigate through old Italian
town centres. Apart from Fiat’s ubiquitous Punto, an Italian car
manufacturer has resurrected the Fiat 500 out of fibreglass and created
the open top GoGo. It has the same aircooled motor in the back but features
rather spartan wooden seats. Priced at around £8999 its rather a
lot of Lira for what is a simple fibreglass reconstruction of a cheap
classic (although the price of restored Fiat 500s in the classic market
is high compared to VWs).
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lastly, as anybody who has been to a VW show will know, a handful of enthusiasts
have already created micro cars and buses of their own; by cutting and
shutting old beetles and campers. The results are perhaps the finest micro
cars around today, I wonder if VW Mexico should be told.
Louis
Henwood
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