Earlier this week the Swiss company Micro Mobility Systems took a beautiful blow to all the memories of our collective imagination.
The company, which specializes in micro vehicles, presented its Microlino 2.0 EV to the public for the first time. If any of you remember the legendary Isetta very closely, know that it is so. Looks like her daughter. More: it looks like her. What nostalgia! And what a beauty.
Il Microlino 2.0 it is a completely electric reinterpretation of the Isetta it once was built by the likes of BMW and many more in the late 50s and early 60s. Many will know it as a "bubble car", because it looks like a bubble on wheels.
According to the company Microlino 2.0 has room for two adults, a maximum range of 200 km, and exceeds 90 km per hour. It costs around € 12.000, and will be on the road next year. Will deal with it the newborn Citroen Ami, well set up (and priced) but perhaps of inferior performance.
Extremely popular
I find it delicious. I love it. And it seems to be proving quite popular already. Micro Mobility Systems claims to have 17.000 pre-orders. Enthusiastically aimed at drivers of European cities, the Microlino 2.0 is a breath of fresh air and creativity.
Here is yesterday's presentation (there is flab starting at 7:10):
Perhaps, a single ad note, the name isn't exactly the best. But it sounds less ugly in its "scooter" version. The company has also launched the Microletta, a three-wheeled electric scooter.
Given the undeniable resemblance of Microlino to Isetta, perhaps Microletta would have been a more popular name, but they are trifles now. I hope the Microlino is destined for much greater things.
Small cars in big cities make a lot, a lot of sense: They are easy to park, easy to drive and have less environmental impact than large uneconomic cars.
What happened to 1.0?
If you are wondering why Microlino has a "2.0" next to the name: yes, this is the second version. I have never heard of the first.
Micro Mobility Systems presented the first Microlino approximately five years ago at the Geneva Motor Show . At the time it looked ready for a 2019 launch, but a storyline with a legal battle outline pitted the Swiss company against Artega, the German company that had been commissioned to build the car.
The 2.0 version of Isett ... sorry, Microlino, is obviously an improvement of the 1.0, and will be built in Turin with the production partner CECOMP .
