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City car

A current model Toyota city car

A City Car is a small, moderately powered vehicle (sometimes battery electric powered) intended for use in urban areas. It is more substantial and faster than a Neigborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV). Unlike the NEV, the City Car's greater speed and occupant protection allow relatively safe operation in mixed traffic environments and in all weather conditions. While it may be capable of freeway speeds and may be legal to operate on high speed roadways this is not intended to be its primary operating environment.

Another name for city car is Station Car, where the intended use is to travel from a suburban home to an interurban transit station or Park and Ride lot where the vehicle remains until the operator returns from the commute to and from the workplace. In some locations electric vehicle recharging is provided to encourage the use of electric vehicles. NEVs may also be used as station cars where the roadway speed limits permit such use.

Internal combustion engine (ICE) city cars

Early superminis can be considered city cars because of their size, but even in the late 70s superminis were the second smallest available cars (after the two-seater microcars). But in the late 80s they had grown so much that peple desired smaller cars, which still had to have seating for four.

Early ages

The first city car is probably the 1980 Fiat/SEAT Panda. With a length under 3.50 metres and low-cost design, a new car category was created. The Panda remplacement, the 1991 Fiat Cinquecento is unarguably a city car. With only 3.20 meters long, it had room for four and true entry-level prices.

Renault followed in 1993 with the Renault Twingo, which featured a MPV-like design and interior room, despite its size and height (3.43 x 1.42 m). Combined with an original exterior and interior design, it became the best-selling city car quickly.

Korean vs. European city cars

The Korean brands Daewoo, Hyundai and Kia introduced in the late 90s their own city cars, both for the Asian and European markets. The Hyundai Atos, launched in 1997, was 3.50 m long and 1.60 m tall, which was much more than any European models (usually under 1.45 m) and provided an inmense interior room. However, its boxy styling prevented the Atos from becoming a best-seller.

The Daewoo Matiz followed in 1998 with a Giorgetto Giugiaro design and a mid-size heigth (1.50 m), which proved more eye-catching. Hyundai tried to revert this with the rounder Atos Prime but without much success.

These Korean city cars were much cheaper than most of the European models, specially the 2000 Opel Agila and 1999 Volkswagen Lupo, and showed decent reliability. Still, sales were dominated by the Renault Twingo and Ford Ka.

Luxury city cars

Mercedes-Benz launched in 1996 the first luxury city car, the Mercedes-Benz A-Class. Despite its true qualities, it was extremely expensive (it could be compared with the small family car Volkswagen Golf) and was not very successful. However BMW decided to compete against its eternal rival by launching an all-new MINI in 2001. It was powered by 1.6 engines and the cheapest model in the range cost €16,000.

City car / supermini crossovers

While family cars and superminis grew considerably from the 90s to the 2000s, so happened with city cars. After some new superminis were over 3.90 m long (like the Ford Fiesta, the SEAT Ibiza and the Volkswagen Polo) some many makers designed models between 3.65 and 3.75 m.

The first of these models was the 2002 Nissan Micra, which is 3.72 m long and smaller that many superminis of the late 90s. Other cars are the Citroën C2, Suzuki Swift, Smart Forfour, Toyota Yaris and Peugeot 1007 (the last one which can also be labelled as "mini MPV").

These vehicles are hard to classify, since their size does not fit the "city car" and "supermini" categories. A possiblity is to compare the price and interior room with superminis: the Yaris is definitely a supermini, whereas the Tata Indica is closer to a city car.

In addition, there are new "true" city cars, like the 2004 Kia Picanto and the Citroën C1/Peugeot 107/Toyota Aygo trio.

Battery electric city cars

The Th!nk City, imported to the USA by Ford Motor Company to satisfy California Zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) requirements in the state of California. Removed from the market by Ford in a bargain with the California Air Resources Board..

The REVA electric vehicle as used in its home environment, India. This may soon be exported to the USA with speed electronically limited and sold as an NEV.

The obstacle to adaptation of such vehicles in the United States is less technical than cultural and political. The mandates by regulatory powers that such vehicles to meet full U.S. safety regulations, as high-speed roadways exist in most urban and suburban areas, ensures the unavailability of vehicles suitable for use in mixed traffic conditions that predominate in U.S. suburban areas. To supporters of electric vehicles this appears not to be an accident.

See also

• Battery electric vehicle
• Car classification
• Electric vehicle conversion
• List of recent city cars
• Supermini car
• Vehicle size class

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