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I’ll post a full view which should make things clearer….

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So I had completely forgotten about this car until I came across one in the Design Museum in Copenhagen in August.

It’s hard to nail down some of the info as there are no official sites anymore and some of the “club” sites and random “does anyone remember this car” type sites have conflicting information. Even pinning-down the correct name is hard - the one here might be the original (there wasn’t enough info and my Danish is *cough* “patchy”.) but they are generally called CitiEl cars (the El being “Ellert” not “Electric”)

In essence it is a 1m wide electric city car designed and produced in Denmark (later bought by a German entrepreneur and moved to Germany) that has a front-pivoted canopy and usually a single seat with a steering wheel/controls. There was a “targa” version (there’s a YouTube video of a chap driving an orange one), a fibreglass-roofed US modification and one with a rear facing child seat.

Allegedly 5500 were sold over maybe 30 years? Production dates are hard to check…

It also has the distinction of having possibly the worst promotional video ever for its marketing…

 

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22 hours ago, NigelG said:

...In essence it is a 1m wide electric city car designed and produced in Denmark......that has a front-pivoted canopy and usually a single seat with a steering wheel/controls.......Allegedly 5500 were sold over maybe 30 years? Production dates are hard to check…

It also has the distinction of having possibly the worst promotional video ever for its marketing…

Absolutely never even aware of the existence of this vehicle before this thread so thanks, Nigel, for that!

In all seriousness I found the concept to be rather sound and forward-thinking and a very laudable effort all round. It doesn't even look too bad. Not quite there with a Dino 246, of course, but quite attractive - considering it's intended market and also the time-frame in which it was created - in a great many ways. I'm sorry to see that it didn't catch on / was developed more thouroughly.

Promo Video IS priceless!

Thanks again for posting this fascinating creation. It's possible that the inventor / designer had thought that they had solved - in some way - some of the problems of 'cars in the city' and was hoping that the world would be appreciative. Such a shame that things didn't quite work out as they must have hoped that it could have done.

Generational neccessities apart is it really that much different, in concept and execution, than a Renault 'Twizzy'? Personally I'd probably opt for the CitiEL...

Philip.

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I think it’s interesting to note that this was available on the market only 18 months after the Sinclair C5.

Notwithstanding its obvious issues (created in a large part by the available battery/motor technology of the day) I would record that as England 0 : 1 Denmark 

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vor 17 Stunden schrieb stuny:

Who would like to step in for Wilson?

Edited by a.j.z
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Another crop

 

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As mentioned not a Suzuki.

I posted it because it looks like a grown up version of the previous riddle car 😉

 

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Edited by a.j.z
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