AutoRAI 2001: the concept cars

The oddest of all "City Toyz" must be this E-doll. It's a sort of revival of the scooter or bubble car of the early 1950s. Like the Bobslid it carries three people, but this time next to each other, where the driver sits in the middle.
It has no side doors and the windscreen runs from the front all the way over to the rear of the car. The car is powered by two electric motors and measures 2.5 x 1.54 x 1.29 metres (length x width x height). The bubble-like passengers compartment is part of the self-supporting carbon-fiber body which also carries the batteries.

The driver operates E-doll with scooter-like handlebars incorporating a starter, twist-grip "gas" and brake controls and a twin-dial instrument panel. In the rear the chassis incorporates a trolley (here filled with colored balls) for shopping purposes.
The rear axle has two transverse control arms. To each of these control arms an electric motor straight out of the Peugeot Electric Scooter is attached, which drives the rear wheel by a belt. The two complete drive units are separated from the body and have a silver colored casing. In front here are two triangulated half-axles of a pseudo McPherson type.
It's a funny but unrealistic car; still, incorporating a shopping trolley in a car is a good and practical idea. I wonder if we'll see that in the future on production cars.

A sporty and good looking City Toy is the Kart-up. It's a 2-seater roadster with a very large, very horizontal windscreen that's almost like a roof and opens with the bonnet in a forward direction. Power comes from a standard Peugeot V6 producing 210 hp and the Kart-up has a self-supporting carbon-fiber body.
The Kart-up measures a modest 3.28 x 1.52 x 1.08 metres (length x width x height). This light and arrow-like car must be very quick and exciting with its 210 hp engine, especially considering the low seating position.

I guess the most exuberant of all four City Toyz is the Vroomster. It's sort of like a motorcycle on four wheels. This car is a two-seater where the driver sits in front and has the fuel tank between his knees. The passenger has a smaller seat behind the driver.
The Vroomster is made of carbon-fiber with foam and is powered by a 4-cylinder 110 hp twin-cam 16-valve engine from the Peugeot 206. Like with the Kart-up a large windscreen also forms the roof and protects driver and passenger. The driver steers the car by a so-called "handle-bar steering wheel". Unlike a motorcycle both driver's and passenger's seat are fitted with three point safety belts.
The apple-green Vroomster measures 3.16 x 1.52 x 1.36 metres (length x width x height).

Peugeot's City Toyz are certainly very creative and provocative and most people seemed to enjoy looking at them. I liked them, and what I liked best was that not the high-tech aspect was stressed as seems to be the fashion these days, but the almost sculpture-like designs: very refreshing.

Continue the tour by clicking the arrows pointing right....