METROBuddy electric car debuts, kind of resembles a mail van
Looking from behind, one might assume that the METROBuddy is an electric car with style. Unfortunately, those hopes are dashed when peeking the whole whip from the side, as you suddenly become overwhelmed with hints of USPS mail van, garbage truck and a rather large protractor. Design gripes aside, our good pals over at AutoblogGreen were able to sneak a peek at the bantam automobile, which supposedly packs a range of around 50 to 75 miles on a full charge. There's been no mention yet of a price or global release (don't get your hopes up on the latter), but feel free to have a better look around in the vid just past the break.
[Via AutoblogGreen]
[Via AutoblogGreen]























I think we'd be better of saving the Lithium for the Fusion Reactor that will always be 20 years away then using it for batteries for cars that basically no one really wants to own or drive. If you want to make an electric car and have it be effective, hire a designer to make it look half-decent.
AHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!
The 7 inches in front of your face is the crumple zone...
Oh man I'd hate to see what happens when an electric assisted bicycle hits this POS head on...
AHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!
Amazing! For a change Scheweppes did not compare this with an iPhone.
The lights kinda look like Lamborghini lights.
Very grrrrr baby, yahhhhh.
The front is sex. the side does kinda ruin the design. but sitll pretty cool looking.
I feel bad for your girlfriends if you think the front of that is sex.
for such a style of a car, it does look pretty good. Though of course it's not Tesla or for that matter a BMW.
It's not to bad looking. I think the green was a small hint that it's in fact a green vehicle.
Hey an electric car that's ugly.....huh....didn't see that coming, o wait never mind.
Will the volt and model s get here already!
I never thought I'd say it, but the Prius looks better than this.
And I thought the old Honda Insight was ugly...
Wow way to pick the shittiest angle ever engadget
the color of the car (green) looks cool...
Its Johnny Cab from Total Recall!!!!!!
Hey dcolucci, screeeeeeewyooooouuuuuuu! stole my line....i want to go to maaaaaaaagrrrs.
Maybe it's just the angle and lens, but, ew!
cool! they shot that whole thing in reverse! It's english backwards!
The future looks fugly!!!
Well, here's hoping what we're seeing is still a prototype.
But maybe there going for that "With a name like Smukers, it has to be good!" approch.
Sort of "With a design this utilitarian, it has to work well."
. . . or maybe I'm trying too hard to be positive . . .
As a norwegian, I guess I have to apologize for this video.
The lady in red is our Minister of transport, and this year is election year, so of course she spends most of the clip trying to squeeze in as much politics as possible, making everyone uncomfortable.
As for the car, I'm actually getting exited. There's already a fair amount of original Buddys rolling around Oslo, and I expect this new version to be even more of a hit. And it _is_ less ugly than the previous, which looks like a cheap plastic toy from early 1980's, USSR style. The overall design is smoother now, and they've shinycoated the previously very matte and dull plastic.
Plastic-style is the trabant from DDR, USSR is all about thick steel, like the lada niva.
The body of this car is made from Telene.
HA! I've driven that!
Surprised about acceleration and handlingm wouldnt buy it anyways
FYI, a price has been mentioned. Today's Buddy starts at 135 000 NOK, the MetroBuddy will be starting at 145 000 NOK. Thats about 21 000 USD for the current one and 22 500 USD for MetroBuddy (in Norway). But i guess the basic model use Nickel-metal hydride batteries, witch does not give you the range of the Lithium-ion version that probably will cost a bit more.
People need to keep in mind that this is a very basic car, for city use "only". It's supposed to be an eletric car that anyone can afford and that's reliable, and with that in mind I think it looks pretty cool ! :)
The factory already sells all the cars it produces, and are also expanding into the rest of europ. I don't know many other car manufacturers than can claim that these days. This car was never intended to compete with the Tesla and other "sportscars".
As for safety there has only been reported one driver injury ever (since 1998), and he didn't wear his seatbelt.
look a lot like the old Citicar. and don't be dissin' the Postal Jeep either. I had one, which only had the driver's seat, and i used it to haul ROCKETS (the High Power kind) out to Blackrock to launch with a few of my rocket scientist friends.I did have to retire it when gas hit $1.50 USD/ gal (15 mpg highway, ugh). Still, fun times. Even made it to Salt Lake once.
rolling coffin
"It's not a car, it's a statement"...
Being that I'm full of self lothing and guilt, that I feel the need to remove any chance of joy from my life by driving this thing.