Okay, here’s the link to the company’s website. It’s called the Ecomobile, and it’s built in Switzerland:
http://www.meos.ch/peraves/indexe.htm
Their high-performance model is called the “Turbo Ecomobile”. You steer it like a motorcyle. It goes 0-100 kmh in 5.0 seconds, and has a top speed “above 170 mph”.
For safety, it has a roll cage, 3-point harness and a kevlar body. It weighs about 1500 lbs, and gets 52 mpg. You need a motorcycle license to drive one, although the company has managed to get a waiver for helmet laws because of the roll cage and harness. (The need for a helmet kills many ‘commuter’ concepts. It’s amazing how simple things can destroy the appeal of something - women going to work don’t want to mess up their hair styles under a helmet).
It’s a pretty luxurious little vehicle, too. Full heating and air conditioning system, Becker audio system, GPS, leather seats, ABS brakes. They also have a servo-controlled stabilization system, and apparently the outriggers are only used as backup. You can’t lay the machine on its side either, because even with the outriggers in stowed position they’ll touch the pavement if you roll it over too far.
Unfortunately, it looks like the price has gone bananas on them. When I first saw them, they were intended to be used as mass transit. Since that market probably fizzled, the company converted them into a luxurious cruising vehicle. Accordingly, they now start at 89,500 swiss francs, which is about $54,000 US.
Now, if the IT is a smaller, lighter, MUCH cheaper version of this, without the need for the complex outriggers etc., they might have something. But bear in mind that this Swiss company has been building these things for years, and apparently hardly anyone has ever heard of them. So the concept is not exactly taking the world by storm. If there had been a mass market for the Eco-mobile, the price would have dropped below that of an economy car. They are extremely expensive now because they are essentially handmade.
