Driving through central London in the tiny Microlino electric car, barely visible among the massive SUVs, it’s surprising that it’s the center of attention. “Yes, a Lego car!” shouts the scaffolder.
Made by Micro, the family-owned Swiss company behind the mini-micro scooters and modeled after the bubble cars that had a brief heyday in the 1950s, the two-seater is only 2.5 meters long – slightly smaller than the Smart. The most unusual feature is its one and only door (there’s also a rear hatch to access the boot) which is at the front. The windshield and hood will open to let you in.
The Microlino goes on sale in the UK this month, bucking a trend that is pushing the car industry in the opposite direction. Despite global warming and the warnings of environmental scientists, the demand for ever-larger cars continues to grow.
Sports utility vehicles (SUVs) will account for almost half of global car sales in 2023, according to the respected forecaster International Energy Agency (IEA). The definition of an SUV can be vague (usually something to do with a higher seating position and off-road styling), but the IEA said this week that the “move towards increasingly larger and heavier cars” is “the defining automotive trend of the early 21st century”.Holy century”.
Tiny cars are still a rarity and the Microlino is enough to cause a stir. Countless people double-take, wave, laugh and take pictures. Cyclists lean in to chat at traffic lights; a bus driver delays his passengers for a few seconds to give a thumbs up; the taxi driver suggests that it might help in this reporter’s romantic life.
It feels right at home in the city, although with a range of 136 miles and a top speed of 56 mph, it could handle trips further afield.
Squeezed into a small space between a Bentley and a Land Rover Defender, the Microlino parks facing out under the watchful gaze of an onlooker who turns out to be the owner of both luxury cars. This is in the posh London borough that gave the “Chelsea truck” its name, where four-wheel drive has become standard issue, even though residents rarely need off-road vehicles to get to and from the shops.
However, the SUV’s reach now extends far beyond the Chelsea. David Bailey, a professor of business economics at the University of Birmingham, said various pressures had contributed to the bigger cars. Customer demand for space and a commanding position is included. Regulation is another matter: airbags and emissions control systems (such as AdBlue for diesels) add a larger percentage to the cost of smaller cars.
“If a company makes a small car that takes up space on the production line, that’s an opportunity cost when it could make a more profitable bigger car,” Bailey said. But he added that “if you do it on a large scale, you can still make a decent profit margin.”
Even the Mini has outgrown its name. Perhaps the most famous British car was conceived at a time when post-war fuel rationing made efficiency attractive. The original was 3.05 meters long. Then, when it was restarted in 2011, it grew to 3.7 meters. One of the latest releases, the steroidal electric Mini Countryman (“the biggest Mini ever”) has more in common with Land Rover, measuring 4.4 meters.
Some other brands followed the same path. Smart’s Fortwo was the best-known tiny car on European roads, but the new electric models (partly Chinese-owned) are significantly larger five-seaters.
The results of car growth are not good for the environment. Two hundred kilograms or more of extra weight for an SUV, plus the added drag from a larger frontal area, means burning more fossil fuels. This increases carbon emissions by 20%, the IEA said. A quarter of global oil demand growth last year can be attributed to petrol SUVs. Electric SUVs consume far more valuable minerals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt than smaller vehicles, making decarbonisation goals more difficult.
Larger vehicles also contribute to tire pollution and make pedestrians more likely to die, especially women and children.
And they take up more space. SUVs need 0.3 extra square meters, increasing parking requirements and spoiling city streets. In contrast, the tiny Microlino can slip into even the tiniest of gaps.
Colin Walker, head of transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think tank, hopes the imminent launch of smaller, cheaper electric models such as the £14,995 Renault 5 and Dacia Spring will help accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.
“One of the main barriers holding people back is the lack of smaller, cheaper electric cars,” he said. “I would guess so. [manufacturers] they’ve been a little slow in trying to build these models.”
Of the major Western manufacturers, only Stellantis – the owner of Citroën, Peugeot, Chrysler, Vauxhall and others – has ventured into the really tiny electric car segment. His £8,095 Citroën Ami has gained something of a cult following despite a top speed of 28mph and a range of 46 miles. It’s particularly popular with high school students in France, where the self-proclaimed “object of urban mobility” is classed as a light quad, meaning that it can be driven by anyone aged 14 and over without a full driving licence.
Yet it is China that is extending its growing dominance of electric cars into the realm of small cars, often based on cheap lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Those on sale in China (but not yet in Europe) include the £6,000 Geely Panda, the £3,400 Wuling Hongguang Mini EV and the £9,100 Baojun Yep, a joint venture between SAIC and US General Motors. which offers SUV style in a small package.
There is a lot of competition for slightly larger hatchbacks. SAIC’s MG4 has already conquered the British market, where the brand originated. BYD’s impressive Dolphin is expected to make a big splash in the small family car market.
Merlin Ouboter, who oversaw the Microlino project and whose father Wim made the Micro famous with his scooters, hopes to steal away from European rivals in the small car segment (although a £22,000 premium price tag and some flimsy parts suggest it’s well on its way to to become a mass marketer).
“Most of the cars we see on the road today are completely rebuilt for their everyday use,” Ouboter said. Microlino is aimed at the vast majority of journeys (94% in the UK) that are less than 25 miles. For the rest, it expects greater use of occasional shared or rental cars.
James Nix of the Brussels-based campaign group Transport & Environment says other governments should follow France, which is introducing higher parking charges for large cars in Paris and higher sales taxes at national level. This could help stop the annual increase in the size of new cars towards the scale of metal monsters in the US.
“Do we as Europeans want to replicate the development of the North American fleet?” Nix asked. “I don’t think this question has been asked at a political level yet.”