The Tabby is a two-seater city driving-oriented vehicle in the vein of Renault’s questionably popular Twizy, but unlike the French offering, it doesn’t force you to use batteries that you rent and have to pay a monthly fee for.
You will be able to order the parts online, have them delivered, and build the chassis part of it in under an hour if you have an extra pair of hands or two around (42 minutes is the official record).
It’s the collective brainchild of OSVehicle (stands for “open source”), a small company from Italy, started by Francisco Liu and Ampelio Macchi.
Power will come from either a single petrol engine, electric motor or a more exciting (and powerful) hybrid combination of the both, as one of the videos posted below reveals.
They’re currently only showing off a powered chassis with seats and a steering wheel, but the plan is to make it modular and customizable; the Tabby is one of two different vehicles being developed under the same philosophy – the other is called Urban Tabby. The latter features an actual body mounted atop the frame, and it’s one that will reportedly be legal in Europe, Asia and the US.
Right now, the prototypes are still undergoing testing for safety and stability, important matters since it’s meant as a road-legal vehicle with a top speed as high as 90 km/h or 56 mph. Pricing for a complete, assembled Tabby is estimated to range from €4,000 to 6,000 or $5,350 – $8,000.
Actual on the road testing is scheduled for the early half of 2014.
By Andrei Nedelea
Story References: Gizmag
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