Micro’s impossibly cute Microlino always looked like a stylish kids toy, and now there’s a new version available that stylish kids can get in and drive. The Microline Lite is as cool as the existing electric bubble car that’s been on sale in mainland Europe for a couple of years, but this version has been adapted to meet regulations allowing drivers as young as 14 to get behind the wheel.
While the standard version’s single 17 hp (17 PS) electric motor gives it a top speed of 56 mph (90 kmh), the 12 hp (12 PS) Lite, which is launched this week at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland, is limited to 28 mph. That equates to 40 kmh, and is the maximum speed allowed under the same L6e quadricycle regulations that helped mould the Citroen Ami and its Opel Rocks and Fiat Topolino spinoffs.
Meeting the L6e requirements means young teens can get behind the wheel, though minimum driving ages vary from country to county: in France and Italy it’s 14, in Sweden, Germany, Austria and Spain its 15 and in most other countries you have to be 16. But children aren’t the only target audience. L6e vehicles can be be driven in Europe by anyone who doesn’t have a full driving license, as long as they have a moped permit.
Visually, there’s not much to separate the slothful new Lite from the speedier standard Microlino beyond the color palate. The Lite comes only in Venice Blue and Berlin Anthracite, and doesn’t get a duotone paint option like its big brother, but does have a few exterior details picked out in orange to give it an ‘energetic’ look. Under the bright colors and BMW Isetta-inspired design you’ll find the same steel and aluminium body, whose entire front panel swings sideways to allow entry to the two seats.
Related: Super Cute Microlino Lite And Spiaggina Concepts Preview Upcoming Production Models
Buyers choose between 5.5- and 11 kWh batteries, the little guy giving a 62-mile (100 km) range and taking two hours to charge to 80 percent, and the bigger pack offering 112 miles (180 km) and taking four hours to juice-up. The original full-speed Microlino also gives buyers the option of a 15 kWh battery delivering 142 miles (228 km) of range, but that’s not available in the Lite.
Micro, who made kits name selling kick scooters under the Micro and Razor names in the late 1990s and 2000s, hasn’t released a list price for the Turin-built Lite, but says it will be available for CHF149 ($169) per month on a four-year deal if buyers put down a 25 percent deposit.
That’s only slightly less than the CHF157 ($157) Micro asks for a regular-power, base-trim Microlino which has a list price of CHF16,490 ($18,750), but obviously the Lite is designed to appeal to drivers who legally can’t get behind the wheel of the faster version, so buyers probably aren’t going to be cross-shopping between there two. The Lite goes on sale in Europe this spring.
