In the interests of saving precious 4-star for those of us who value it most, Vauxhall has joined the ranks of car-makers wheeling out electric fandangos at the Frankfurt motor show.
We wouldn't tend to bother with such things on PH, except that (is it just us?) the latest bunch of 'concept' electrics are starting to look as though there might be entertainment to be had. Mainly by hacking out the electric bits and replacing them with 1000cc bike engines, perhaps, but there's a lot to be said for the design-engineering principles underpinning these new machines. They are also starting to look, well, a bit 'racy'.
Low weight, up-to-the minute materials and simplicity are not things the mainstream car industry is much associated with these days. But those of us who remember when cars could be lifted up a flight of stairs by four drunken students must surely appreciate the benefits of all this 'new' thinking.
Opel's effort lacks the 'open-wheel' racer effect of the VW/Audi contenders, but shares a two-seat tandem layout and styling that could only be described as 'quite whizzy looking'.
It does 60 miles on a charge and/(or?) 70mph. My old Triumph Spitfire struggled to go much faster, or further between breakdowns, but I still loved it. I also used to get quite excited about exotic hand-wound motors and other bits and bobs for electric r/c racers.
So will we ever feel the same way about this sort of thing?
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