It's a single-seat Volkswagen, they say it's crashworthy, it gets 258 mpg, and it costs $600. Available initially in China. Frank says it's not a car, "It’s a motorcycle with a roof and rollover capability." Actually, that's clever and interesting, but unfortunately federal regulations say that a motorcycle can have only three wheels at most. No way this passes current U.S. car safety standards. But although abandoning the wheel-count method of distinguishing automobile from motorcycle is probably not feasible, I wonder why you can't say that any motor vehicle capable of transporting only one person is a motorcycle no matter how many wheels it has?
To answer your question at the end, because it just might be a scooter.
Posted by: Frank | January 05, 2010 at 05:25 PM
How do the golf carts I see around town get out of the safety standards?
Posted by: Retief | January 06, 2010 at 07:14 PM
Federal regulations exempt vehicles that weigh less than a certain amount and have a low top speed. Many private communities allow golf carts to run on their streets; because they're private they can do what they like. A golf cart isn't street legal on public roads but enforcement may be lax because of the class and age of the people driving them.
Posted by: Mithras | January 06, 2010 at 08:30 PM