The French are famous for their sense of style, chic, avant garde cutting edge fashion and I was wondering exactly where does the Twizy fit in with that ethos?
The Renault Twizy is a tiny chichi electric car – and I am seeing them everywhere in France at the moment.
They’ve been on display at our local supermarket. They are so small and versatile that you can just drive one through the door of the supermarket and park it up – it even fits down the aisles! They certainly drew the crowds and definitely seemed to be favoured by the ladies over the men who got mildly hysterical when they sat in the stationary vehicle!
In Le Touquet they seem to be everywhere – proudly emblazoned with the owners details as they all seem to belong to restaurants and I suppose the beauty of this little car in a town is that its so easy to park and whiz about in traffic – it doesn’t take up any more room than a motorbike (well maybe a little more, but not a lot).
They are electric and there are two models one has a top speed of about 28 mph (45 kph) and the “sporty” version goes up to 50 mph (80kph)! They weigh just 350kg and are classified as a “heavy quadricycle”. Just 2.32 m (8 ft) long, 1.19 m (4 ft) wide and 1.46 m (5 ft) high. Amazingly – they are a two seater car, its a tandem model!
There are doors that lift up à la DeLorean (!) but no side windows so there’s a little drain hole in the seat to let rain run out… at least that’s what I think it is!
When I first saw them I thought they were a crazy idea but now I’ve seen them nipping about town I think they’re quite funky and actually yes, they are quite stylish!
Will I be getting one? No – it rains too much here and I would dread running out of electricity in the middle of nowhere and having to carry it back home!
