Back in 1955....the Messerschmidt company (famous for planes) went into business to produce the three-wheel KR175, which was an odd-looking car.
It was a rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive....which looked more like a aircraft cockpit....mounted three wheels. Power? 9.9 horse-power. Max speed? 90 kph.
It was affordable....at 2,500 DMs, and the first year of production was around 12,000.
The selling point of the era? It was a guy's car....something sporty and weird.
Interest in continuing the production? Well....this was the problem....Messerschmidt saw an opportunity to get back into aircraft, and this was a brief two-year effort.....then they dumped it to another company....Fend.
The car came to an end around 1964, and the total number of production stood at 40,000 (more or less).
I bring all of this up over the three-wheeler.....because there's new interest....in a E-Car version....KR E-5000.....which would run off batteries. HP? 6.7 max. Top speed? 90 kph.
The negative? A four to five hour charge would get you around 80 kilometers.
Cost-factor? Right now, the chatter is 15,500 Euro.
N-TV had a good update over the vehicle.
A German product? Well....NO, this would be made in the Malaga-region of Spain....along the southern coast.
Capturing interest? The range business (80 km) is crappy and would probably not be a plus-up. Maybe if there were a small gas-powered engine onboard....to continue the charge-up while driving....giving it a more extended range...I'd suggest more public interest.
The other negative is the crash-survivability situation. If you gaze over the pictures of the vehicle....there's just no steel there to protect you (that was the issue in the 1950s as well). It's the kind of vehicle you'd drive around town or in some urbanized area....hoping you never got hit by a delivery-truck or city-bus.
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