Behold, the BMW C1 Scooter. I'm seeing less and less of these, but they were all over the place in Paris a couple years ago. What we have is the classic example of an answer to a question that nobody thought to ask: a motor scooter with a roll cage. BMW wanted to offer car-like comfort and safety with the ease and (comparative) low cost of a 2-wheeler for city transport. Despite some truly great and thoughtful engineering-- very much ahead of its time, folks couldn't seem to get over the fact that this was, well, an ugly looking and expensive scooter with a capacity for one person. After 2 years and worldwide sales of about 12,500 units, the program was scrapped in 2002. For a brief recap of the C1, check this out.
Monday, August 9, 2010
The Coolest Design That Ever Bombed
Behold, the BMW C1 Scooter. I'm seeing less and less of these, but they were all over the place in Paris a couple years ago. What we have is the classic example of an answer to a question that nobody thought to ask: a motor scooter with a roll cage. BMW wanted to offer car-like comfort and safety with the ease and (comparative) low cost of a 2-wheeler for city transport. Despite some truly great and thoughtful engineering-- very much ahead of its time, folks couldn't seem to get over the fact that this was, well, an ugly looking and expensive scooter with a capacity for one person. After 2 years and worldwide sales of about 12,500 units, the program was scrapped in 2002. For a brief recap of the C1, check this out.
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2 comments:
Wow, only 12.5k units? Sure seems like Regensburg is over-represented, then. They were out of production before I even moved there, but there are (or at least were) plenty of remnants still in service.
Greetings from an Apple store in suburbia.
Well, if one is to believe Wikipedia anyways-- and I rarely put my complete faith in a resource whose text can be changed by the last person who read the entry. That being said, used examples of the C1 (indeed, any motorcycle or scooter) are cheap-- cheaper than a Smart car-- and perhaps some younger folks are snapping these up as their first (or spare/alternate) vehicles.
Michigan, eh? Enjoy a Vernor's while you're there!
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