Aptera Eye-Candy: New Photos, New Name
Aptera‘s three-wheeled vehicle — you know, the one that looks like it should be driven by Barbarella — is supposed to go into initial production before the end of the year and larger scale production in 2009. To meet those goals, the startup, which is backed by Google.org and Idealab, is adding in the final details of design and marketing.
Aptera is now calling its vehicle the 2e (a good upgrade from Typ-1) and has posted loads of photos of the car’s exterior and interior. The company is clearly trying to emphasize how roomy the car is — perhaps trying to combat the impression that the inside of the three-wheeled vehicle is small. The web site eagerly points out a “cavernous rear cargo compartment,” cup holders that “will welcome even the most enormous cup of Joe,” space for “14 more bags of groceries,” room for “all the sports gear” you need, and room for “your six-foot surfboard.” OK, we get it.
Here are some of the latest photos, which show the body of the vehicle in the most detail yet:
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Its different looking but not sure it would be usuable in a rural setting on dirt roads!
Why? The car has great clearance.
Barbarella! Looks to me like something we would have studied in 6th grade health class. iPod white is really the wrong color. How about a little fire-engine red? Gold? Even black. I mean srsly!
As soon as this becomes available to the rest of the country we are getting 4
Not photos, but just computer renderings, I believe. They seem to have removed the drawing that showed the “floating” steering wheel.
Check out the many topics at the unofficial ApteraForum.com site. Several thousand postings there.
My boss drove one last winter and said it was awesome. Can’t wait to have one available in Kansas.
Apparently, the production is on hold for a year because, among other things, they forgot to add roll down windows. Oops….
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/smallbusiness/0812/gallery.stalled_electric_cars.smb/3.html
I first read about the Aptera in March 2008 and fell in love with it. From what I understand, they will only be selling to California residents initially. I suppose that the only way for anyone else to get one would be to buy one from a California resident. I hope they quickly become available to the rest of the states as well. The Aptera is about the most thought out well designed vehicle I have ever seen. As long as the real thing is as good as the concept, I’m sold. Not a lot of space inside but I’m hoping they will take this initial design and grow it slightly to fit 4 people (or 5) in the future. And, all this came from a startup. Instead of bailing out the other car companies, just give the money to Aptera. They obviously have some forward thinking bright minds there.
I’m not buying a new car until this is available in NY.