Swiss City Car by Franco Sbarro

Switzerland’s Franco Sbarro designed a very unique, oval-shaped car for the European-based Assystem Group that was shown at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show. The City Car has four wheels – one in front, one in the rear, and one on either side. It’s powered by both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine, known as autonomous motor units. However, this really isn’t a hybrid as normally defined because the two propulsion systems work independently, and never at the same time.

The front 20 kilowatt electric motor drives the nose wheel. Drawing power from a battery, it can propel the City Car at speeds of 30 mph with a range of just over 18 miles. As it name implies, the City Car is designed for urban duty, but a 60 horsepower, two-cylinder gasoline engine at the rear wheel also provides for speeds up to 80 mph. With an 8 gallon fuel tank this provides a range of about 370 miles. This calculates to just over 46 mpg. 

Because the four wheels are laid out in a diamond pattern and each rotates 180 degrees, handling in urban traffic is amazing – with the car able to turn 360 degrees around its vertical axis. Handling on the highway might be interesting, but remember this is a “city car.”

The 11.8 foot long City Car weighs 320 pounds and can carry five people with their luggage. Entry to the interior is via two gull-wing style doors. Its body-on-frame “dual frame” construction (plastic on an aluminum chassis), allows more rapid and less expensive repairs, says its designer. The City Car surpasses the requirements of the stringent 2008 European regulations when it comes to recyclable components.

The City Car is a showcase for electronic and safety technologies. Its augmented reality display projects images from four cameras located around the exterior of the windshield. These displays alert the driver of traffic signals, obstacles, pedestrians, and other hazards and are also used for infrared vision for night driving. Another camera monitors the iris of a driver’s eye to detect impediments such as drowsiness. The City Car includes cellphone, Internet, digital TV, as well as vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communications.